Slender-billed Xenops (Xenops tenuirostris)

Identification & Behavior: ~10.5 cm (4.1 in). The Slender-billed Xenops has the head, mantle, and underparts streaked with buff. It has a buffy supercilium and white malar stripe. The bill is slender and straight. The wing is blackish with a rufous middle band readily seen when the bird flies. The tail is rufous with black feathers towards the outer edges. It creeps on multiple directions on trunks and limbs in the canopy of forest edges and second growth. It is similar to the Streaked Xenops but is distinguished by having a straight and thin bill without the upturned mandible of the Streaked Xenops, and by ranging at lower elevations in Amazonia.

Status: The Slender-billed Xenops is rare but widespread in Amazonia where it is known to range up to 500 m along the foothill of the Andes. It also occurs in Co, Ec, Br, and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Pico-Lezna de Pico Fino.

Sub-species: Slender-billed Xenops (Xenops tenuirostris acutirostris), Chapman, 1923.  W Guyana, S Venezuela (S Amazonas, Bolívar) and SE Colombia (S from Caquetá and Vaupés) S to NE Peru.
(Xenops tenuirostris tenuirostris), Pelzeln, 1859.  SE Peru, Amazonian Brazil (S of R Amazon) and N Bolivia (Pando, NW La Paz, N Santa Cruz).

Meaning of Name: Xenops: Gr. xenos= stranger and ops, opos= face, countenance. tenuirostris: L. tenuis, tenue= slender and rostris, rostrum= billed, beak.

See more of the Family Furnariidae