Order
Passeriformes
Family
Mimidae
Genus
Cinclocerthia
 
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Version 1.0

This is a historic version of this account.  Current version

SPECIES

Brown Trembler Cinclocerthia ruficauda

Eric Sibbald
Version: 1.0 — Published December 12, 2014

Appearance

Distinguishing Characteristics

Tremblers (Cinclocerthia) are relatively large mimids with a long to very long, slightly decurved bill, and a long tail. Brown Trembler is, as the name suggests, primarily brown: the upperparts are dark reddish brown, becoming more fuous on the rump, wings and tail, while the underparts are buffy brown. The iris is yellow, but the bill and tarsi are black or blackish. The sexes are similar in plumage, but the female has a longer bill. Tremblers are named after a distinctive habit of drooping and shaking (trembling) the wings while foraging.

Similar Species

Brown Trembler is very similar to Gray Trembler (Cinclocerthia gutturalis), and indeed some authors have considered these to be conspecific. Gray Trembler is grayer above and paler, more grayish white, on the underparts, with blacker sides to the face and an even longer bill. In any event, these two species are believed to be allopatric (see Distribution).

Detailed Description

The following description is based on Ridgway (1907), and refers to nominate ruficauda of Dominica; see also Geographic Variation:

Adult: Sexes similar, apart from mensural differences (see Measurements). Primarily brown. Crown deep grayish brown, more grayish laterally. Nape similar but browner. The upperparts shading through olive brown on the back and scapulars to rufous brown on the uppertail coverts. Rectrices reddish brown. Wing coverts brown, feathers edged with reddish brown; remiges reddish brown. Lores and postocular regions blackish; suborbital region and auriculars grayish olive brown. Chin and throat pale grayish buff, becoming buffy brown on the center of the breast and the belly. Sides and flanks cinnamon brown. Undertail coverts paler, more buffy cinnamon.

Juvenile: Similar to adult, but breast faintly spotted with dusky grayish, and texture of the plumage more lax.

Molts

There is no known information on molt; perhaps follows the complex basic molt strategy.

Bare Parts

Iris: yellow

Bill: blackish; base of maxilla paler

Tarsi and toes: brown

Bare parts color data from Ridgway (1907) and Brewer (2001).

Measurements

Total length: 20.5-23 cm (Ridgway 1907), 23-25.5 cm (Brewer 2001), 23-26 cm (Raffaele et al. 1998)

Linear measurements (from live birds; Arendt et al. 2004):

male (n = 62)

wing length: mean 101.32 mm ± 3.62 mm (range 94.1-110 mm)

tail length: mean 88.46 mm ± 3.97 mm (range 81-94.4 mm)

bill length (exposed culmen): mean 29.29 mm ± 2.42 mm (range 25-33.97 mm)

tarsus length: mean 30.85 mm ± 0.93 mm (range 28.56-32.65 mm)

female (n = 46)

wing length: mean 96.24 mm ± 3.06 mm (range 88-103 mm)

tail length: mean 81.6 mm ± 4.01 mm (range 73.5-87.1 mm)

bill length (exposed culmen): mean 34.12 mm ± 3.28 mm (range 27.34-39.86 mm)

tarsus length: mean 30.7 mm ± 0.86 mm (range 28.75-32.3 mm)

For measurement data from museum specimens, see Storer (1989). Males average larger than females in most characters, but females have longer bills. There is some geographic variation in sexual dimorphism in bill length, however, with sexual dimorphism in bill length greatest in subspecies tremula, and while still significant, reduced in subspecies tenebrosa (Storer 1989).

Mass (from Arendt et al. 2004):

male, mean 54.11 g ± 3.54 g (range 47.6-65.4 g, n = 62)

female, mean 55.05 g ± 5.09 g (range 42.8-71 g, n = 46)

Recommended Citation

Sibbald, E. (2014). Brown Trembler (Cinclocerthia ruficauda), version 1.0. In Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/nb.brotre1.01