Elegant Woodcreeper (Xiphorhynchus elegans)

Identification & Behavior: ~21 cm (8.1 in). The Elegant Woodcreeper has an olive-rufous head, mantle and most of the underpart. The head, neck, and breast are patterned with small buffy spots fringed with black (juruanus) or larger rich buff spots, which also project to the mantle (ornatus). The bill is straight and dusky. It forages in the under and midstory of the forest in Amazonia. It is similar to the Ocellated Woodcreeper but due to the multiple sub-species involved in both species, field identification without the bird’s vocalization can be challenging.

Status: The Elegant Woodcreeper is fairly common and widespread in Amazonia where it is known to range up to 700 m along the foothill of the Andes. It also occurs in Co, Ec, Br, and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Trepador Elegante.

Sub-species: Elegant Woodcreeper (Xiphorhynchus elegans ornatus), J. T. Zimmer, 1934.  NW Amazonia, N of Amazon, in SE Colombia (E Vaupés, S Amazonas), E Ecuador and NE Peru (N of R Marañón), and immediately adjacent NW Brazil.
(Xiphorhynchus elegans insignis), (Hellmayr), 1905.  Andean foothills of EC Peru (S of R Marañón, W of R Ucayali); intergrades with juruanus in valley of R Ucayali.
(Xiphorhynchus elegans juruanus), (H. von Ihering), 1905.  SW Amazonia, S of Amazon, in E & SE Peru (E of R Ucayali), W Brazil (E to R Purús and upper R Madeira, S to Acre) and NW Bolivia (Pando, Beni, La Paz).

Meaning of Name: Xiphorhynchus: Gr. xiphos= sword and rhunkhos= bill. elegans: L. elegans, elegantis= elegant, fine.

See more of the Family Furnariidae