Fringe-backed fire-eye

Fringe-backed fire-eye
Conservation status
Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Thamnophilidae
Genus:	Pyriglena
Species:	P. atra
Binomial name
Pyriglena atra (Swainson, 1825)

The fringe-backed fire-eye (Pyriglena atra), for a time known as Swainson's fire-eye, is a Endangered species of bird in subfamily Thamnophilinae of family Thamnophilidae, the "typical antbirds". It is endemic to Brazil. In Brazilian Portuguese it is called papa-taoca-da-bahia.

Taxonomy and systematics

The fringe-backed fire-eye was described by the English naturalist William Swainson in 1825 and given the binomial name Drymophila atra. The current genus Pyriglena was introduced by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis in 1847. The species at times has been treated as conspecific with the white-shouldered fire-eye (P. lecucoptera) and what was at the time the white-backed fire-eye (P. leuconata); the latter has since been split into several species.

The fringe-backed fire-eye is monotypic.

Description

The fringe-backed fire-eye is 16 to 18 cm (6.3 to 7.1 in) long; one individual weighed 32 g (1.1 oz). Adults of both sexes have bright red irises; those of immature birds are orange. Males are mostly glossy black with a large patch of black and white feathers between their scapulars and blackish gray underwing coverts. Females have yellowish brown upperparts and wings with no interscapular patch. Their tail is brownish black. Their face is olive-tinged gray with black lores and a black line above and behind the eye. Their chin and throat are white, their breast light yellowish olive-brown, their belly a lighter olive-brown, and their flanks, crissum, and underwing coverts dark gray-tinged olive-brown.

Distribution and habitat

The fringe-backed fire-eye has a very small range in eastern Brazil; it is found in southeastern Sergipe and coastal northeastern Bahia. Its range is estimated at about 5,000 km² (1,900 sq mi) though it occurs only patchily within it. It inhabits dense understorey vegetation in lowland evergreen forest. It mostly occurs at the edges of primary forest, in mature secondary forest, and in clearings such as those caused by fallen trees. It shuns sunlit areas such as open woodland with little undergrowth. In elevation it ranges from near sea level to about 250 m (800 ft).

Behavior

Movement

The fringe-backed fire-eye is a year-round resident throughout its range.

Feeding

The fringe-backed fire-eye feeds on insects (e.g. cockroaches, grasshoppers, and winged ants), other arthropods such as spiders and centipedes, and small vertebrates such as geckos and frogs. It typically forages singly, in pairs, or in family groups in dense vegetation, mostly on the ground and within about 3 m (10 ft) above it but as high as 10 m (33 ft). It hops between short feeding stops, pumping its tail. It captures prey by gleaning, reaching, jumping (upward and to the ground), lunging from a perch, and by tossing aside leaf litter on the ground. Much less frequently it makes short sallies to glean or capture prey on the wing. It frequently follows army ant swarms to capture prey disturbed by the ants, and several family groups may congregate at a swarm. It sometimes joins mixed-species feeding flocks.

Breeding

The fringe-backed fire-eye's breeding season is not fully known but includes November and December. The first nest to be described was a ball of dry leaves lined with palm fibers. It was on the ground and surrounded and partially covered with dry leaves. When found it contained two eggs. Their incubation period was at least 18 days and the chicks fledged 13 days after hatch. Both parents incubated the clutch during the day and the female alone at night. Both parents brooded and provisioned the nestlings.

Vocalization

The fringe-backed fire-eye's song is a "hurried, descending series of about 6 'peeh---' notes". Its call is a "very high, piped 'peek' ".

Status

The IUCN originally in 1988 assessed the fringe-backed fire-eye as Threatened, then in 1994 as Endangered, in 2000 as Critically Endangered, and since 2004 again as Endangered. It has a very small and fragmented range and its estimated population of between 600 and 1700 mature individuals is believed to be decreasing. "Habitat loss within its known range has been substantial, even of the second growth in which it appears to be most abundant. It has been reported more frequently from larger forest fragments, and remaining tracts are destined to become ever smaller and more isolated." The United States Fish and Wildlife Service listed it as an endangered species in 2010. It is considered Endangered under Brazilian law.