Guttulate Foliage-gleaner

Locally fairly common but unobtrusive; a regular pickup on cloud-forest trails where present, but easily missed without knowing the voice. Two disjunct populations (western Coastal Range / nominate; eastern Coastal Range / pallida).

Medium-large furnariid, 17-19 cm, 34-38 g, with a fairly long, slightly upturned bill. Warm rufous-brown above with a more rufous, unmarked tail; mantle, auriculars and underparts heavily streaked cream/buff over a brown ground; whitish-buff throat and buffy supercilium. The heavy 'guttulate' (droplet) streaking plus the streaked face and warm tail are the combination to lock onto.

Primary and mature secondary montane evergreen (cloud) forest, 900-2,100 m; favors dense understory and midstory, frequently in bamboo (Chusquea) tangles.

Singly or in pairs; a core member of mixed-species understory-to-midstory flocks. Forages actively, probing dead-leaf clusters, moss, epiphytes and bamboo nodes for arthropods.

Call a harsh nasal note; song an accelerating series of harsh, noisy, slightly nasal notes that run together. Recordings on Xeno-canto and Macaulay Library — search 'Syndactyla guttulata' (recordists incl. Peter Boesman, Hans Matheve, Chris Parrish).

Learn the accelerating harsh song and play sparingly — it responds to playback but skulks in bamboo. Put clients on the bird when a mixed flock hits the understory; tell them to watch for the upturned bill and 'raindrop' streaking rather than waiting for a clean look in the open.