Appearance
The Pacific hornero is 19 to 20 cm long and weighs about 45 to 63 g. It is a medium-sized hornero with a long and somewhat decurved bill. The sexes' plumages are alike. Adults have a wide whitish supercilium, a narrow brownish gray stripe through the eye, tawny ear coverts, and a tawny-rufous malar area. Their crown is gray-brown. Their back, rump, and wing and uppertail coverts are bright orange rufous. Their tail is chestnut. Their flight feathers are blackish with a wide rufous band. Their throat is white and the rest of their underparts pale cinnamon-buff. Their iris is yellow to whitish, their maxilla mostly dark, their mandible pale, and their legs and feet pale brownish gray.Distribution
The Pacific hornero is found from far southwestern Colombia's Nariño Department south through western Ecuador and into northwestern Peru as far as Ancash Department. It first appeared in Colombia in 2012 and is possibly expanding its range even further north.Status
The IUCN has assessed the Pacific hornero as being of Least Concern. It has a fairly large range, and though its population size is not known it is believed to be increasing. No immediate threats have been identified. It is considered uncommon to very common. It "[b]enefits from moderate anthropogenic habitat alteration, and...it has extended its range into deforested areas". It occurs in several protected areas.Habitat
The Pacific hornero inhabits a wide variety of semi-open to open landscapes, mostly in the lowlands. These include forest and woodlands along rivers, the edges of secondary forest, agricultural areas, and parks and gardens in towns. It favors areas of middling humidity, usually near water, and shuns very humid and very arid areas. In elevation it mostly occurs below 1,500 m, though in Ecuador's Loja Province it reaches 2,300 m in the subtropic zone.Reproduction
The Pacific hornero's breeding season appears to include at least January to April. Though its nest has not been formally described, it is an "oven" of mud with an inner chamber lined with dry plant matter. Both members of a pair construct it, typically on a tree branch but also on horizontal structures like the crossbars of utility poles. The clutch size is two or three eggs. The incubation period, time to fledging, and details of parental care are not known.Food
The Pacific hornero's diet is mostly a variety of arthropods. It also includes other small invertebrates like snails and there are records of the species catching small fish in shallow pools near the end of the dry season. It forages singly or in pairs while walking on the ground, turning over leaves to glean and probe for its prey.References:
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