The plain-brown woodcreeper, is a sub-oscine passerine bird in subfamily Dendrocolaptinae of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in the tropical New World from Honduras through South America to central Brazil and in Trinidad and Tobago.
Region
Central America and northern South America
Typical Environment
Occurs from Honduras south through Panama and widely across northern and western South America, including Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and much of Amazonian Brazil, and also on Trinidad. It inhabits humid lowland and foothill evergreen forests, including terra firme and seasonally flooded várzea. Frequently uses mature secondary forest, gallery forest, and forest edges but avoids open habitats. Often associates with mixed-species flocks and follows army-ant swarms in the forest interior.
Altitude Range
0–1500 m
Climate Zone
Tropical
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
A widespread Neotropical woodcreeper, it is famous for regularly attending army-ant swarms to snatch flushed prey. Despite its plain looks, subtle differences in voice and size separate multiple subspecies across its range. It creeps up trunks using its stiff tail as a prop and often sally-gleans insects from the understory. Identification relies heavily on its simple, whistled song and uniform brown plumage lacking bold streaks.
Temperament
shy and unobtrusive
Flight Pattern
short rapid wingbeats between trunks; weak, low, and direct flights within the forest
Social Behavior
Usually solitary or in pairs while foraging, and commonly attends mixed-species flocks. Regularly follows army-ant swarms, perching low to midstory and darting to seize prey. Nests in natural cavities such as tree holes or rotten stumps; both sexes participate in nest duties.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
Song is a simple, clear series of mellow whistles, often slightly descending and evenly spaced. Calls include soft peet or seep notes given from low to mid canopy. Vocalizations carry well in dense forest and are key for detection.
Plumage
Uniform plain brown to warm rufescent-brown with slightly paler throat and more rufescent wings and tail; lacks streaks or spots typical of many woodcreepers.
Diet
Primarily hunts arthropods including beetles, ants, spiders, cockroaches, and orthopterans. Occasionally takes small vertebrates such as tiny lizards or frogs. Captures prey by sally-gleaning from trunks and branches or dropping to the leaf litter to seize items flushed by ants.
Preferred Environment
Feeds within the shaded interior of humid forest from understory to lower midstory, especially along ant swarms. Also forages on trunks, fallen logs, and dense tangles near the forest floor.
