Bird Guide

Black-billed Scythebill vs Red-billed Scythebill

Black-billed Scythebill (Campylorhamphus falcularius)

Black-billed Scythebill

Campylorhamphus falcularius

Small43 gForest

The black-billed scythebill is 24 to 28 cm (9.4 to 11 in) long and weighs 37 to 42 g (1.3 to 1.5 oz). It is a slim, medium-sized woodcreeper with a very long, slim, dramatically decurved bill. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a thinly streaked face of buff and blackish with a narrow buffy-white supercilium. Their neck has the same colored streaks but they are coarser. Their crown and nape are blackish, with thin whitish to ochre streaks that extend onto the upper back. Their back, wing coverts, and rump are brownish to olive-brown. Voice: The black-billed scythebill's song is a "level or descending, raspy 'sree-sree-sree- -' " repeated five or six times. Its call is a "very high, piercing 'pjeetpjeet'."

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Rosario Douglas · CC BY 4.0
Red-billed Scythebill (Campylorhamphus trochilirostris)

Red-billed Scythebill

Campylorhamphus trochilirostris

Small41 gForest

The red-billed scythebill is 22 to 28 cm (8.7 to 11 in) long and weighs 30 to 55 g (1.1 to 1.9 oz). It is a slim, medium-sized woodcreeper with a very long, slim, dramatically decurved bill. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies C. t. trochilirostris have a thinly streaked face and neck with a weak supercilium. Their crown, nape, and back are reddish olive-brown, with the back being somewhat lighter. Their crown has longish whitish to ochraceous spots with narrow blackish edges; the spots narrow on the nape and become thin streaks on the upper back. Voice: Like its breeding seasons, the red-billed scythebill's songs vary widely throughout its range. One in Venezuela is "a rapid descending whinny...'we'he'he'he'he'he'he'e'e'e'e'e' ". In western Ecuador and Peru it is "a descending and gradually slowing series of fewer whistled notes, 'tuwee-tuwee-toowa-tew-tew' ".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Red-billed Scythebill
Recorded by Rosa Elena Albornoz · Uncertain · El Hatillo (near Caracas), Libertador, Capital District, Venezuela · CC0
Photo: Audrey Whitlock · CC BY 4.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Black-billed Scythebill and Red-billed Scythebill.