The striped treehunter (''Thripadectes holostictus'') is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.

Taxonomy and systematics

The striped treehunter shares genus ''

Thripadectes ''Thripadectes'' is a genus of Neotropical birds in the ovenbird family (biology), family Furnariidae. Taxonomy The genus was established by Philip Sclater in 1862 with the flammulated treehunter as the type species. The name ''Thripadectes'' is ...

'' with six other treehunters. It has these three subspecies: *''T. h. holostictus'' ( Sclater, PL & Salvin, 1876) *''T. h. moderatus'' Zimmer, JT, 1935 *''T. h. striatidorsus'' ( Berlepsch &

Taczanowski Taczanowski (Polish feminine: Taczanowska; plural: Taczanowscy) is the surname of a Polish szlachta (nobility) family from Poznań bearing the Jastrzębiec coat of arms and the motto: ''Plus penser que dire''. They took their name from th ...

, 1884) However, the subspecies' size and plumage differences may prove to be clinal as more data become available. If true, the division into subspecies might not be warranted.Remsen, Jr., J. V. and G. M. Kirwan (2020). Striped Treehunter (''Thripadectes holostictus''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.strtre1.01 retrieved September 6, 2023 Striped Treehunter Tail Shot

Description

The striped treehunter is long and weighs . It is a bulky, dark furnariid with a thrush-like shape. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies ''T. h. holostictus'' have a mostly blackish-brown face with buff streaks, some of which merge to form a

supercilium The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also ...

. Their lores are grizzled blackish brown and buff. Their crown is blackish brown with strong buff streaks. Their back is dark brown with buff streaks and their rump dull dark brown that blends to reddish brown uppertail

coverts A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which, as the name implies, cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are sm ...

. Their wings are rich brown and their tail dark chestnut-brown. Their throat is tawny-buff with dark feather borders that give a streaked appearance that extends onto the upper breast. The rest of their breast is medium brown with pale buff streaks, their belly similar to the lower breast but becomes unstreaked by its bottom, their flanks darker and more

rufescent Rufous () is a color that may be described as reddish-brown or brownish-red, as of rust or oxidised iron. The first recorded use of ''rufous'' as a color name in English was in 1782. However, the color is also recorded earlier in 1527 as a dia ...

, and their undertail coverts darker than the belly with a reddish brown tinge. Their iris is brown to dark brown, their bill black with sometimes a lighter base to the mandible, and their legs and feet olive-brown to greenish gray. Juveniles have narrower streaks on the upperparts than adults and a mottled, rather than streaked, belly. Subspecies ''T. h. striatidorsus'' has slightly more reddish wings, more rufescent flanks, and browner edges to the throat feathers than the nominate. ''T. h. moderatus'' has more rufescent underparts with narrower streaks than the nominate; the streaks have a rufescent tinge and do not extend as far. The edges of its throat feathers are more olive than sooty.

Distribution and habitat

The striped treehunter has a somewhat

disjunct distribution In biology, a taxon with a disjunct distribution is one that has two or more groups that are related but considerably separated from each other geographically. The causes are varied and might demonstrate either the expansion or contraction of a s ...

. The nominate subspecies is found from the Andes of western Venezuela through Colombia's Eastern and

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

Andes and eastern Ecuador into Peru as far as the Department of La Libertad. Subspecies ''T. h. striatidorsus'' is found from

Cauca Department Cauca Department (, es, Departamento del Cauca) is a Department of Southwestern Colombia. Located in the southwestern part of the country, facing the Pacific Ocean to the west, the Valle del Cauca Department to the north, Tolima Department t ...

in Colombia's Western Andes south into western Ecuador as far as Chimborazo Province. ''T. h. moderatus'' is found in the Andes from the

Department of Huánuco Huánuco () is a department and region in central Peru. It is bordered by the La Libertad, San Martín, Loreto and Ucayali regions in the north, the Ucayali Region in the east, the Pasco Region in the south and the Lima and Ancash regions in ...

in Peru south and east into central Bolivia. The striped treehunter inhabits montane evergreen forest in the subtropical zone and highly favors thickets of ''

Chusquea ''Chusquea'' is a genus of evergreen bamboos in the grass family. Most of them are native to mountain habitats in Latin America, from Mexico to southern Chile and Argentina. They are sometimes referred to as South American mountain bamboos. Unl ...

'' bamboo, though it also occurs locally in

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

. It tends to stay in the undergrowth. In elevation it mostly ranges from . In Colombia it occurs as low as and as high as . In Ecuador it occurs as high as .

Behavior

Movement

The striped treehunter is a year-round resident throughout its range.

Feeding

The striped treehunter's diet is mostly arthropods and may also include small vertebrates. It forages in dense undergrowth, usually by itself, and only occasionally joins mixed-species feeding flocks. It gleans and probes for its prey in dead leaves and debris in the forest understory, usually within about of the ground. It might specialize in hunting in dead leaves.

Breeding

The striped treehunter's breeding season has not been fully defined but spans from at least August to November. It excavates a tunnel up to about long in an earthen bank and builds a cup nest of rootlets in the chamber at its end. The clutch size is two or three eggs. The incubation period is 14 to 17 days and fledging occurs 20 to 23 days after hatch. No details of parental care are known.

Vocalization

The striped treehunter's song is "a fast series of nasal chattering notes, slightly descending and decelerating". Its call is a sharp "kwi-di-dik".

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has assessed the striped treehunter as being of Least Concern. It has a large range, and though its population size is not known it is believed to be stable. No immediate threats have been identified. It is considered uncommon to locally fairly common and occurs in several protected areas.