The northern barred woodcreeper is a sub-oscine passerine bird in subfamily Dendrocolaptinae of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found from southern Mexico through Central America to Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador.
Region
Mesoamerica and northern South America
Typical Environment
Occurs from southern Mexico through Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama into northern Colombia, northwestern Venezuela, and western Ecuador. Prefers humid lowland and foothill evergreen forests and tall mature second growth. Often forages in the forest interior but will use edges and riparian corridors. Regularly associates with army-ant swarms and mixed-species flocks. Uses large trees with lianas and cavities for nesting and roosting.
Altitude Range
Sea level to 1500 m
Climate Zone
Tropical
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
This large woodcreeper often attends army-ant swarms, snatching insects and other small creatures flushed from the leaf litter. It uses its stiff tail feathers as a prop while hitching up trunks, much like a woodpecker. The species was split from the Amazonian barred woodcreeper and is the northern representative of the barred complex.
Temperament
shy and secretive
Flight Pattern
short, direct flights with rapid wingbeats between trunks
Social Behavior
Usually solitary or in pairs, frequently joins mixed-species foraging flocks and follows army ants. Nests in natural cavities or old woodpecker holes; both sexes likely participate in nest duties. Highly arboreal, spending most time climbing trunks and large branches.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
Delivers a loud, clear series of descending whistles, often starting strong and tapering. Calls include sharp, piercing notes given singly or in short sequences within dense forest.
Plumage
Heavily barred brown and buff from head to underparts with warm rufous wings and tail; plumage appears scaly at close range. Feathers are sleek with fine, crisp barring and a contrasting unbarred rufous tail.
Diet
Primarily takes arthropods such as beetles, orthopterans, spiders, and cockroaches. Occasionally captures small vertebrates like lizards or frogs flushed by army ants. Gleans and probes from bark, crevices, and epiphytes while hitching up trunks. Snatches prey on the ground near ant swarms but rarely lingers on open leaf litter.
Preferred Environment
Forages on large trunks and limbs in mature humid forest, especially where lianas and epiphytes are abundant. Frequently operates in the midstory to subcanopy but will descend toward the ground around active ant swarms.
