Appearance
The plushcap is about 14 cm long with a chestnut body and a golden-yellow forecrown . From the nape to the wings is black. The males and females look the same but the males are slightly larger than the females.The bill is broad and black. The body is a chestnut color with a bright golden-yellow forecrown. The forecrown is made up of stiff feathers. It has been speculated that these short, dense feathers are less susceptible to feather wear and more resistant to moisture than typical feathers. This may be an adaptation for its specialized feeding mode, in which it probes into dense whorls of bamboo for its prey items.
Juveniles are just duller versions of their parents. They forage for insects inside the bamboo. They will eat small insects, berries, and small plant matter. The overall length averages 14 cm and weight averages 14.1 grams.
Distribution
Plushcaps are considered of least concern due to their wide range in South America but it is thought that the number of individuals is declining. They tend to be common in their range.They are found at high elevations from northern Venezuela south to Argentina, including the coastal mountains of Venezuela and the Andes of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and extreme northwestern Argentina. They live in montane forests and secondary forests near bamboo.
Status
Plushcaps are considered of least concern due to their wide range in South America but it is thought that the number of individuals is declining. They tend to be common in their range.Habitat
Plushcaps prefer to live in montane forest or secondary woodland by ''Chusquea'' bamboo which they use to find food. They stay at high elevation, between 1800–3500 m.Food
The diet consists of small insects, berries, and plant material, and they typically forage in small groups within mixed species flocks of wide diversity. The plushcap looks for insects by probing and pushing its bill into the stems and leaf nodes of the bamboo and prying them open. They also forage by running their bill along the stems of bamboo with a series of tiny biting motions. Plushcaps will often hang upside down while searching for the insects.References:
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