This elusive, Near-threatened bird of high elevation forests in the Colombian and Ecuadorean Andes is also known as the Star-chested Treerunner. We saw ours up the road from the famous Montezuma Rainforest lodge in the Choco Biosphere region of Colombia.
This interesting bird is found at high elevation in some disjunct populations from Venezuela down to the northern end of Peru. It has an amazing song that seems to get louder and louder so that it gives you the impression it is getting closer to you. Although it is very hard to see, I was lucky enough to have obtained photos on both my trips to Colombia, one in the Santa Marta mountains in 2019 and one from the western cordillera in 2024.
I only obtained one quick pic of this Colombian endemic and generally hard to see bird. Oddly enough it is one of the only 5 species in the Genus which also has the Chestnut-capped Foliage-gleaner which I saw in Brazil, but in my opinion they look nothing like each other. The Santa Marta Foliage-gleaner has a Vulnerable status per IUCN classification mostly due to its small range in the Santa Marta mountains which is also prone to habitat fragmentation due to farming. Thankfully about 40% of its range is protected.
This species is also called the Henna-capped Foliage-gleaner. It resides in south-central South America mostly in Brazil which is where I saw this one in the Pantanal. As with most foliage-gleaners they are typically very hard to see so we were chuffed to have this one perch out in the open. They are very loud so finding them is easy, but seeing them is another thing altogether.
There are five species in this Genus of which I have seen two at the time of writing this. The other is the Scaly-throated Foliage-gleaner which is considered a sister species. As you can guess, the Montane version likes high elevation forests in the Andes of Venezuela down through Bolivia. I had mine in Colombia.
Between the common name and the Latin name, this bird has one of the longest names I have seen! It is only fitting then that it is one of the birds I have seen for the least time possible, just enough to snap this pic. Like most foliage-gleaners they are very skulky and difficult to see. There is some debate on whether the sister species of Montane Foliage-gleaner is conspecific or not but the eBird taxonomy has them as separate species. We saw ours at Ukuku Lodge in Colombia.
Here is another species of Cinclodes I was able to see in the short time I was in Patagonia before boarding a ship to Antarctica. If you are not familiar with Cinclodes, you could easily confuse this with the Buff-winged Cinclodes which I also saw in the same area. However, this species does have a darker belly and the throat and breast white markings are more defined among other field marks.
This is one of the larger Cinclodes species which shares habitats with the Chestnut-winged Cinclodes in the high altitude grasslands of the Andes in Colombia and Ecuador. If you see a Cinclodes in this area sitting on a fence post, it probably is this one.
The Chestnut-winged Cinclodes was one of the other species split out from the previously called Bar-winged Cinclodes. This one is a resident of the high altitude grasslands in the Andes of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru. Below are two different individuals from two different open habitats in Colombia.
This species was split out with two other species from what was previously known as the Bar-winged Cinclodes. It lives in the very southern parts of South America including Patagonia where I saw these ones on a short stop before embarking on the ship to Antarctica.
The Rufous Hornero lives in the southeast portions of South America including the Pantanal in Brazil which is where I saw many of them. They and their cousins are the reason the Family is called Ovenbirds. They craft clay nests that resemble wood-fired ovens. Horno is the Spanish word for oven.
The Pale-legged Hornero is one of the 8 species in the Genus Fernarius which is the Horneros. Hornero comes from the Spanish for oven or Horno. The Hornero nest is a clay structure that resembles a wood-fired oven. These birds collectively are the reason why the family is called Ovenbirds, which is completely unrelated to what we call an Ovenbird in the US. We only saw a handful of the Pale-legged Horneros on our trip to the Pantanal in Brazil. They basically look a lot like the more common Rufous Hornero but with a nice white stripe above the eye and pink or pale colored legs versus the darker legs of the Rufous.
The Streaked Xenops has a wide range from Costa Rica all the way down to southern Brazil. It has eleven sub-species with some specializing in montane habitats in the Andes and others in dry gallery forests. This one was in montane habitat in Colombia.
This Xenops is found in Central America and northern South America. There are currently 5 species in this Genus (Xenops). We had ours in central Colombia at the famous Montezuma Rainforest Lodge.
This high elevation woodcreeper ranges in the Andes from Venezuela to Bolivia. It is found in montane (duh) habitats from 4k ft all the way up to 10k ft. There are nine recognized sub-species.
This species of woodcreeper thankfully does not mind being out in the open allowing many chances for photographs. It ranges across the interior of South America. We had them on our trip to the Pantanal.
The Streak-headed Woodcreeper ranges throughout Central America and the northern parts of South America. I photographed this one in the central part of Colombia. This species has seven sub-species in the complex, opening it up for future splits.
The Red-billed Scythebill has a wide range all over South America but I have only seen one. This is another species that has the potential for future taxonomic splits with 12 known sub-species. This one was in the Pantanal in Brazil.
The Buff-throated Woodcreeper is one of the many species in South America that is a mess taxonomically. If you look at the Wiki entry it would have you believe this species only inhabits the far east of Brazil and a disjunct population in northern South America. If you look at the eBird visual, it shows a far greater range across much of the northern half of South America. The latter works better for me as I did see it in the Pantanal in Brazil which is smack dab in the middle. This confusion stems from the fact that this bird is placed in a different taxonomy depending on which authority you follow. I follow eBird which uses Clements taxonomy.
The Great Rufous Woodcreeper takes the prize as the largest woodcreeper in its sub-family. It sits in the same genus as the also large Strong-billed Woodcreeper but doesn't have much overlap if any in its range. The Great Rufous Woodcreeper lives in south central South America which is basically the area around the Pantanal. We saw the below birds in the Brazilian Pantanal.
This huge woodcreeper is one of the largest in size in its family (woodcreepers). It also has one of the largest ranges across much of South America and some of Central America. Consequently, it has a huge potential for a future split when they finish doing DNA studies. Currently there are 23 sub-species within the promeropirhynchus Species designation. We saw the below bird during my first trip to Colombia.
The Planalto Woodcreeper gave me trouble with decent photographs but we did see several of them during our trip to the Pantanal in Brazil. They do range across a large geography in eastern South America including Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. The genus Dendrocolaptes includes 5 species. Planalto just means high, flat land or a high plateau.
There is something more satisfying about birds you find on your own compared to birds you see on an organized tour with a guide. This was one of the birds I found while on a surfing trip in Costa Rica. It is one of the better shots I have taken of any birds in 2013 when I had an old Canon Rebel.
The Tatama Tapaculo is another Colombian endemic that was only recently described by science. It was first seen in 1992 but only formally described in 2017. It inhabits a relatively small range in the Western Andes which is why it is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN list.
This Colombian endemic was only described by science in 2005! It was previously thrown in with the Ecuadorean Tapaculo complex but close comparison of recorded songs revealed it was in fact a separate species. Although my photos are not great, they are better than the Wikipedia page photos! That just exemplifies how difficult it is to photograph tapaculos in general.
Tapaculos are notoriously hard to see and if you do they are usually darting in the undergrowth making getting a decent photo agonizingly difficult. This photo was the best out of about a hundred! We saw this Ocellated Tapaculo in Colombia. They range from Venezuela to Peru in the Andes. They are the largest of the Tapaculos.
This small and exceedingly cute Antpitta is found in Colombia and Ecuador. As you can see this is one of the species that comes to feeders and the place we visited in Colombia clearly had this one well trained. It is one of ten species of small Antpittas in the genus Grallaricula.
This is the type of picture that people would get of Antpittas before they started feeding and luring them in for photos. We actually had these on our first trip to Colombia in the Santa Marta range and then again on my second trip in the eastern cordillera. On both occasions the looks were similar. They can be found in Colombia and Venezuela.
The Boyaca Antpitta is super interesting because it is one of very few Antpittas that are not hard to see out in the open without any type luring them out. They inhabit mostly open Paramo habitat so hiding in the forest is not an option for them. Their range is restricted to the Eastern Andes at high elevation (9000 to 13000 feet). They are a Colombian endemic. We saw ours in the famous Sumapaz National Park.
