Western woodhaunter

Appearance

The western woodhaunter is 17 to 18 cm long and weighs about 35 g. It is a fairly large member of its genus and has a shortish and heavy bill. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies "A. v. virgatus" have a mostly dark brownish face with golden-buff streaks, a pale eyering and stripe behind the eye, and grizzled brownish and buff lores. Their crown is blackish brown with golden-buff streaks that widen as they extend onto the blackish brown back. Their rump is dull rusty olivaceous brown, their uppertail coverts deep reddish cinnamon, and their tail a lighter cinnamon than the uppertail coverts. Their wings are dull cinnamon brown with brownish black on the flight feathers. Their chin and throat are pale fawn with faint brownish feather edges. Their breast is a deeper fawn with dusky feather edges. Their belly, flanks, and undertail coverts are olivaceous brown. Their iris is brown, their bill brownish black with some yellow on the mandible, and their legs and feet brown. Subspecies "A. v. nicaraguae" has blackish brown upperparts and slightly lighter underparts than the nominate. "A. v. assimilis" has a more reddish brown back than the nominate, a darker chestnut-rufous rump, uppertail coverts, and tail, and a strong olivaceous wash on the breast. "A. v. cordobae" has an unstreaked back and nearly unmarked underparts.

Distribution

The subspecies of the western woodhaunter are found thus:

⤷  "A. v. nicaraguae": southeastern Nicaragua with a few records in Honduras
⤷  "A. v. virgatus": Costa Rica into Panama as far as Veraguas Province
⤷  "A. v. assimilis": from Eastern Panama south through western Colombia and most of the length of western Ecuador
⤷  "A. v. cordobae": northern Colombia's Córdoba, Antioquia, Bolívar, Santander, and Boyacá departments

Status

The IUCN has assessed the western woodhaunter as being of Least Concern. It has a large range, but its population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified. It occurs in a few protected areas.

Habitat

The western woodhaunter inhabits humid forest and woodlands in foothills and the lower montane zone. In elevation it mostly occurs below 1,100 m, but locally reaches about 1,500 m in Costa Rica, Panama, and Ecuador.

Reproduction

The western woodhaunter's breeding season has not been fully defined but includes at least December to February and may begin much earlier. It excavates a tunnel in an earthen bank and builds a shallow cup nest of leaf rachides in a chamber at its end. The clutch size, incubation period, and time to fledging are not known. Both parents incubate the clutch and provision nestlings.

Food

The western woodhaunter's diet is not known in detail but includes arthropods and small vertebrates. It usually forages singly and usually as part of a mixed-species feeding flock, from the forest understory to its middle levels. It searches for prey along large branches and vines, gleaning and probing among dead leaves, epiphytes, palm fronds and other vegetation. It has been noted "burrowing" into clumps and flinging aside debris to reach prey.