White-barred Piculet Picumnus cirratus Scientific name definitions

The White-barred Piculet inhabits open forest and scrub. This species has a disjunct distribution, with populations in northern South America in southwestern Guyana, and in French Guiana and northeastern Brazil; and in south central South America, from Bolivia east to southern Brazil.  The White-barred Piculet has a black crown (with a red forecrown in the male), dull brown upperparts and cheek patches,  and white underparts that are barred with black.  Their diet consists mainly of the larvae and eggs of wood-boring beetles, as well as ants and possibly sap.  White-barred Piculets forage by audibly hammering in order to excavate holes in trees and shrubs.  The White-barred Piculet has a complex taxonomy; it includes three subspecies groups (in northern, south central, and southeastern South America), each of which perhaps is a separate species. The White-barred Piculet also is closely similar to several other species of piculet. The White-barred may hybridize with several other similar species of piculet where their distributions come in contact, such as with Varzea Piculet Picumnus varzae along the Amazon River; with Ocellated Piculet Picumnus dorbignyanus in Bolivia; with Ochre-collared Piculet Picumnus temminckii in southeastern Brazil; and with White-wedged Piculet Picumnus albosquamatus in Bolivia.

10 cm; 6·3–12 g (1 Pagano, L. G., and S. A. Salvador (2017). Datos de pesos de aves Argentinas. Parte 4. Historia Natural 7:21–43. Close ). Male has black forehead to nape, crown feathers with broad red tips often forming fairly solid patch, remainder spotted white; white to buffish nasal tufts; dark buff-brown cheeks and ear-coverts faintly barred blackish, bordered above by white stripe behind eye; buff moustachial area and neck sides barred blackish; dull brownish upperparts sometimes faintly barred, brown wing-coverts narrowly edged buffish; flight-feathers dark brown, secondaries and tertials edged buffish-white; uppertail dark brown, central feather pair with white stripe  along inner webs, outer 2–3 pairs with diagonal white subterminal area; chin and throat white to pale buff, barred blackish; rest of underparts white, belly and flanks tinged buff, all fully barred black; underwing pale brown  , coverts paler; bill fairly short, culmen slightly curved, black with distinctly paler base of lower mandible; iris dark chestnut-brown, orbital skin blue-grey; legs grey. Differs from P. dorbignyanus in browner upperparts, barred rather than scaly underparts; from P. temminckii in lack of cinnamon-buff tones above and below. Female lacks red tips on crown feathers . Juvenile  duller and darker, lacks white crown spots, tends to show more obvious barring above and heavier barring below. Race confusus has darker ear-coverts lacking white upper border, brown upperparts with pale mantle bars, very narrow pale wing edgings, well-barred throat; macconnelli  is similar above but unbarred, has deep brown ear-coverts sometimes white-spotted, heavier broader bars on moustachial area, throat and breast; thamnophiloides is greyish above, less marked below, throat and upper breast with few dark bars, flanks with variable arrowheads or Y-marks, belly almost plain; <em>tucumanus</em> has grey-brown upperparts more distinctly barred, buffier throat and breast more obscurely barred, more widely spaced black bars below, male has red restricted to forecrown, often reduced white crown spots; pilcomayensis is also greyish above , has narrower black and white barring below, barring sometimes broken  , male has reduced red on crown.

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.

• White-barred x Ochre-collared Piculet (hybrid) Picumnus cirratus x temminckii
• White-barred x White-wedged Piculet (hybrid) Picumnus cirratus x albosquamatus

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.

Frequents tall bushes and gallery forest of savannas, as well as open woodland and edges, transitional forest and scrub; race macconnelli perhaps principally in várzea forests, but also found in savanna woodland, riverine forests (3 Schunck, F., A. C. De Luca, V. Q. Piacentini, M. A. Rego, B. Rennó, and A. H. Corrêa (2011). Avifauna of two localities in the south of Amapá, Brazil, with comments on the distribution and taxonomy of some species. Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia 19(2):93–107. Close ) and second growth (capoeira) (4 Hohnwald, S. (2009). Bird records from the rural landscape of Igarapé-Açu municipality, northeastern Pará. Boletim do Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi Ciências Naturais 4(2): 119–131. Close ). Locally recorded in Eucalyptus plantations, provided some native understorey is retained (5 Machado, R.B. and Lamas, I.R. (1996). Avifauna associada a um reflorestamento de eucalipto no município de Antônio Dias, Minas Gerais. Ararajuba. 4(1): 15–22. Close ). Present from lowlands up into mountains, occurring at up to 2100 m.

Probably resident.

Small insects, including ants ; also insect larvae and eggs, especially of wood-boring beetles; possibly also sap, obtained by wounding the tip of a twig. Generally hunts singly, sometimes with mixed-species flocks; rather tame. Forages at low and middle heights, mainly in undergrowth. Seen mostly at tips of branches and on twigs, often clinging to the underside; also gathers food from vines, small trees and bamboo. Main feeding  technique is vigorous and audible hammering, whereby it excavates small holes in the substrate. Actions typical of piculets; sometimes moves downwards like a nuthatch (Sitta). Flies considerable distances between foraging sites.

High descending or long and wavering “tsirrrr” used apparently for long-range communication; also “tsirit, tsick”; drums a loud staccato on small dead stub.

Jul–Dec in N, Sept–Mar in S. Nest-hole  excavated by both sexes, at varying height but often low down (three nests were 2–6 m above ground at one site in Brazil) (6 Kirwan, G. M. (2009). Notes on the breeding ecology and seasonality of some Brazilian birds. Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia 17(2):121–136. Close ), in slender stub or narrow stem, but also recorded in broader trunk 22·5 cm wide; circular or oval entrance with dimensions 2–3·7 cm, long hole 10–20 cm deep, internal diameter 5–6·3 cm; in one case, cavity entrance  was shaded from above by large fungal growth (6 Kirwan, G. M. (2009). Notes on the breeding ecology and seasonality of some Brazilian birds. Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia 17(2):121–136. Close ); pair may be highly faithful to small area, with presumably same pair or their offspring observed nesting within 10 m area over three seasons in SE Brazil (6 Kirwan, G. M. (2009). Notes on the breeding ecology and seasonality of some Brazilian birds. Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia 17(2):121–136. Close ). Launches pecking attacks on opponents, but without hitting. Clutch 2–4 white (7 de la Peña, M. R. (1994). Guía de Aves Argentinas. Volume 3. 2nd edition. Columbiformes a Piciformes. Literature of Latin America, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Close ) eggs; no information on incubation and fledging periods, but both sexes incubate (8 Marini, M. Â., T. M. Aguilar, R. D. Andrade, L. O. Leite, M. Anciães, C. E. A. Carvalho, C. Duca, F. S. Maldonado-Coelho, and J. Gonçalves (2007). Biologia da nidificação de aves do sudeste de Minas Gerais, Brasil. Revista Brasileira de Ornitologia 15:367–376. Close ).

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Fairly common locally; locally common in Argentina; probably common in some places, but no detailed data on numbers or densities. Occurs in Itatiaia National Park, Serra do Cipó National Park, Rio Doce State Park, Nova Lombardia Biological Reserve and Sooretama Biological Reserve, in Brazil; in El Palmar National Park (9 Marateo, G., H. Povedano, and J. Alonso (2009). Inventario de las aves del Parque Nacional El Palmar, Argentina. Cotinga 31:47–60. Close ), El Rey National Park and Calilegua National Park in Argentina; and in Ybicuí National Park in Paraguay. No known threats to population as a whole; locally threatened by continuing deterioration of remnant forest habitat, e.g. in N Buenos Aires (Argentina), but elsewhere, e.g. in SE Brazil, abundance locally may increase as a result of selective logging (10 Aleixo, A. (1999). Effects of selective logging on a bird community in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Condor. 101(3): 537–548. Close ). Recently recorded (possibly pilcomayensis) in the states of Santa Catarina and W Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, as well as in Uruguay and in Argentina S to the city of Buenos Aires (11 dos Santos, C.R., de Brum, A.C., Hasenack, W., Backes, H. and Bencke, G.A. (2015). Primeiro registro de Picumnus cirratus no Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. Atualidades Ornitológicas. 183: 22. In Portuguese. Close ).