Alagoas foliage-gleaner

Philydor novaesi

Photo by Ciro Albano (NE Brazil Birding)

Common name:
Alagoas foliage-gleaner (en); limpa-folha-do-nordeste (pt); anabate d'Alagoas (fr); ticotico de Alagoas (es); Alagoas-blattspäher (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Furnariidae

Range:
This species is endemic to eastern Brazil, only being found in Alagoas and Pernambuco.

Size:
These birds are 18 cm long and weigh 30-38 g.

Habitat:
The Alagoas foliage-gleaner is found along the edges of clearings in interior moist tropical forests, and sometimes also in old secondary forests, at altitudes of 400-550 m.

Diet:
They glean the foliage and bark of trees and dead wood in search of adult and larval insects, namely ants, beetles and grasshoppers.

Breeding:
There is virtually no information regarding the breeding behaviour of the Alagoas foliage-gleaner. Fledged young have been found in January.

Conservation:
IUCN status - CR (Critically Endangered)
This species has a very small breeding range and the global population is estimated at just 50-250 individuals. This species was only discovered in 1979 but the population is believed to be declining rapidly owing to the widespread and ongoing clearance of forest through logging, felling for charcoal and for conversion to sugar cane plantations and pastures. Beside habitat destruction and fragmentation, this species may also be threatened by climate change as distribution lays close to the maximum altitude within its range.