#treerunner

photograph by Glenn Bartley

January 18, 2024 - Pearled Treerunner (Margarornis squamiger) Found in the Andes in parts of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and possibly Argentina, these birds in the ovenbird family live in mountain forests. They eat arthropods, picking them from moss and other surfaces, foraging alone, in pairs, or in small flocks, often with other species. Likely monogamous, they build ball-shaped nests with side entrances from moss under tree limbs or rocks.

photograph by Lindsay Kennon

photograph by @oswaldobirding

This tribe contains just 6 species from 3 genera (Pygarrhichas, Microxenops, and Ochetorhynchus).

These birds, in the ovenbird family, are found in southern beech forests of central and southern Chile and western Argentina, as far south as Tierra del Fuego. They feed on arthropods, including beetles and their larvae, usually foraging in pairs or small groups in the canopy and often joining mixed-species flocks. Building their nests in cavities, they are probably monogamous and breed between about November and January.