Scale-throated Earthcreeper

About the Scale-throated Earthcreeper

The scale-throated earthcreeper (Upucerthia dumetaria) is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, and possibly Uruguay. The scale-throated earthcreeper has three subspecies, the nominate U. d. dumetaria (Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 1832), U. d. peruana (Zimmer, JT, 1954), and U. d. hypoleuca (Reichenbach, 1853). What is now the Patagonian forest earthcreeper (U. saturatior) was considered a fourth subspecies until about 2009.

The scale-throated earthcreeper is 20 to 22 cm (7.9 to 8.7 in) long and weighs 37 to 55.5 g (1.3 to 2.0 oz). It is a large earthcreeper with a long and very decurved bill. The sexes' plumages are alike. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a whitish supercilium on an otherwise grayish white and dark grayish brown face. Their crown is a dull dark grayish brown with some fainter mottling. Their nape, back, rump, and uppertail coverts are uniform dull brownish gray. Their tail's central feathers are dull grayish brown and the rest blackish brown with dull rufous tips; the amount of rufous increases from inner to outer feathers.... Wikipedia →