Moustached Woodcreeper Xiphocolaptes falcirostris Scientific name definitions

Endemic to Brazil, the widespread destruction of dry forest in the country’s interior has rapidly reduced the now small population of the Moustached Woodcreeper. This large, heavy-billed woodcreeper has a wide but highly fragmented distribution from eastern Maranhão, Piauí, Ceará, western Paraíba, Pernambuco, Bahia, and northern Minas Gerais, although not all of these states possess recent records. It inhabits the interior of intact or slightly disturbed dry forests, which are wetter and taller than is typical of the Caatinga biome as a whole. The Moustached Woodcreeper feeds on insect larvae, ants, snails, and beetles, and it probably nests during the austral summer. Two subspecies are recognized, which some authors have occasionally suggested might warrant specific status, but little support for this proposition has accrued.

28–32 cm; 110 g. Large, heavy-bodied woodcreeper with long, slim bill, relatively short tail. Buffy supercilium, loral spot and moustachial stripe contrast with dark brown malar stripe; cinnamon-brown to dark olive-brown crown with narrow buff shaft streaks, contrasts little with rufous-brown back; rump, wings and tail cinnamon-rufous; throat pale, buffy to whitish, underparts light brown to cinnamon-buff, indistinct buffy streaks on flanks, faint greyish-brown bars on central belly; iris dark reddish to brown; bill dark grey to black, lower mandible pale grey to horn-coloured; legs and feet olive-grey to dark grey. Differs from X. albicollis in longer, slimmer bill with conspicuously pale lower-mandible, somewhat paler overall coloration (crown and facial markings brown instead of blackish), bolder face pattern, more cinnamon rump, weaker markings on crown and underparts. Sexes similar. Juvenile similar to adult, but bars and streaks on central belly broader and blackish, bill shorter, stouter and blackish with lower mandible dark greyish-brown. Race franciscanus is on average darker and more olive below than nominate, has narrower streaking on breast, weaker streaking on crown, also on average shorter-tailed and longer-billed, but substantial overlap between races in all characters.

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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.

Semi-deciduous woodland, wooded caatinga, palm woodland (in Maranhão), and gallery forest. Typical trees at a preferred site in Minas Gerais were Bursera leptophloeos, Astronium urundeuva, Chorisia venticosa, Cavanillesia arborea, Spondias tuberosa, Hymenaea martiana, and Schinopsis. Primarily in interior of intact and lightly disturbed forest, generally frequenting tallest and most extensive forests in region, but sometimes also visits edges within suitable habitat; often at bases of calcareous hills, in mesic depressions, or in “monsoon” forest in otherwise dry habitats (especially in N of range). Known localities mostly below 550 m, but to over 800 m in N part of range.

Resident.

Primarily insectivorous; limited observations of insect larvae, ants, beetles and snails being taken. Seen singly, in pairs, or in groups of 3–6 individuals that may represent families. Most sightings appear to be of either solitary individuals or birds in monospecific groups; sometimes seen with other dendrocolaptids, but ignored nearby mixed-species flocks on other occasions. Forages mostly along trunks and branches in mid-levels of tall forest, but sometimes descends to ground level; may be specialized on foraging among bromeliads. Observed to remove prey from tree cavities, rummage on ground among leaf litter, and remove strips of bark from trunk of a tree.

Rarely heard song a harsh whine followed by a far-carrying series of c. 5 descending notes at intervals of c. 1 second, “nk-wiirh, week! weeer, weeer, weeur, weuur”, similar to that of congeners but notes not so obviously disyllabic; has approached in response to playback of recordings of X. albicollis. Calls similar to that of latter species, most often a whine ending in a harsh note, “iíeiiiii-chjk!”.

Apparently breeds during austral summer: birds with enlarged gonads, one having a brood patch, in Oct–Nov in Minas Gerais; male with moderately large testes in Dec, whereas others in May–Jun (W Bahia) believed to be in post-breeding condition; specimens in May–Jun (Maranhão, Piauí) and Aug (Bahia) not in breeding condition; juvenile in mid-Jun in Maranhão. Nest, eggs and other details undescribed; presence of brood patch on a male suggests that incubation (and probably parental care) shared by both sexes.

VULNERABLE. Uncommon to rare, and very local. World population believed to be between 2500 and 10,000 individuals, and declining; considered threatened in Brazil as a whole, and endangered in state of Minas Gerais. In region occupied, vast majority of forest has already been removed and remainder is disappearing rapidly. Causes of habitat loss include burning, cutting for charcoal and conversion to agriculture, complicated by fact that forests harbouring this species are situated on richest soils in region. Even relatively large fragments can disappear quickly: one site in W Bahia that contained extensive forest occupied by this dendrocolaptid in 1988 had been completely destroyed by 1993, and another site occupied as recently as Mar 1997 was largely cleared by a road-improvement project by Nov 1998. Nominate race suggested by some as being less sensitive to human disturbance than are S populations, but this probably not the case given patchy nature of remaining fragments throughout range; recent records in N scattered among only a few localities. Legally protected in Brazil, and conservation measures have had some success in setting aside key sites as parks and reserves. Protected sites where the species survives include Serra do Baturité State Environmental Protection Area (Ceará ), and Cavernas do Peruaçu National Park (Minas Gerais). Future work should concentrate on reduction of forest loss throughout region (in part through better enforcement of existing laws), mapping of remaining forest fragments, creation of a system of conservation units, and promotion of sustainable use at unprotected sites. An indicator species for both gallery forest (nominate race) and tropical deciduous forest in Cerrado region (franciscanus) of C South America.