Bird Guide

Black-billed Treehunter vs Rusty-winged Barbtail

Black-billed Treehunter (Thripadectes melanorhynchus)

Black-billed Treehunter

Thripadectes melanorhynchus

Small44 gForest

The black-billed treehunter is 20 to 20.5 cm (7.9 to 8.1 in) long and weighs 39 to 46 g (1.4 to 1.6 oz). It is a bulky, dark furnariid with a thrush-like shape. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a mostly blackish-brown face with well-defined buff streaks and lores that are grizzled blackish brown and buff. Their crown is blackish brown with narrow buff streaks. Their back is dark brown with buff streaks and their rump dull dark brown that blends to reddish brown uppertail coverts. Their wings are rich dark brown and their tail dark chestnut-brown. Voice: The black-billed treehunter's song is "an accelerating, then decelerating, slightly descending series of c. 10–13 sharp 'kyip' notes with 'laughing' quality". The notes are sometimes paired.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Black-billed Treehunter
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Call · Napo: Napo Galeras, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Dan Vickers · CC BY 4.0
Rusty-winged Barbtail (Premnornis guttuliger)

Rusty-winged Barbtail

Premnornis guttuliger

Small16 gForest

The rusty-winged barbtail is 13 to 14.5 cm (5.1 to 5.7 in) long and weighs 13 to 17 g (0.46 to 0.60 oz). The sexes' plumages are alike. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a pale buffish or brownish buff supercilium and a dark brown stripe behind the eye; the rest of their face is streaked brown and buff. Their crown is dark olive-brown with a faint scallop pattern. The sides of their neck and upper back are brownish with pale buff spots, their lower back is browner and unspotted, their rump is brown with a faint rufescent tinge, and their uppertail coverts are chestnut. Voice: The rusty-winged barbtail is seldom vocal. What is thought to be its song is a fast, accelerating, "'tsi-tsi-tsi-si-si-sisisisisisi". Its call is described as a sharp "tseep" or "tsip" that sometimes runs into a series.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Guy Babineau · CC0

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 Treehunter and Rusty-winged Barbtail.