Long-tailed Cinclodes
Cinclodes pabsti
Large, odd-looking species with a long bill and tail. Olive-brown above, paler below. Note the whitish eyebrow and throat and cinnamon patches on the wings, which in flight form a wingbar. Inhabits higher elevations, where it forages walking on the ground of grasslands and agricultural areas. The Cipo Cinclodes subspecies is darker and found in rocky savannah (campo rupestre). The song is a sharp trill. The smaller Buff-winged Cinclodes is a winter migrant to southern Brazil and usually found in lowland areas.
Identification
The long-tailed cinclodes is 20 to 22 cm (7.9 to 8.7 in) long and weighs 43 to 55 g (1.5 to 1.9 oz). It is a large cinclodes with a fairly long and straight bill. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a wide, distinct, white supercilium that narrows past the eye and a dark band through the eye that widens over the ear coverts. Their upperparts are grayish brown with their crown slightly darker than the back. Their wing has two wide but indistinct cinnamon-buff bars and a wider band. Their tail is dark brown with buff or ochraceous tips on the outer feathers. Their throat is white and contrasts with the rest of their underparts, which are pale yellowish buffy-brown. Their iris is brown, their bill black whose mandible sometimes has a pale base, and their legs and feet gray to black. Subspecies C. p. espinhacensis is slightly smaller and lighter than the nominate and has lighter underparts and much darker upperparts.
Taxonomy
The long-tailed cinclodes is basal to the genus Cinclodes and is not very closely related to other species of the genus. It has two subspecies, the nominate C. p. pabsti (Sick, 1969) and C. p. espinhacensis (Freitas, Chaves, Costa, Santos, FR & Rodrigues, 2012). The second was described as a full species but differs little genetically and morphologically from the nominate.<p>The long-tailed cinclodes' specific epithet commemorates the Brazilian botanist Guido Frederico João Pabst.
- Scientific name
- Cinclodes pabsti
- Authority
- Sick, 1969
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Furnariidae
- Genus
- Cinclodes
Range and habitat
The nominate subspecies of the long-tailed cinclodes is found in extreme southeastern Brazil between southeastern Santa Catarina and northeastern Rio Grande do Sul. It inhabits open landscapes such as temperate grasslands, pastures, and agricultural land. It usually occurs near water The landscapes are often rocky or near houses. In elevation it occurs between 750 and 1,700 m (2,500 and 5,600 ft). Subspecies C. p. espinhacensis is found only in a small part of Serra do Espinhaço in Minas Gerais. It inhabits campos rupestres, a montane savanna landscape with a patchwork of rock outcrops and open fields. It is known to occur between about 1,100 and 1,500 m (3,600 and 4,900 ft) of elevation.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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