Narrow-billed Woodcreeper Lepidocolaptes angustirostris Scientific name definitions

The Narrow-billed Woodcreeper is a resident of deciduous forest and savanna from northeastern Brazil south to central Argentina. A medium sized woodcreeper with a slender decurved bill, the Narrow-billed Woodcreeper has a blackish-brown crown, a bold white supercilium, rufous-brown upperparts, and buffy white underparts with faint brown streaking.  There are eight recognized subspecies, each of which varies slightly in the tone of color on the upper parts and the amount of streaking below. Narrow-billed Woodcreepers are most often encountered alone or in pairs, although these birds will at time join mixed species flocks.  Like most woodcreepers, the Narrow-billed Woodcreeper forages by hitching up the trunks of trees gleaning insects and small vertebrates from the bark. Narrow-billed Woodcreepers can adapt to human altered environments, and have even been observed catching moths attracted to streetlights well before daybreak.

18–22 cm; male 23–37·5 g, female 21·5–33·5 (once 39·5) g. Slim, medium-sized woodcreeper with long, slim, somewhat decurved bill. Nominate race has pale lores, grading into bold buffy-white super­cilium that broadens distally and extends well beyond broad blackish postocular stripe, before ending in a series of broken spots; crown and nape blackish-brown with oblong whitish-buff streaks that do not continue onto back, upperparts rufous-brown with faint suffusion of olive; rump, wings and tail rufous-chestnut; outer webs of greater coverts dusky, those of medians olive; outer webs of primaries darker and browner, tips blackish; throat and cheeks whitish and unmarked, these blending into breast and belly, on which buffy-white feathers have dusky edges producing indistinctly spotted or streaked appearance that disappears on lower belly, but reappears on undertail-coverts; underwing-coverts rosy cinnamon; iris brown to chestnut; bill pale grey to pinkish-horn, base of upper mandible with dusky sides; legs and feet greenish-grey to dark grey. Sexes similar. Juvenile is darker above, more blackish on head, more ochraceous on supercilium and underparts, and with narrower, more distinct streaks below. Races vary mainly in tone of colour above and below and degree of streaking below: within “angustirostris group”, <em>praedatus</em> is larger and longer-billed than nominate, upperparts more olive-brown overall, with rufous duller and restricted to centres of back feathers, streaking below heavier and blacker; hybrids between nominate and praedatus, which occur over a broad zone in N & NE Argentina, show a mixture of characters (degree of streaking below, coloration above, bill length). Linking streaked southern races with unstreaked northern forms, race certhiolus is lighter above than nominate (cinnamon-rufous to ferruginous); hellmayri is much brighter rufous above than southern birds, but deeper rufous above and more conspicuously streaked below than bivittatus; it is also larger and longer-billed than nominate, certhiolus and bivittatus. Members of “bivittatus group” are more rufescent above and at most weakly streaked below; within this group, bivittatus is comparatively pale (creamy to dirty greyish-white) below, with breast and undertail-coverts indistinctly streaked; <em>coronatus</em> is similar to bivittatus, but underparts deeper buff, approaching ochraceous on undertail-coverts, which show at most a few fine streaks; <em>bahiae</em> is even more richly coloured below, extensively deep cinnamon to ochraceous, brightest on sides and undertail-coverts; griseiceps is palest of all, crown brownish-grey with broad but indistinct streaking, underparts unstreaked and entirely creamy white (lacking contrast between belly and undertail coverts).

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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.

Occurs in a variety of open woodland and savanna habitats. A characteristic species of deciduous forest, forest islands, Chaco woodland and scrub, gallery forest, second growth, forest edge, various types of both caatinga and cerrado, espinilho (Prosopis-Acacia) savanna, plantations, and open situations near humans; sometimes frequents Mauritia palm swamps and, on Marajó I (Brazil), várzea forest. Primarily tropical lowlands to 1200 m in most of range; also in subtropical zone in Andean foothills to almost 3000 m in Bolivia.

Resident throughout range. One-third of individuals ringed at one site in Brazilian cerrado were recaptured at same site in both the same and subsequent years.

Feeds largely on insects , spiders, and other invertebrates, but has been seen to take a small frog . Stomach contents comprised ants, bees, various beetles, earwigs (Dermaptera), planthoppers and cicadas (Homoptera), bugs (Hemiptera), cockroaches (Blattodea), caterpillars, flies, termites (Isoptera), spiders. Most prey for which size could be estimated were 5–15 mm long. Often encountered singly or in pairs, sometimes in small groups, and regularly in mixed-species flocks; present in 45% of flocks at one site in Brazilian cerrado. Observed very rarely in association with birds attending swarms of army ants (Labidus). Forages primarily while hitching up trunks and branches, often with spiralling motion, from near base of trees to subcanopy, sometimes higher; also uses wooden fence posts. Most prey either gleaned from surface or taken from bark crevices, epiphytes, moss or other substrates by probing with slim bill, or by flaking or prying off bark to expose hidden prey. Has also been seen to forage during pre-dawn hours on moths and other insects attracted to streetlights, and even to catch flies with its bill while sitting on side of a metal barrel.

Song a loud series 3–5 seconds long of 4–8 sharp descending notes that may be either clear whistles “peer, peer, peer, peeer, peeeer, pweeeer”, rolling and somewhat slurred repetitions of “drewEEew”, or clear notes that gradually accelerate, fade and descend, “peeé, pee-pee-pee-pee-peepeepeepeepupupu”. Calls include single renditions of slurred note, and melodious “jew-rewt” or “peah huy”; nestlings give melodious series of thin, descending notes slowing at end, “pseeeeee pseeeee pseeee pseeee pseee pseee pseee psiu psiu”.

Nests with eggs from mid-Oct to early Dec in N & C Argentina and Uruguay, nestlings in mid-Oct to late Nov in NE Argentina, S Brazil and Uruguay; adult feeding recently fledged young in mid-Feb to Mar in Bolivia (Santa Cruz) and Uruguay; birds in breeding condition mid-Oct to early Jan in Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul, Amapá), Argentina (Tucumán) and Paraguayan Chaco, while male in late Jul in Amapá and birds in late Aug-late Sept in Santa Cruz were in non-breeding condition. Nest in various types of cavity, from natural hole in tree and old hole of woodpecker (Picidae) to cavity in cement column, bridge support or other man-made structure, entrance generally quite low, from near ground level to 4 m above, and often narrow (e.g. 8 × 4 cm) but may be enlarged and rounded, cavity depth 20–160 cm; eggs placed on bed of leaves, grasses, bark or wood chips, sometimes of eucalyptus (Eucalyptus), that may lie atop thick bed of similar but coarser flakes. Clutch 3–4 dull-white eggs, average 25·5 × 19 mm; chick hatches naked and, like those of congeners, is quite vocal.

Not globally threatened. Fairly common to locally common throughout most of range, but uncommon at some sites. As it avoids dense forest, it is often uncommon in areas that are primarily wooded with only scattered openings (e.g. along S edge of Amazonia); likewise rare in Alto Paraná of Paraguay, and apparently scarce at isolated Sipaliwini Savanna, in S Surinam; recorded only once in SW Buenos Aires, in Argentina. Given its preference for open areas, only moderately sensitive to human disturbance; even expanded its range into coastal Rio de Janeiro following deforestation. Similarly, seems not to be adversely affected by forest fragmentation in S Brazil and, at least at some sites, encountered more frequently in smaller fragments than in larger ones. At one site in Brazilian cerrado, all 3 birds ringed were resighted within 100 m of their previous territories within 6 months of woodland being burnt, revealing adaptability to early-successional growth that is atypical of woodcreepers.