Chestnut-throated Huet-huet

The chestnut-throated huet-huet (Pteroptochos castaneus) is a large passerine bird of the family Rhinocryptidae. At an average mass of 165 grams (5.8 oz), it is, with the related black-throated huet-huet, the largest rhinocryptid and the third-heaviest tracheophone suboscine behind the giant and great antpittas. It is a stockily-built bird, averaging 23 centimetres (9.1 in) in length with a predominantly dark brown plumage except for a dark red throat and a pale buff bar on its wind – lacking in the black-throated species. For many decades intense debate existed as to whether these two were one species or two, but molecular studies in the 1990s demonstrated that the two species had been separated since before the Patagonian Ice Sheet first formed in southern Chile. The species is found in temperate forest of Nothofagus species and Austrocedrus chilensis on the humid fringe of the Mediterranean climate zone of Chile, chiefly in Biobío, Maule and parts of O'Higgins Regions, and also in a small adjacent area of Neuquén Province in Argentina. The species sometimes occurs in exotic Pinus radiata plantations, but only if there is a dense understory of shrubs, as it cannot move across habitat without dense understory as shown by a…