Dusky Spinetail
Synallaxis moesta
An exceptionally shy spinetail found in cloud forest along the east slope of the Andes, ranging into lowland forest in some areas. Plumage is dark gray with a black throat and chestnut crown, wings, and tail. In central Colombia, birds are somewhat paler. Inhabits dense tangles in forest understory, where it is very hard to see. Usually first detected by its song, a low, guttural trill.
Identification
The dusky spinetail is 15.5 to 17 cm (6.1 to 6.7 in) long and weighs 20 to 25 g (0.71 to 0.88 oz). It is one of the darkest of the Synallaxis spinetails. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a dark sooty-gray face. Their forcrown is blackish gray, their hindcrown dark chestnut, their back dark sooty brownish, and their rump and uppertail coverts a slightly lighter sooty brownish. Their wings are dark chestnut with fuscous tips on the flight feathers. Their tail is dark chestnut; it is graduated and the feathers have pointed tips. Their chin is blackish gray with paler feather shafts, giving a frosted appearance. Their underparts are mostly dark sooty brownish with slightly browner flanks. Their iris is rufous to brown, their maxilla black to slate, their mandible blue-gray to light gray (sometimes with a dark tip), and their legs and feet greenish gray to grayish olive. Juveniles have a gray crown, dusky brownish tips on the wing coverts, a gray and white faintly barred throat, and more grayish underparts than adults. Subspecies S. m. brunneicaudalis is darker overall than the nominate, with especially darker and uniform gray underparts. S. m. obscura is even darker than brunneicaudalis, but with a browner back, tail, and underparts.
Taxonomy
The dusky spinetail has three subspecies, the nominate S. m. moesta (Sclater, PL, 1856), S. m. brunneicaudalis (Sclater, PL, 1858), and S. m. obscura (Chapman, 1914).<p>In the early twentieth century, subspecies S. m. brunneicaudalis was treated as a separate species but since then has had its present placement. Genetic data published in 2011 supported that the dusky spinetail, Cabanis's spinetail (S. cabanisi), and McConnell's spinetail (S. macconnelli) form a monophyletic group. However, data published in 2013 has evidence that the dusky spinetail might be more closely related to the rufous-capped spinetail (S. ruficapilla).
- Scientific name
- Synallaxis moesta
- Authority
- Sclater, PL, 1856
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Furnariidae
- Genus
- Synallaxis
Range and habitat
The dusky spinetail is a bird of the Andean foothills. The nominate subspecies is the northernmost. It is found in central Colombia's Eastern Andes in southern Casanare Department and northwestern Meta Department. Subspecies S. m. obscura is found in the Eastern Andes of southern Colombia in the departments of Caquetá and Putumayo. S. m. brunneicaudalis is found from southeastern Nariño Department in far southwestern Colombia south through central Ecuador into northeastern Peru as far as northern San Martín Department.<p>The dusky spinetail inhabits the edges of several forest types, including riparian and tropical evergreen forests; it also occurs in secondary forest. It favors areas of dense undergrowth and is sometimes associated with bamboo thickets. In elevation it mostly ranges between 250 and 1,350 m (800 and 4,400 ft) but in Colombia can be found as high as 1,600 m (5,200 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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