White-streaked Antvireo Dysithamnus leucostictus Scientific name definitions

The male White-streaked Antvireo is a typically nondescript antbird: small and dark gray, with narrow white tips to the wing coverts. Superficially, the male is similar to the male Plumbeous Antvireo (Dysithamnus plumbeus) of eastern Brazil, and so for many years these were considered to be conspecific. The name "White-streaked" stems from the plumage of the female: the upperparts are bright reddish brown, and the underparts are pale gray with broad white streaks. The White-streaked Antvireo occurs in humid montane forest in two disjunct areas, in the coastal mountains of Venezuela, and in the Andes from central Colombia south to northern Peru. There are subtle vocal differences between the Venezuelan and Andean subspecies, and so each is treated as a separate species by some authors. White-streaked Antvireos forage for invertebrates in the understory, often as members of mixed-species flocks.

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Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Loudsong nominate race a short (e.g. 6 notes, 1·8 seconds), easily countable series of strong whistles, pitch falling (except sometimes for initial note), first and last notes less intense; tucuyensis a moderately long (e.g. 13 notes, 2·7 seconds), barely countable series of strong whistles, pitch and intensity gradually rising to middle notes, then gradually declining.

VULNERABLE. Uncommon throughout much of its range (6 Hilty, S. L., and W. L. Brown (1986). A Guide to the Birds of Colombia. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close ) (7 Ridgely, R. S., and P. J. Greenfield (2001). The Birds of Ecuador. Volumes 1–2. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca, New York, USA. Close ) (8 Schulenberg, T. S., D. F. Stotz, D. F. Lane, J. P. O’Neill, and T. A. Parker (2007). Birds of Peru. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close ), but can be locally common in Venezuela (9 Hilty, S. L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); easily overlooked. In W, Andean foothill forests in general are being cleared for agriculture and human settlement at an alarming rate, and the status of taxa with restricted ranges could change rapidly. Based on a model of future deforestation in the Amazon basin (10 Soares-Filho, B. S., D. C. Nepstad, L. M. Curran, G. C. Cerqueira, R. A. Garcia, C. A. Ramos, E. Voll, A. McDonald, P. Lefebvre, and P. Schlesinger (2006). Modelling conservation in the Amazon Basin. Nature 440:520–523. Close ), this species is expected to lose c. 30% of suitable habitat within its distribution over three generations (14 years). Given its susceptibility to fragmentation and/or edge effects, its population is projected to decline by ≥30% over this period (11 Bird, J. P., J. M. Buchanan, A. C. Lees, R. P. Clay, P. F. Develey, I. Yépez, and S. H. M. Butchart (2011). Integrating spatially explicit habitat projections into extinction risk assessments: a reassessment of Amazonian avifauna incorporating projected deforestation. Diversity and Distributions 18(3):432–439. Close ); it was therefore listed as Vulnerable in 2012 BirdLife International (2014) Species factsheet: Dysithamnus leucostictus. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 02/09/2014. . Large protected areas that could serve as population reservoirs of nominate race include Podocarpus, Sumaco-Galeras and Sangay National Parks, in Ecuador. No immediate threats in Venezuela, where a sizeable population of tucuyensis is protected by Terepaima, San Esteban, Henri Pittier, Macarao, El Avila, Guatopo and El Guácharo National Parks, and Pico Codazzi Nature Monument.