Santa Marta foliage-gleaner
The Santa Marta foliage-gleaner is a vulnerable species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is endemic to Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia.
Taxonomy and systematics
What is now the Santa Marta foliage-gleaner was originally described as a species in genus Automolus but in the early twentieth century it was lumped into the ruddy foliage-gleaner. Following the data in a 2008 publication, it was restored to full species status. More recent genetic data place both firmly in Clibanornis. The Santa Marta, ruddy, and the Henna-hooded foliage-gleaner form a trio of sister species.The Santa Marta foliage-gleaner is monotypic.
Description
The Santa Marta foliage-gleaner is long. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a reddish brown face with slightly paler lores, faint brighter markings on the ear coverts, and a ring of bare blue skin around the eye. Their crown and back are medium brown. Their wing coverts and flight feathers are medium reddish brown with rufous edges. Their tail is dark chestnut. Their throat is pale rufous that blends to the reddish brown breast. Their lower breast and belly are light rufescent brown. Their iris is dark brown to grayish brown, their maxilla black to gray, their mandible pinkish gray to dusky horn, and their legs and feet brown to grayish olive.Distribution and habitat
The Santa Marta foliage-gleaner is found only in the isolated Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in northern Colombia. It inhabits the undergrowth of semi-humid forest, both primary and secondary, and also occurs in shade coffee plantations. It appears to favor dark ravines. Its elevational range is about.Behavior
Movement
The Santa Marta foliage-gleaner is assumed to be a year-round resident.Feeding
The Santa Marta foliage-gleaner's diet has not been detailed but is assumed to be arthropods and also small vertebrates like that of the ruddy foliage-gleaner. It usually forages alone or in pairs and only rarely joins mixed-species feeding flocks. It typically forages in dense vegetation within of the ground where it takes its prey mostly from dead leaves.Breeding
Aside from the discovery of an active nest in February, nothing is known about the Santa Marta foliage-gleaner's breeding biology.Vocalization
The Santa Marta foliage-gleaner's song is very different from those of its former fellow ruddy foliage-gleaner subspecies; the differences were part of the evidence for its being recognized as a species. A very detailed description isIts calls are "churrs, both two- or three-noted while foraging but three- to four-noted in alarm" and are also quite different from those of ruddy foliage-gleaner.