The cocoa woodcreeper (Xiphorhynchus susurrans) is a passerine bird in the woodcreeper subfamily of the ovenbird family. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the buff-throated woodcreeper (X. guttatus).
It is typically 23 cm long, and weighs 37 g. The head and neck are buff-streaked dark brown, the upper back is liver-brown, and the rest of the upperparts, wings and tail are rufous. The underparts are olive-brown with buff streaks on the breast. The bill is long, black, slightly decurved, and hooked at the tip. The normal call is a loud kew-kew-kew-kew.
The bird breeds in tropical Central and South America in Trinidad, Tobago, northern Colombia and northern Venezuela. It is a common and widespread bird of forests and cultivated land with trees.
The cocoa woodcreeper builds a bark-lined nest in a tree hole or hollow stump and lays two white eggs. It is an insectivore which feeds on ants and other insects and spiders. It feeds low in trees or on the ground, usually alone, but groups of up to a dozen birds will follow columns of army ants.
The cocoa woodcreeper was formerly included in the larger buff-throated woodcreeper, X. guttatus but has been recognized as specifically distinct. Eight subspecies are normally recognized, falling into two groups. It is not quite clear how these are related to each other and to the buff-throated woodcreeper.
Subspecies
The cocoa woodcreeper (Xiphorhynchus susurrans) is a passerine bird in the woodcreeper subfamily of the ovenbird family. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the buff-throated woodcreeper (X. guttatus).
