Picumnus cinnamomeus

Life-forms

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Cladus: Unikonta
Cladus: Opisthokonta
Cladus: Holozoa
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Superphylum: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Megaclassis: Osteichthyes
Cladus: Sarcopterygii
Cladus: Rhipidistia
Cladus: Tetrapodomorpha
Cladus: Eotetrapodiformes
Cladus: Elpistostegalia
Superclassis: Tetrapoda
Cladus: Reptiliomorpha
Cladus: Amniota
Classis: Reptilia
Cladus: Eureptilia
Cladus: Romeriida
Subclassis: Diapsida
Cladus: Sauria
Infraclassis: Archosauromorpha
Cladus: Crurotarsi
Divisio: Archosauria
Cladus: Avemetatarsalia
Cladus: Ornithodira
Subtaxon: Dinosauromorpha
Cladus: Dinosauriformes
Cladus: Dracohors
Cladus: Dinosauria
Cladus: Saurischia
Cladus: Eusaurischia
Subordo: Theropoda
Cladus: Neotheropoda
Cladus: Averostra
Cladus: Tetanurae
Cladus: Avetheropoda
Cladus: Coelurosauria
Cladus: Tyrannoraptora
Cladus: Maniraptoromorpha
Cladus: Maniraptoriformes
Cladus: Maniraptora
Cladus: Pennaraptora
Cladus: Paraves
Cladus: Eumaniraptora
Cladus: Avialae
Infraclassis: Aves
Cladus: Avebrevicauda
Cladus: Pygostylia
Cladus: Ornithothoraces
Cladus: Ornithuromorpha
Cladus: Carinatae
Parvclassis: Neornithes
Cohors: Neognathae
Cladus: Neoaves
Ordo: Piciformes

Familia: Picidae
Subfamilia: Picumninae
Genus: Picumnus
Species: Picumnus cinnamomeus
Subspecies: P. c. cinnamomeus – P. c. larensis – P. c. perijanus – P. c. persaturatus – P. c. venezuelensis
Name

Picumnus cinnamomeus Wagler, 1829
References

Wagler, J.G. 1829. Beyträge und Bemerkungen zu dem ersten Bande seines Systema Avium. Isis von Oken 22(6): 645–664 BHL Reference page. col. 646 BHL

Vernacular names
English: Chestnut Piculet
suomi: Kanelitikkanen
français: Picumne cannelle

The chestnut piculet (Picumnus cinnamomeus) is a species of bird in subfamily Picumninae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found in Colombia and Venezuela.[2]
Taxonomy and systematics

The International Ornithological Committee assigns the chestnut piculet these four subspecies:[2]

P. c. cinnamomeus Wagler, 1829
P. c. perijanus Zimmer, J.T. & Phelps, W.H., 1944
P. c. persaturatus Haffer, 1961
P. c. venezuelensis Cory, 1913

BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World and the Clements taxonomy split a fifth subspecies, P. c. larensis (Aveledo, 1998), from P. c. venezuelensis.[3][4]

This article follows the four-subspecies model.
Description

The chestnut piculet is 9 to 10 cm (3.5 to 3.9 in) long. Adult males of the nominate subspecies P. c. cinnamomeus have a pale creamy forehead, a black crown with yellow-tipped feathers, and a black nape with white-tipped feathers. The rest of their body is deep rufous to rusty brown, with the rump and belly being a bit paler than the rest. Their wings are dark brown with cinnamon to rufous edges and tips to the feathers. Their tail is brownish black; the innermost pair of feathers have a cinnamon stripe on the inner webs and the outer two pairs a cinnamon stripe on the outer webs. Their iris is brown, the beak blackish, the bare skin around the eye yellow, and the legs gray. Adult females are identical but with no yellow on the crown and white spots only on the hindcrown and nape.[5]

Subspecies P. c. persaturatus is a richer and darker chestnut than the nominate, and has brighter wing edging and less defined chestnut stripes on the tail. Its females have white spots on their entire crown. P. c. perijanus is similar to persaturatus but a little lighter, and the female's crown spotting is heavier. P. c. venezuelensis is as dark as persaturatus but with a cinnamon-tawny forehead, and the female has white spots only on the crown, not the nape.[5]
Distribution and habitat

The subspecies of the chestnut piculet are found thus:[2][5]

P. c. cinnamomeus, coastal northern Colombia south into the lower Cauca River and Magdalena River valleys and east slightly into Venezuela's Guajira Peninsula
P. c. perijanus, the northern basin of northwestern Venezuela's Lake Maracaibo
P. c. persaturatus, Serranía de San Jerónimo in northwestern Colombia's Bolívar Department
P. c. venezuelensis, Venezuela in the south and eastern Lake Maracaibo basin and ("larensis") into the departments of Falcón and Lara

The chestnut piculet inhabits a wide variety of landscapes including rainforest, deciduous forest, open areas with scattered trees, arid and semi-arid scrublands, mangroves, and coffee plantations. Thorny woodlands appear to be its favorite. In elevation it occurs from sea level to 100 m (330 ft) in Venezuela and to 300 m (980 ft) in Colombia.[5]
Behavior
Movement

The chestnut piculet is a year-round resident throughout its range.[5]
Feeding

The chestnut piculet forages actively at all levels of it habitat but tends to stay in dense vegetation. It is typically seen singly, in pairs, or in small family groups and joins mixed species foraging flocks. Its diet has not been studied but is assumed to be ants and other small insects.[5]
Breeding

The chestnut piculet's breeding season appears to include at least from December to March, but nothing else is known about its breeding biology.[5]

Dickcissel male perched on a metal pole singing, with neck stretched and beak open.

Songs and calls
Listen to chestnut piculet on xeno-canto
Vocalization

The chestnut piculet's song is "a series of 3-8 high-pitched notes ti.ti.ti.ti.ti descending in pitch".[5]
Status

The IUCN has assessed the chestnut piculet as being of Least Concern, though its population size and trend are not known. No immediate threats have been identified.[1] It is considered common in Colombia but has few records in Venezuela. "Considering that this species is not so inconspicuous as most other piculets, it is rather poorly known."[5]
References

BirdLife International (2016). "Chestnut Piculet Picumnus cinnamomeus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2016: e.T22680781A92877953. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-3.RLTS.T22680781A92877953.en. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
Gill, F.; Donsker, D.; Rasmussen, P., eds. (August 2022). "Woodpeckers". IOC World Bird List. v 12.2. Retrieved January 9, 2023.
HBW and BirdLife International (2022) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 7. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v7_Dec22.zip retrieved December 13, 2022
Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2022. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2022. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ retrieved November 10, 2022
Winkler, H., D. A. Christie, and P. F. D. Boesman (2020). Chestnut Piculet (Picumnus cinnamomeus), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.chepic1.01 retrieved January 16, 2023