Black-striped woodcreeper facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Black-striped woodcreeper |
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Xiphorhynchus
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| Species: |
lachrymosus
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The black-striped woodcreeper (Xiphorhynchus lachrymosus) is a cool bird that lives in Central and South America. It's part of the ovenbird family, known for building interesting nests. You can find this bird in countries like Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Panama.
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Meet the Black-striped Woodcreeper
What is a Subspecies?
Just like some dog breeds are types of dogs, subspecies are slightly different groups within a single animal species. The black-striped woodcreeper has three main types, or subspecies. These are X. l. lachrymosus, X. l. eximius, and X. l. alarum. They were first described by scientists like George Newbold Lawrence and Carl Eduard Hellmayr.
What Does It Look Like?
The black-striped woodcreeper is a medium-sized bird. It grows to be about 21.5 to 25 centimeters (8.5 to 9.8 inches) long. It usually weighs between 51 and 66 grams (1.8 to 2.3 ounces). That's about as much as a small candy bar!
This bird has a long, mostly straight beak that curves down a little at the end. Both male and female woodcreepers look the same. Their faces are brownish-black with light buff streaks. Their head and neck are also brownish-black, but they have cool buff-colored teardrop spots and wide stripes.
Their back and shoulder feathers are brownish-black with wider, deeper buff stripes. The lower part of their back, rump, and wings are a dark reddish-brown color. Their tail is also a reddish-chestnut color.
Feather Details
The throat of the black-striped woodcreeper is a pale to deep buff color. It has a thin black line at the bottom. Their chest and belly are pale buff. The chest looks a bit scaly, and the belly has streaks. The sides of their body are grayish-brown with faint streaks.
Their eyes are dark reddish-brown or dark brown. The upper part of their beak is dark brown or black. The lower part is silver-gray to bluish-white. Their legs and feet can be green, bluish-gray, or dark gray.
Young Woodcreepers
Young woodcreepers look similar to the adults. However, their patterns are not as bright. The black edges on their feathers are browner. Their throat has more scaling, and their underparts are whiter. Their beak is also shorter than an adult's.
Subspecies Differences
The X. l. eximius subspecies has more noticeable black streaks on its chest and belly. Its upper back is darker, and its wings and tail are a deeper reddish-brown. The X. l. alarum subspecies has smaller buffy spots on its back. Its underparts have smaller spots too.
The combination of its size and the pattern of pale buff and black streaks makes the black-striped woodcreeper unique among other woodcreeper birds.
Where Does It Live?
The black-striped woodcreeper lives in different parts of Central and South America. The main subspecies, X. l. lachrymosus, is found along the Caribbean coast from Nicaragua through Costa Rica and Panama. It also lives on the Pacific coast from the Canal Zone into western Colombia and Ecuador.
The X. l. eximius subspecies lives on the Pacific coast of southwestern Costa Rica and western Panama. The X. l. alarum subspecies is found in Colombia, in the valleys of the Sinú, Cauca, and Magdalena rivers.
Its Home Environment
This bird mostly lives in humid lowland forests. It prefers evergreen forests, which stay green all year. Sometimes, it can also be found in mangrove areas. It likes the inside of tall, old forests. However, it also lives at the edges of forests, in gaps, and in older secondary forests (forests that have grown back after being cut down). Occasionally, it can even be seen in tree plantations.
It usually lives from sea level up to about 1,000 meters (3,300 feet) high. In Costa Rica, it can go up to 1,200 meters (3,900 feet). In Colombia, it can reach heights of 1,500 meters (4,900 feet).
How It Behaves
Staying Put
The black-striped woodcreeper does not migrate. It stays in the same area all year round.
What Does It Eat?
This bird mainly eats arthropods, which are creatures like insects and spiders. It also eats small vertebrates, such as lizards. It usually hunts for food alone. Sometimes, you might see it in pairs or, rarely, in family groups.
It sometimes joins mixed-species feeding flocks, which are groups of different bird species hunting together. However, it does this less often than other woodcreepers. When it's with a flock, it usually hunts in the tops of the trees. When it's alone, it hunts a bit lower.
The woodcreeper hitches its way up tree trunks and along branches. It often moves in a spiral pattern. It finds most of its food by poking into cracks in bark, tangled vines, and clusters of dead leaves. It also searches in bromeliads and epiphytes (plants that grow on other plants). Sometimes, it will even fly out to catch insects in the air.
Following Army Ants
The black-striped woodcreeper regularly follows army ant swarms. These ants march in huge groups, disturbing insects and other small creatures. The woodcreeper stays fairly low to the ground when following them. It usually catches prey directly from leaves, tree trunks, and vines. It rarely picks up food from the ground.
Breeding and Nests
The black-striped woodcreeper breeds between March and June in Costa Rica. In Colombia, it breeds from February to May. It builds its nest inside a hole in a tree or palm. It lines the nest with wood and bark chips. Usually, the female lays two eggs, but sometimes she lays three. Scientists don't know much about how long the eggs take to hatch or how long it takes for the young birds to leave the nest.
What Does It Sound Like?
The black-striped woodcreeper has a unique song. It sounds like a soft, descending whinny. It's described as clear whistles that start slowly, speed up, and then slow down at the end. It sounds like "wi, di, di, di, di-di-di-di-di-di, di, di, dew."
Its calls include descending whistles that sound like laughing, such as "wheep-weep-whup" or "weé-hir-hir." It also makes a loud, strong "doweeet" or "choo-reep" sound that goes up in pitch. Other calls include a descending "cheer" or "chirrrw" with a rolling sound. When it's upset, it makes a quick series of sharp notes that change in pitch and speed. These can be clear whistled "weet" sounds or harsh "wik" sounds.
Conservation Status
The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) has evaluated the black-striped woodcreeper. They have listed it as being of "Least Concern." This means it's not currently in danger of disappearing.
It lives across a large area. Scientists estimate there are at least 50,000 adult birds, though this number is thought to be slowly decreasing. No immediate big threats have been found. This bird is considered uncommon to common in most places where it lives.
However, it needs forests with tall trees that are mostly connected. Because of this, it is thought to be somewhat sensitive to forests being broken up or other human activities that disturb its home.
