Firewood-gatherer Anumbius annumbi Scientific name definitions

This is a unique bird with a singular name, even in Spanish the name “Leñatero” suggests that it is a collector of firewood. Why this association? Well, it all has to do with the nest. The Firewood-gatherer is not a big bird, in fact it is smaller than a typical Turdus thrush, yet larger than a House Sparrow (Passer domesticus). However, it makes a huge nest of sticks. Often these massive nests are placed somewhere very obvious, such as on a power pole, in a small, delicate shrubby tree or various otherwise exposed situations that afford a structure on which the nest can be attached. The nest is also made up of relatively strong sticks, often those with thorns. One sees a nest and it clearly looks like good kindling for a fire! As one can imagine to create this nest the birds need to spend a lot of time gathering twigs and sticks, in other words gathering the firewood. The nest creates a well protected place in which to lay the eggs, the entrance actually corkscrews before arriving at the nest chamber, making it difficult for larger mammals to access the nest. After the nest have been used and finished with, various other species will use the old nests for their own purposes much in the same way secondary cavity nesters use old woodpecker holes. The Firewood-gatherer itself is not a vividly plumaged species, and in some ways recalls a pipit in shape and some of its plumage characters. However it shows a long and rounded tail with white tips, and a collar of streaks on the lower throat and a noticeable pale supercilium. This species forages on the ground, again suggesting a pipit.

SE Brazil (Goiás and Minas Gerais S to Rio Grande do Sul), C & E Paraguay, N & E Argentina (Formosa and Misiones S to Río Negro) and Uruguay.

Season during austral spring-summer; eggs in Sept–Feb and nestlings in Sept–Jan in Argentina; double-brooded. Presumably monogamous. Nest a cylindrical mass c. 50–110 cm high and 30–40 cm wide (occasionally nearly twice those dimensions), of carefully interwoven, usually thorny twigs, main axis vertical or slanted, entrance hole at or near top, interior tunnel to chamber starts straight but then curves, tunnel or entrance hole sometimes lined with bits of glass, feathers and threads, nest-chamber 14–20 cm across, near bottom, lined with plant fibres, feathers, twigs and sometimes inflorescences; usually placed 1–4 m (rarely, to 24 m) above ground among branches, conspicuously in isolated tree or bush, usually thorny, or on crossbar of telephone pole or other man-made object, and often adjacent to old nests from previous years; nest possibly sometimes reused in subsequent years. Clutch 3–5 eggs, possibly sometimes 6; incubation period c. 16 days; nestling period c. 17–18 days; young may accompany parents during second nesting, occasionally help with nest-building, but generally expelled from natal territory within 1 month of fledging. In a study in Buenos Aires province pairs produced an average of 2·8 clutches over a very long (Aug–Apr) breeding season, average clutch was 5·1 eggs (n = 106), hatching success 84·6%, and apparent breeding success 25%, predation accounting for 87% of all complete failures (3 Delhey, K., Carrizo, M., Verniere, L.C., Mahler, B. and Peters, A. (2010). Seasonal variation in reproductive output of a Neotropical temperate Suboscine, the Firewood-gatherer (Anumbius annumbi). Auk. 127(1): 222–231. Close ).

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Uncommon to locally common. Occurs in a number of protected areas, including Itatiaia, Aparados da Serra and Serra da Canastra National Parks, in Brazil, and Esteros del Iberá National Park, in Argentina. Tolerates at least moderate grazing and other anthropogenic disturbance; presumably benefits to a degree from deforestation.