Fringe-backed Fire-eye
Encyclopedia
Pyriglena atra is a rare species of bird
in the antbird family known by the common names Fringe-backed Fire-eye and Swainson's Fire-eye. It is endemic to Brazil
, where it is known from a strech of coastal forest habitat in Sergipe
and Bahia
.
This bird is about 17.5 centimeters long. It has red eyes. The male is black in color and has a patch of white-edged black feathers on its back. The female is reddish brown with brown underparts, a black tail, and a white throat. The song
is a number of whistling fíu sounds and the alarm call is a loud peerit, rising at the end.
The bird is a resident of a small strip of the South American Atlantic Forest biome
. It inhabits the understory
at the edges of lowland primary and secondary tropical forests. It lives in dense forest habitat, avoiding open and sunny areas. The species' range extends from southern Sergipe to northeastern Bahia, covering about 5000 km² of fragmented habitat
. The total population is estimated to be between 1000 to 2500 individuals. It is thought to be declining rapidly due to the loss of habitat.
This bird forages in tangled vegetation within 3 meters of the ground, sometimes feeding higher in the canopy. It may be solitary or it may forage in pairs or small family groups. Food items include cockroach
es, grasshoppers
, winged ants, caterpillar
s, and gecko
s. Frog
s are also eaten. The bird may follow army ant
s, which flush the prey items into the open. The nest is on the ground and well camouflaged. It is spherical with a covering of dry leaves and an internal lining of fibers from piaçava palms. Both male and female incubate
and provide parental care
.
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service
listed it as an endangered species
in 2010. It is a protected species under Brazilian law.
Names for the bird include Olho-de-fogo-rendado and papa-taoca-da-bahia in Portuguese
, Batará de Swainson and Ojodefuego de Bahía in Spanish
, Alapi noir and Priglène à manteau tacheté in French
, and Fleckenmantel-Feuerauge and Fleckenmantel-Feueraugef in German
.
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
in the antbird family known by the common names Fringe-backed Fire-eye and Swainson's Fire-eye. It is endemic to Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, where it is known from a strech of coastal forest habitat in Sergipe
Sergipe
Sergipe , is the smallest state of the Brazilian Federation, located on the northeastern Atlantic coast of the country. It borders on two other states, Bahia to the south and west and Alagoas to the north, and to the east is the Atlantic Ocean...
and Bahia
Bahia
Bahia is one of the 26 states of Brazil, and is located in the northeastern part of the country on the Atlantic coast. It is the fourth most populous Brazilian state after São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, and the fifth-largest in size...
.
This bird is about 17.5 centimeters long. It has red eyes. The male is black in color and has a patch of white-edged black feathers on its back. The female is reddish brown with brown underparts, a black tail, and a white throat. The song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
is a number of whistling fíu sounds and the alarm call is a loud peerit, rising at the end.
The bird is a resident of a small strip of the South American Atlantic Forest biome
Biome
Biomes are climatically and geographically defined as similar climatic conditions on the Earth, such as communities of plants, animals, and soil organisms, and are often referred to as ecosystems. Some parts of the earth have more or less the same kind of abiotic and biotic factors spread over a...
. It inhabits the understory
Understory
Understory is the term for the area of a forest which grows at the lowest height level below the forest canopy. Plants in the understory consist of a mixture of seedlings and saplings of canopy trees together with understory shrubs and herbs...
at the edges of lowland primary and secondary tropical forests. It lives in dense forest habitat, avoiding open and sunny areas. The species' range extends from southern Sergipe to northeastern Bahia, covering about 5000 km² of fragmented habitat
Habitat fragmentation
Habitat fragmentation as the name implies, describes the emergence of discontinuities in an organism's preferred environment , causing population fragmentation...
. The total population is estimated to be between 1000 to 2500 individuals. It is thought to be declining rapidly due to the loss of habitat.
This bird forages in tangled vegetation within 3 meters of the ground, sometimes feeding higher in the canopy. It may be solitary or it may forage in pairs or small family groups. Food items include cockroach
Cockroach
Cockroaches are insects of the order Blattaria or Blattodea, of which about 30 species out of 4,500 total are associated with human habitations...
es, grasshoppers
Acrididae
The Acrididae are the predominant family of grasshoppers, comprising some 10,000 of the 11,000 species of the entire suborder Caelifera. The Acrididae are best known because all locusts are of the Acrididae. The subfamily Oedipodinae is sometimes classified as a distinct family Oedipodidae in the...
, winged ants, caterpillar
Caterpillar
Caterpillars are the larval form of members of the order Lepidoptera . They are mostly herbivorous in food habit, although some species are insectivorous. Caterpillars are voracious feeders and many of them are considered to be pests in agriculture...
s, and gecko
Gecko
Geckos are lizards belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from 1.6 cm to 60 cm....
s. Frog
Frog
Frogs are amphibians in the order Anura , formerly referred to as Salientia . Most frogs are characterized by a short body, webbed digits , protruding eyes and the absence of a tail...
s are also eaten. The bird may follow army ant
Army ant
The name army ant is applied to over 200 ant species, in different lineages, due to their aggressive predatory foraging groups, known as "raids", in which huge numbers of ants forage simultaneously over a certain area, attacking prey en masse.Another shared feature is that, unlike most ant...
s, which flush the prey items into the open. The nest is on the ground and well camouflaged. It is spherical with a covering of dry leaves and an internal lining of fibers from piaçava palms. Both male and female incubate
Avian incubation
Incubation refers to the process by which certain oviparous animals hatch their eggs, and to the development of the embryo within the egg. The most vital factor of incubation is the constant temperature required for its development over a specific period. Especially in domestic fowl, the act of...
and provide parental care
Parenting
Parenting is the process of promoting and supporting the physical, emotional, social, and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood...
.
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service
United States Fish and Wildlife Service
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is a federal government agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats...
listed it as an endangered species
Endangered species
An endangered species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters...
in 2010. It is a protected species under Brazilian law.
Names for the bird include Olho-de-fogo-rendado and papa-taoca-da-bahia in Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, Batará de Swainson and Ojodefuego de Bahía in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, Alapi noir and Priglène à manteau tacheté in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, and Fleckenmantel-Feuerauge and Fleckenmantel-Feueraugef in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
.