The Story
I photographed this Buff-throated Woodcreeper (Xiphorhynchus guttatus) at the Raudal del Guayabero, near San José del Guaviare, Guaviare, Colombia, in February 2021. At 22.5 to 29.5 centimeters, it is the largest member of its genus, with a heavy body and a long, heavy, curved bill, and males and females look alike. It eats mostly arthropods, hitching up and along trunks, and it regularly joins mixed-species flocks and follows army ant swarms. IUCN lists it as Least Concern.
I used a Canon R5 with the RF 800mm f/11 for this one, at 1/500 sec, f/11, ISO 6400. The Raudal del Guayabero is a narrows where the Guayabero River runs between the Serranía de La Lindosa and the Serranía de la Macarena, about 38 kilometers by fast boat from San José del Guaviare.
©2022 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Buff-throated Woodcreeper (Xiphorhynchus guttatus) belongs to the family Furnariidae (Ovenbirds and Woodcreepers) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2025), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List