XENOPS is a genus in the bird family Fumarlidae, the ovenbirds. They are found in Mexico, Central America and South America and tropical rain forest.
They are small birds with a longish tail, a laterally flattened bill with an upturned tip (except in the slender-billed xenops), brown back and buff or rufous wing stripe. They forage for insects on bark, rotting stumps or bare twigs, moving mechanically in all directions on the trunk like a woodpecker. but without using the tail as a prop.
Together with the distinct Great Xenops (Megaxenops parnaguae), this genus forms the tribe Xenopini, which based on some recent studies belongs in the woodcreeper and xenops sub-family Dendrocolaptinae, while others have found them to be part of the 'traditional' ovenbirds. (As long as these little birds know who they are I am sure they don't argue about who's who!!).
