The Behavior of Black-Banded Woodcreepers (Dendrocolaptes picumnus)

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Abstract
In forests and nearby 2nd growth at Manaus, Brazil, black-banded woodcreepers (D. picumnus) regularly foraged with army ants as well as away from ants. Like ant-following D. certhia and Hylexetastes perrotii in the same study area, they tend to wait or hitch slowly on vertical thick trunks, then sally to or peck at prey. They were intermediate in dominance status and in use of perches near the ground where ants flushed most prey. Birds of all 3 spp. also foraged high above the ground when the ants sent probes up trees. Sleek-headed (presumed female) black-banded woodcreepers supplanted their ruff-headed mates and helped in their disputes with neighboring pairs; one or both birds of a pair sang near roost sites in morning and evening; and pairs trespassed to a limited extent on their neighbors'' areas. Large young were out of the nest with parents as early as July and as late as Jan., then wandered away from them. Breeding birds molted at about the time young left. At other study sites, the related species D. hoffmannsi and D. platyrostris behaved like D. picumnus.