Buff-browed Foliage-gleaner Syndactyla rufosuperciliata Scientific name definitions

The Buff-browed Foliage-gleaner is the southernmost member of the genus Syndactyla. It has a disjunct distribution with one population in moist forest in he Andes, and the other found in lowlands of southeastern South America. The vocalizations of members of these two populations are similar, but no systematic analysis of voice has been performed in this species. These birds are found alone or in pairs, sometimes as family groups. They have a loud and “skidding” vocalization that is neither a trill nor a chatter; it is strident and distinctive in nature. The bird itself is quite attractive when seen well, although in the shadows or at a distance it appears largely as a stocky brown bird without any obvious feature. Up close the bill is thick and somewhat upcurved, with a grey base to the lower mandible; the bill shape itself is unusual when first noticed. Below it has a bright white throat and pale brownish-olive breast and belly with white streaking. The face is brownish with an obvious buffy or creamy post-ocular stripe that reaches well back towards the nape. Otherwise it is uniform and brownish save for the rufous tail. The tail itself is broad and rounded at the tip. Buff-browed Foliage-gleaners like dense shrubbery and they tend to keep to the lower story in the forest or forest edge. They have a keen preference for foraging on vines, as well as dead leaf clusters.

17–18 cm; 22–33 g. Nominate race has tawny-buff eyering contiguous with paler supercilium that extends, broken, posteriorly to nape, hint of supercilium in front of eye; rest of face brownish with irregular buff markings; crown dull olive-brown, hint of whitish shaft streaks on centre of rear crown, faint collar of pale spotting; back to uppertail-coverts olive-brown; wings mostly rich olivaceous brown; tail graduated, shafts slightly stiffened basally, slightly pointed tips, distal 1–2 mm without barbs (may vanish with wear), dull rufous; throat whitish, some feathers with narrow but distinct brownish tips; breast buffy whitish, with olive-brownish feather margins producing scalloped look; belly olive-brownish with broad, blurred buffy-whitish streaks, fading posteriorly; flanks slightly darker, less streaked, undertail-coverts with broader streaks, tinged ochraceous; iris brown to dark brown; upper mandible brown to dark grey to black, lower mandible whitish to blue-grey; tarsus and toes olive to brownish-grey. Sexes alike. Juvenile described as spotted rather than streaked below. Race acrita is like nominate, but browner, more olivaceous (less rufescent) above, tail darker, more chestnut, underparts darker and more olivaceous, belly streaking more prominent, supercilium slightly paler; <em>oleaginea</em> differs from nominate in having brown of underparts more olivaceous, streaks below narrower and more elongated; cabanisi has crown darker, supercilium richer ochraceous, back slightly darker richer brown, uppertail-coverts suffused with chestnut, tail slightly darker, more chestnut, wings warmer brown with chestnut tinge on coverts and secondaries, throat more buff-tinged, brown of underparts darker, richer, more ochraceous, streaking more tawny-buff, juvenile described as having darker upperparts and darker feather margins below than adult, another (of “similis”) as having paler, greyer upperparts, paler supercilium, more sharply defined feather margins below.

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

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.

In Andes, montane evergreen forest and second growth, often with Chusquea bamboo; mostly 1300–2500 m, locally to 1000 m in C Bolivia. In SE part of range (nominate race, acrita), tropical lowland evergreen forest, gallery forest and secondary forest, to 2000 m.

Resident.

Arthropods; tent caterpillars recorded. Forages singly or in pairs, sometimes (Andes) to possibly usually (lowlands) in mixed-species flocks; primarily in undergrowth, but ranges to subcanopy and occasionally even down to ground. Gleans items from branches, dead leaves and other debris, and epiphytes; occasionally hammers branches.

Song a loud, fast, accelerating series, “kuh-kuh-kuh-kihkihkihkikkikkikku”, starting faintly and ascending, then louder and quavering or descending, variable in length, c. 1·5–2·5 seconds; at least superficially similar throughout range. Call described as “kssr”, alarm as sharp “set” or “setet”.

Eggs in Nov in NW Argentina, nestlings in Nov in SE Brazil and fledgling in Aug in S Peru. Presumably monogamous. Three nest-sites documented, in hole 5 m up in rotting branch, 2·7 m up in hole in wall of building, and c. 2 m up in vertical pipe 11 cm in diameter; also reported to use old hole of woodpecker (Picidae); one nest described, a shallow cup made of small twigs. Clutch 2–4 eggs.

Not globally threatened. Fairly common to common in most of its range; rare in Paraguay and N Peru. Occurs in numerous protected areas, including Ybicuí National Park, in Paraguay, Aparados da Serra National Park and Serra do Mar State Park, in Brazil, and Calilegua National Park and Urugua-í and La Araucaria Provincial Parks, in Argentina.