Hornero

The hornero birds are members of the genus Furnarius in the family Furnariidae, native to South America. The English common name appears in many books as "ovenbird".^[1][2]

Hornero
Rufous hornero building a nest in Minas Gerais, Brazil
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Furnariidae
Genus:	Furnarius Vieillot, 1816
Type species
Merops rufus Gmelin, 1788
Species
See text

This article is about South American ovenbirds in the genus Furnarius. For other uses, see Ovenbird.

For the journal, see El Hornero.

Horneros are brown birds with rather short tails and fairly long bills. They are known for building mud nests that resemble old wood-fired ovens (the Spanish word "hornero" comes from horno, meaning "oven"). These nests have a unique chambered construction.^[3] While many Furnariids have different nests, the hornero nest is the reason for the common name applied to the entire family; ovenbirds (they are unrelated to the parulid warbler called the ovenbird in the United States). The size and exact shape of the hornero nest varies depending on the species. They generally lay two to four eggs, although the breeding behavior of the bay hornero is virtually unknown.

Adult horneros can frequently be seen sitting on top of their nest. Except for the uncommon and relatively shy bay hornero, horneros are typically fairly common and highly conspicuous birds. They are generally noisy. All horneros are partially terrestrial, and commonly seen walking on the ground with a relatively upright posture.

The rufous hornero is a national emblem of Argentina and Uruguay, two of the several countries it inhabits.

Taxonomy

The genus Furnarius was introduced in 1816 by the French ornithologist Louis Pierre Vieillot to accommodate a single species, the rufous hornero, which therefore becomes the type species.^[4][5] The genus name is from Latin furnarius meaning "baker" (from furnus meaning "oven").^[6]

The genus contains eight species:^[7]

• Band-tailed hornero (Furnarius figulus)
• Pale-legged hornero (Furnarius leucopus)
• Pacific hornero (Furnarius cinnamomeus) – split from F. leucopus
• Caribbean hornero (Furnarius longirostris) – split from F. leucopus
• Bay (or pale-billed) hornero (Furnarius torridus)
• Lesser hornero (Furnarius minor)
• Rufous hornero (Furnarius rufus)
• Crested hornero (Furnarius cristatus)

Image gallery

• 
  Pacific hornero
• 
  Hornero nest

References

1. Sclater, Philip Lutley: Argentine ornithology. A descriptive catalogue of the birds of the Argentine Republic 1888 https://archive.org/details/argentineornitho01sclarich/argentineornitho01sclarich/
2. Gerald Durrell: The whispering land: 1962 : https://archive.org/details/whisperingland0000unse/
3. Realm of the Rhea. YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-11.
4. Vieillot, Louis Pierre (1816). Analyse d'une Nouvelle Ornithologie Élémentaire (in French). Paris: Deterville/self. p. 47.
5. Peters, James Lee, ed. (1951). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 7. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Museum of Comparative Zoology. p. 69.
6. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 166. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
7. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2023). "Ovenbirds, woodcreepers". IOC World Bird List Version 13.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 6 March 2023.

• "Furnarius". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 13 March 2006.