Brazilian name: Barranqueiro-do-nordeste

The Pernambuco Foliage-gleaner has only recently been recognised as a full species. (see the South American Classification Committee's resolution here .) It is distributed in the north-east of Brazil in the states of Pernambuco, Alagoas and Sergipe and is found in the undergrowth of Atlantic Rain Forest and in secondary woodland often associated with bamboo.

HBW and other authorities treated it as a sub-species of A. leucophthalmus and this was the case when we saw this bird in Sergipe. I thought that I detected a tinge of yellow in the throat which would indicate A. l. lammi. Fortunately Jeremy Minns has recordings of this bird from Santa Luzia do Itanhi, a definite A. l. lammi from Murici, Alagoas, and a definite A. l. leucophthalmus from Boa Nova, Bahia. As HBW states: "Race lammi song slower and more grating"

It feeds on beetles and insects which it gleans from dead leaves and viny thickets and it is usually found as part of a mixed flock.

It builds its nest in a chamber at the end of a horizontal tunnel which it excavates itself in an earth bank.