Point-tailed Palmcreeper (Berlepschia rikeri)

Identification & Behavior: ~21.5 cm (8.4 in). The Point-tailed Palmcreeper has a heavily streaked head, neck, and underparts. The back and tail are bright rufous. The bill is grayish and pointy. It forages exclusively in the crown of Mauritia flexuosa palms in varzea and seasonally flooded forests. The plumage pattern is unmistakable but see Chestnut-winged Hookbill.

Status: The Point-tailed Palmcreeper rare and local but widespread in Amazonia where it is known to range up to 800 m along the foothill of the Andes. It also occurs in Co, Ec, Br, and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Trepador de Palmeras.

Sub-species: Point-tailed Palmcreeper (Berlepschia rikeri), (Ridgway), 1887.

Meaning of Name: Berlepschia: In honor of Hans Hermann Carl Ludwig Graf von Berlepsch (1850-1915) German ornithologist, collector specializing in the Neotropical avifauna. rikeri: In honor of Clarence Bayley Riker (1863-1947) US pharmaceutical magnate, ornithologist, explorer, collector in Brazil 1884-1887.

See more of the Family Furnariidae