About Furnarius minor Pelzeln, 1858
The lesser hornero (Furnarius minor Pelzeln, 1858) is a bird species belonging to the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is closely related to the pale-legged hornero, and their global distributions overlap to some extent. This species is monotypic, which means it has only one recognized subspecies. The lesser hornero is found along the banks of the Amazon River and some of its major tributaries, in the countries of Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. It is a river specialist, that feeds and breeds mostly in river island scrub and early successional scrub along the edges of white-water rivers, on young river islands; in Peru, it also occupies the understory of Cecropia forest. This successional habitat type depends on seasonal flooding, and is distributed patchily throughout the species' range. It occurs at elevations between 50 and 200 m (160–660 ft) above sea level. The lesser hornero is a very small ovenbird, measuring 12 to 13 cm (4.7–5.1 in) in length and weighing 23 to 29 g (0.81–1.02 oz). It has a grey head with a prominent white stripe above the eye, a white throat, rufous rump and wings, and tawny-buff breast and flanks that turn paler on the lower belly. Its bill is long and straight. Both sexes have identical appearance, and the plumage of juvenile lesser horneros has not been described. The lesser hornero feeds on arthropods and other invertebrates. It hunts alone or in pairs, searching for prey on the ground, river-shore mud, or low branches, and often forages in dense cover. Like other species in its genus, it builds a mud "oven" nest in tree branches, and lines the nest with grasses and hair. Its clutch size is four eggs. Very little is known about its other nesting habits, beyond that nest building has been recorded in November and incubation in January.
