The spot-crowned woodcreeper (''Lepidocolaptes affinis''), is a

passerine A passerine () is any bird of the order Passeriformes (; from Latin 'sparrow' and '-shaped'), which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds, passerines are distinguished from other orders of birds by t ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

which breeds in the tropical

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...

from the

Sierra Madre Oriental The Sierra Madre Oriental () is a mountain range in northeastern Mexico. The Sierra Madre Oriental is part of the American Cordillera, a chain of mountain ranges (cordillera) that consists of an almost continuous sequence of mountain ranges that f ...

of eastern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

to northern

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

Description

The spot-crowned woodcreeper is typically long, and weighs . It has a spotted crown, olive brown upperparts with fine streaking on the upper back, a chestnut rump, wings and tail, and heavily streaked olive-brown underparts. The bill is slender and decurved. Young birds are duller with less distinct streaking and crown spots. The call is a squeaky ''deeik'' and the song is a trill and rattle ''deeeeeeah hihihihihi''. The spot-crowned woodcreeper is very similar to

streak-headed woodcreeper The streak-headed woodcreeper (''Lepidocolaptes souleyetii'') is a passerine bird which breeds in the tropical New World from southern Mexico to northwestern Peru, northern Brazil and Guyana, and also on Trinidad. This woodcreeper is found in lo ...

, ''Lepidocolaptes souleyetii'', but is larger, has a spotted crown, and is the only woodcreeper found at high altitudes.

Distribution and habitat

This

woodcreeper The woodcreepers (Dendrocolaptinae) comprise a subfamily of suboscine passerine birds endemic to the Neotropics. They have traditionally been considered a distinct family Dendrocolaptidae, but most authorities now place them as a subfamily of the ...

is found in mountains from 1000 m to the timberline in mossy,

epiphyte An epiphyte is an organism that grows on the surface of a plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphytes grow are called phoroph ...

-laden forest and adjacent semi-open woodland and clearings.

Behaviour

It builds a leaf-lined nest up in a tree cavity or old

woodpecker Woodpeckers are part of the bird family Picidae, which also includes the piculets, wrynecks, and sapsuckers. Members of this family are found worldwide, except for Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, Madagascar, and the extreme polar regions. ...

or barbet hole, and lays two white eggs. It feeds on

spider Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

s and

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s, creeping up trunks and extracting its prey from the bark or mosses. It will join

mixed-species feeding flock A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species that join each other and move together while foraging. These ar ...

References

External links

Stamps
(for

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

) with range map
Photo gallery
- VIREO {{Taxonbar, from=Q612190 spot-crowned woodcreeper Birds of Mexico Birds of the Sierra Madre Oriental Birds of the Sierra Madre del Sur Birds of Central America Birds of Guatemala Birds of El Salvador Birds of Honduras Birds of Costa Rica spot-crowned woodcreeper Birds of the Talamancan montane forests Fauna of Los Tuxtlas

Description

Distribution and habitat

Behaviour

References

Further reading

External links