H.J. Ruiz – Avian101

The Pale-legged Hornero – Latin name: Furnarius leucopus is a species of bird in the Furnariidae family. It includes the Pacific Hornero (F. leucopus cinnamomeus) and the Caribbean Hornero (F. leucopus longirostris), which often are considered separate species.

It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela. It occurs in a wide range of wooded habitats, especially near water.

These birds build their nests using mud, usually attached to high branches on trees.The Pale-legged Hornero is a distinctive bird, readily separated from other horneros by virtue of its pale (usually pinkish) legs, strong white supercilia, bold white throat (sometimes coupled with clean white underparts), and usually dark crown, which in combination will usually clinch the species’ identification. Some seven subspecies are generally recognized across the Pale-legged Hornero’s broad range, which chiefly differ in their underparts patterns and crown color, and some of which, especially F. l. cinnamomeus of western Ecuador and northwest Peru, have occasionally been mooted as worthy of separate species status, although recent research suggests that their vocalizations are strongly concordant with one another.

NOTE: The Pale-legged Hornero is a new addition to my Bird List as: # 168

Text excerpts © Wikipedia © Cornell Lab of Ornithology – All photographs © H.J. Ruiz – Avian 101