Montane woodcreeper

The montane woodcreeper (Lepidocolaptes lacrymiger) is a perching bird species in the subfamily Dendrocolaptinae of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.

The montane woodcreeper is 19 to 19.5 cm (7.5 to 7.7 in) long; males weigh 31 to 35 g (1.1 to 1.2 oz) and females 29.5 to 33 g (1.0 to 1.2 oz). It is a smallish to medium-sized woodcreeper with a slim, slightly decurved bill. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies L. l. lacrymiger have a markedly streaked face and neck with a whitish supercilium that is often broken. Their crown and nape are dusky brown with conspicuous whitish buff spots with black tips; the spots become streaks on the nape. Their back and wing coverts are rufous-brown and their rump, wings, and tail rufous-chestnut. Their underparts are olive-brown with long, wide, black-edged and tipped buffy streaks . Their iris is dark brown and their legs and feet olive-gray to dark horn. Their maxilla is blackish to dusky gray or dark horn and the mandible pale gray to whitish. Juveniles have less distinct borders on the underside streaks, and a shorter and darker bill.

The other subspecies of the montane woodcreeper differ from the nominate and each other thus:

L. l. sanctaemartae, paler throat than nominate with dimmer markings, grayer underparts with wider, whiter, streaks edged but not tipped with black

L. l. sneiderni, darker than nominate, more olive-gray overall; fewer, smaller, and shorter underparts streaks

L. l. lafresnayi, more olive-brown overall than nominate, paler underparts, no rufescent tones

L. l. warscewiczi, darker and more rufescent overall than nominate, streaks on back, deeper buff underparts streaks edged but not tipped black

L. l. aequatorialis, similar to warscewiczi but slightly more rufescent underparts, buffier throat, and wider underparts streaks

L. l. frigidus, similar to aequatorialis with more olivaceous upperparts and darker bill

L. l. carabayae, similar to warscewiczi but overall slightly darker, more olive underparts with narrower streaks, shorter and more curved bill with whitish maxilla

L. l. bolivianus, compared to carabayae buffier throat, paler and less rufescent upperparts, more olivaceous underparts with wider whiter streaks