Strong-billed Woodcreeper (Xiphocolaptes promeropirhynchus)

Identification & Behavior: ~30 cm (11.8 in). The Strong-billed Woodcreeper has the head and underparts streaked with buffy. The bill is dusky, thick, relatively long, and decurved. The upperparts are rufous and unmarked. It has a dusky malar stripe, which is poorly defined but creates a patterned face. It generally forages in the midstory of the forest alone or in the company of mixed species flocks. It is similar to the Buff-throated Woodcreeper but is distinguished by larger size, a mostly unmarked mantle, and a long and decurved dusky bill.

Status: The Strong-billed Woodcreeper is rare and local in an intricate distributional pattern. It occurs in the Amazonian lowlands (up to 800 m), on the east slope of the Andes (1000-3100 m), and in the semi-deciduous forest of northwest Peru in Tumbes. It also occurs in Co, Ec, Br, and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Trepador de Pico Fuerte.

Sub-species: Strong-billed Woodcreeper (Xiphocolaptes promeropirhynchus crassirostris), Taczanowski and Berlepsch, 1885.  subtropical zone in Andean foothills in SW Ecuador (W El Oro, Loja) and NW Peru (Tumbes, Piura).
(Xiphocolaptes promeropirhynchus compressirostris), Taczanowski, 1882.  temperate zone of N Peruvian Andes (Amazonas, Cajamarca, San Martín).
(Xiphocolaptes promeropirhynchus phaeopygus), Berlepsch and Stolzmann, 1896.  temperate zone of C Peruvian Andes (Junín).
(Xiphocolaptes promeropirhynchus lineatocephalus), (G. R. Gray) 1847.   subtropical and temperate zones of Andes from SE Peru (Cuzco) S to NW & C Bolivia (La Paz, Cochabamba, Santa Cruz).
(Xiphocolaptes promeropirhynchus solivagus), J. Bond, 1950.  upper tropical zone on E slope of E Peruvian Cordillera (Chanchamayo region, in Junín, probably also N to Huánuco).
(Xiphocolaptes promeropirhynchus orenocensis), Berlepsch and E. Hartert, 1902.  NW Amazonian lowlands, N of Amazon, from C Colombia and S Venezuela S to NE Ecuador, NE Peru and NW Brazil (E to R Negro).

Meaning of Name: Xiphocolaptes: Gr. Xiphos= sword and kolaptes, kolapto= pecker, to peck. promeropirhynchus: Promeros= Genus Promerops Brisson 1760, sugarbird and Gr. Rhunkhos= bill. One that resembles a member of the genus Promeros.

See more of the Family Furnariidae