Northern Barred-Woodcreeper

Dendrocolaptes sanctithomae

eBird describes the Northern Barred-Woodcreeper like this:  Uncommon, rather large woodcreeper of humid tropical forest; infrequently seen away from ant swarms. Found singly or in twos and threes, often with Tawny-winged and Ruddy Woodcreepers at army ant swarms. Perches upright on trunks at all levels; often rather sluggish. Often looks dark and plain overall, with dark mask and pale base to stout bill. Dark barring on head and body visible with good views. Loud whistled song given mainly around dawn, a whistled “too’ih tooh’ih.”

The Birds of the World website provides this descriptive information about this bird:  The Northern Barred-Woodcreeper was until recently considered conspecific with the Amazonian Barred-Woodcreeper (D. certhia), but vocal, behavioral, and morphological differences between the two support species status. Northern occurs from Mexico south to western Colombia and extreme northwestern Venezuela. Both species are large, heavy-billed woodcreepers with distinct scaling and barring on the head and underparts. Like most woodcreepers, Northern Barred is most easily detected by listening for its loud, distinctive song – a series of rising, whistled notes. It feeds on arthropods, most of which are obtained as they flee from army ant swarms. It nests in a natural cavity in a tree.

I saw my first Northern Barred-Woodcreeper on my birding trip to Costa Rica with Tropical Birding Tours.  We spotted this bird shortly after noon on February 6, 2023 as we walked one of the trails La Selva.  

I also watched the Northern Barred-Woodcreeper a little later in the trip.  On the morning of February 13th, while at the Curi-Cancha Reserve, I was able to get a little better look at this bird.