Brown-billed Scythebill

The Brown-billed Scythebill, a member of the ovenbird family Furnariidae, is a slim, medium-sized woodcreeper with a strikingly long and curved bill. This bird, with its dramatic silhouette, is an intriguing sight in the forests it inhabits.

Identification Tips

Adults of the Brown-billed Scythebill can be identified by their buff and blackish-brown streaked face and neck, with a faint buffy supercilium. The crown and nape are dark brown, with buff streaks that extend onto the upper back. The back and wing coverts are a deep reddish brown, while the rump is cinnamon-rufous, and the wings and tail are rufous-chestnut. The throat is deep buff with dusky streaks, and the underparts transition from dark brown to olive-brown, becoming more rufescent towards the lower belly. Juveniles are darker, more olivaceous, and have a shorter, darker bill.

Habitat

The Brown-billed Scythebill is found in humid evergreen forests, primarily in highlands but occasionally in lowlands. It has a preference for middle-elevation cloud forests, where it frequents the interior and edges, and is less commonly seen in mature secondary forests.

Distribution

This species is distributed across several countries in Latin America, including Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela. Its range is discontinuous, with various subspecies occupying specific regions within these countries.

Behaviour

The Brown-billed Scythebill is generally a year-round resident, with some suspected elevational movements in Central America. It forages mostly alone or in pairs and is often seen as part of mixed-species feeding flocks. Its foraging technique involves hitching up trunks and vines from the understory to the subcanopy, taking prey from surfaces or probing into crevices and holes.

Song & Calls

The vocalizations of the Brown-billed Scythebill are most prominent at dawn and dusk. Its song is a complex and variable series of notes, including soft trills and loud, quavering whistles that may ascend or descend in pitch.

Breeding

The species is believed to form long-term pair bonds, with a breeding season that includes May to July. However, details of its breeding biology remain largely unknown.

Similar Species

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Diet and Feeding

The diet of the Brown-billed Scythebill consists mainly of arthropods. It employs a methodical approach to foraging, hitching up and along various substrates within its forest habitat.

Conservation Status

The IUCN has classified the Brown-billed Scythebill as Least Concern, with a large range and a population estimated to be over 500,000 mature individuals. Despite this, the population is believed to be decreasing, and the species is considered rare to uncommon and local in most of its range. It is sensitive to human disturbance and requires extensive tracts of unbroken forest, with some local risks due to habitat loss.