Montane Woodcreeper (Lepidocolaptes lacrymiger)

Identification & Behavior: ~22 cm (8.6 in). The Montane Woodcreeper has the head and underparts heavily streaked. Streaks are buffy feathers of various lengths fringed with dusky. The bill is relatively long, whitish-gray, and decurved. It forages at various heights of humid montane forests often in the company of mixed species flocks. Its range overlaps with that of the Olive-backed Woodcreeper but is distinguished by a smaller and more slender body, by having buffy streaks (spots in Olive-backed Woodcreeper), and by a whitish-gray and decurved bill.

Status: The Montane Woodcreeper is uncommon in montane forests of the east slope of the Andes at elevations ranging between 1300-3200 m. It also occurs in Co, Ec, and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Trepador Montano.

Sub-species: Montane Woodcreeper (Lepidocolaptes lacrymiger warscewiczi), (Cabanis and Heine), 1859.  E slope of Andes in extreme SE Ecuador and N & C Peru (Cajamarca and Amazonas S to Junín).
(Lepidocolaptes lacrymiger carabayae), Hellmayr, 1920.  E slope of Andes in SE Peru (Cuzco, Puno).

Meaning of Name: Lepidocolaptes: Gr. lepis, lepidos= scale, flake and kolaptes, kolapto= pecker to peck. lacrymiger: L. lacrima= tear and ger, gerere= carrying, to carry.

See more of the Family Furnariidae