Ovenbirds and woodcreepers | Furnariidae

Ovenvogels en boomklimmers | Horneros y trepatroncos

Ovenbirds form a large family of tropical America that also includes the woodcreepers. In the region the family occurs only on Trinidad and Tobago, with ten species. Nearly all species are brown, rufous or olive brown, often with pale streaks or spots, and differ mainly in build, bill and behaviour. The woodcreepers, such as Cocoa, Plain-brown and Straight-billed Woodcreepers, climb up trunks like a woodpecker, supported by a stiff tail with projecting shafts; they use the bill to search for insects in bark and moss. Spinetails, such as Yellow-chinned and Pale-breasted Spinetails, are small, long-tailed birds of scrub and marsh that build large, closed nests of twigs. A leaftosser, which searches the leaf litter on the forest floor, and a xenops also occur. The diet consists mainly of insects. Song is usually simple, with rattles, trills or repeated notes. Woodcreepers nest in tree cavities. Identification is by silhouette, bill, behaviour and voice.