Golden-spangled Piculet Picumnus exilis Scientific name definitions

These small piculets live around humid forest edges, old second growth, disturbed forests, and savannas. They are especially common in forest openings and in dense riparian areas filled with bamboo. Golden-spangled Piculets are rather active but they maintain a low profile as they forage at all heights in pairs or family groups of 3-5. They give a high pitched seeeek seeeek as they hunt for ants and other insects, and they often hop along in thickets near mixed-species flocks. These dynamic birds are often seen hanging on twigs or pecking at small branches. Their underparts have narrow barring and their upper backs look spotted.

9–10 cm; 8·5–10 g. Male has black forehead to hindneck, feathers of forecrown tipped red, those of mid-crown to hindneck tipped white; buffish-white lores, white line behind eye; yellowish-white cheeks and ear-coverts with dark feather edges; olive-green upperparts with darker feather centres, broad yellow-green edgings; wing-coverts olive-green, narrowly edged white, with black-edged white tips; brownish-green flight-fea­thers edged yellow-green, tertials broadly edged and with black submarginal lines; dark brown uppertail, central feather pair with broad white stripe on inner webs, outer 3 pairs with large white subterminal mark on outer webs; pale yellowish-white malar, chin and throat, barred blackish; rest of underparts pale yellowish, barred blackish, bars broken and more spot-like on belly; brown and white underwing with whitish coverts; bill short, pointed, culmen curved, black upper mandible, silvery-based lower mandible; iris yellow to dark brown, orbital skin greyish; legs greyish, sometimes tinged green or blue. Differs from P. nigropunctatus in yellower upperparts, yellower underparts with bars rather than spots. Female has entire top of head white-spotted  . Juvenile  duller, crown olive or greyish with off-white streaking, markings above and below more diffuse and irregular. Race undulatus is slightly larger, more olive-brown to yellowish-olive with large blackish feather centres above, wing-coverts less obviously pale-tipped, paler and broadly dark-barred below; clarus is slightly yellower above and has broken narrower barring below than previous; buffoni has distinctive black-bordered white spots at feather tips above; alegriae is rather dull, more olive above, whiter below; <em>pernambucensis</em> has more olive upperparts , more evenly barred underparts.

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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.

Rainforest and cloudforest, second growth, disturbed forest; also dense growth with bamboo along rivers, mangroves; also open woodland and savanna edge in the sandy belt. Lowlands, to 1900 m in areas with tepuis.

Presumably resident.

Ants are the only kind of food documented. Species forages inconspicuously, alone or in pairs; also joins mixed-species flocks. Pecks and hammers on small branches in lower strata of forest, at 1–5 m; moves about in manner similar to that of a tit (Paridae), often hanging  on thin twigs.

Described as “tsilit, tsirrrr” .

Dec–Mar in Venezuela and Surinam. Nest excavated in branch or stump with soft wood. No other information available.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). A very poorly known species; no data available on numbers; possibly at best uncommon. Occurs in Parque Estadual da Pedra Talhada in Brazil, and in Imataca Forest Reserve and El Dorado in Venezuela. First confirmed record for Colombia was in 2013 (2 Rueda G., M. (2015). Un registro confirmado de Picumnus exilis para Colombia. Conservación Colombiana. 23: 49. In Spanish. Close ). Since this piculet is often found in more open habitats, including disturbed forest, human activities may possibly lead to its range being expanded.