Tawny-throated leaftosser

Appearance

The tawny-throated leaftosser is 15 to 17 cm long and weighs 24 to 30 g. The sexes are alike. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a dark reddish to chestnut brown head, upperparts, and tail, and chestnut rump and uppertail coverts. Their wings are darker brown than their back. Their throat and chest are tawny-rufous and the rest of their underparts similar to their back. Their fairly long and slightly decurved bill has a dark maxilla and a bicolored mandible. Their iris is brown and their legs and feet are dark brownish gray. Juveniles are similar to adults but are overall duller and have light streaks on their throat and breast. Subspecies "S. m. pullus" is generally browner than the nominate but with a redder rump and a paler throat.

Distribution

According to most sources, the nominate subspecies of the tawny-throated leaftosser is found discontinuously from Veracruz and Chiapas in southeastern Mexico through Guatemala and El Salvador into Honduras. The American Ornithological Society also places it slightly more northerly in Mexico and BirdLife International extends its range south into Nicaragua. Subspecies "S. m. pullus" is found from Costa Rica into western Panama, and separately on Cerro Tacarcuna in eastern Panama. The species is patchily distributed within the broadly defined areas.

Status

The IUCN follows HBW taxonomy and so includes the five subspecies of dusky leaftosser in its assessment. The tawny-throated leaftosser "sensu lato" is assessed as being of Least Concern. Forest fragmentation and degradation have led to some local declines and extirpation.

Habitat

The tawny-throated leaftosser generally inhabits moist subtropical and tropical lowland and submontane evergreen and semi-deciduous forest. In Guatemala and Honduras it ranges in elevation between 700 and 2,200 m; in Panama it is found down to sea level.

Reproduction

The tawny-throated leaftosser's breeding season in Costa Rica spans from December to April; it is not well known elsewhere but in Mexico it includes April. It nests in a burrow in the ground with a loose cup of dry twigs in a chamber at its end. The clutch is two eggs.

Food

The tawny-throated leaftosser forages mostly on the ground, flipping aside leaves and pecking at leaf litter and rotting logs while hopping rather than walking. It typically forages alone or in pairs and does not join mixed-species foraging flocks. Its diet is mostly invertebrates; though it has not been described in detail it is known to include spiders, beetles, ants, roaches, and their larvae.