Rufous-breasted Wren
Encyclopedia
The Rufous-breasted Wren, Pheugopedius rutilus, is a small songbird
of the wren family
(Troglodytidae). It was formerly placed in the genus
Thryothorus which in the old, broad sense was a motley assemblage of similar-looking wrens.
It is found in the tropical New World
from Costa Rica
and Panama
east to Colombia
, Venezuela
, Trinidad
and Tobago
. It barely reaches into Amazonia e.g. in Colombia
, being otherwise limited to the NW of the northern Andes
and its neighboring mountain ranges.
Adult Rufous-breasted Wrens are 5.5 in (14 cm) long and weigh 0.56 oz (16 g). They have grey-brown upperparts and black bars on the tail. The throat and face sides are speckled black and white. The breast is rufous, the belly is brownish white and the flanks brown. They have a faint line over the eye and a short thin bill. The face pattern and rufous breast are the best distinctions from the similarly sized House Wren
.
The Rufous-breasted Wren's song is a musical whistle of six to ten notes, too-see-HEEear-too-see, too-see-HEEear-too-see . The contact call is a sharp cheep, given as these skulking birds forage in vegetation for insect
s and centipede
s.
Pheugopedius rutilus tobagensis, found on Tobago, is larger and has darker underparts than the nominate subspecies P. r. rutilus of Trinidad and northern Venezuela. There are five other mainland forms to the west of these.
The breeding habitat is forest undergrowth and thickets, also utilizing fragmented forest and secondary growth
. The nest is a large sphere of leaves and grass with a side entrance, concealed in tangled vegetation. The female incubates the clutch of two to four brown-blotched white eggs, and the naked young take 16 days to fledge.
Songbird
A songbird is a bird belonging to the suborder Passeri of the perching birds . Another name that is sometimes seen as scientific or vernacular name is Oscines, from Latin oscen, "a songbird"...
of the wren family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
(Troglodytidae). It was formerly placed in the genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
Thryothorus which in the old, broad sense was a motley assemblage of similar-looking wrens.
It is found in the tropical New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
from Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
and Panama
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
east to Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
, Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
and Tobago
Tobago
Tobago is the smaller of the two main islands that make up the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located in the southern Caribbean, northeast of the island of Trinidad and southeast of Grenada. The island lies outside the hurricane belt...
. It barely reaches into Amazonia e.g. in Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
, being otherwise limited to the NW of the northern Andes
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
and its neighboring mountain ranges.
Adult Rufous-breasted Wrens are 5.5 in (14 cm) long and weigh 0.56 oz (16 g). They have grey-brown upperparts and black bars on the tail. The throat and face sides are speckled black and white. The breast is rufous, the belly is brownish white and the flanks brown. They have a faint line over the eye and a short thin bill. The face pattern and rufous breast are the best distinctions from the similarly sized House Wren
House Wren
The House Wren, Troglodytes aedon, is a very small songbird of the wren family, Troglodytidae. It occurs from Canada to southernmost South America, and is thus the most widely distributed bird in the Americas. It occurs in most suburban areas in its range and it is the single most common wren...
.
The Rufous-breasted Wren's song is a musical whistle of six to ten notes, too-see-HEEear-too-see, too-see-HEEear-too-see . The contact call is a sharp cheep, given as these skulking birds forage in vegetation for insect
Insect
Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...
s and centipede
Centipede
Centipedes are arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda of the subphylum Myriapoda. They are elongated metameric animals with one pair of legs per body segment. Despite the name, centipedes can have a varying number of legs from under 20 to over 300. Centipedes have an odd number of pairs of...
s.
Pheugopedius rutilus tobagensis, found on Tobago, is larger and has darker underparts than the nominate subspecies P. r. rutilus of Trinidad and northern Venezuela. There are five other mainland forms to the west of these.
The breeding habitat is forest undergrowth and thickets, also utilizing fragmented forest and secondary growth
Secondary forest
A secondary forest is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a major disturbance such as fire, insect infestation, timber harvest or windthrow, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident...
. The nest is a large sphere of leaves and grass with a side entrance, concealed in tangled vegetation. The female incubates the clutch of two to four brown-blotched white eggs, and the naked young take 16 days to fledge.