Puna Miner
Geositta punensis
Fairly common in puna zone of the high Andes. Found in open areas such as bogs and sandy and stony plains with scattered shrubs and bunchgrass. Often seen in pairs, walking with waddling gait and pumping its tail like most miners. Best identified by plain whitish underparts (no breast streaking) and relatively short straightish bill. In flight shows rusty patches in wings and at base of tail. The similar Common Miner, which is found in the same areas, but is less numerous than the Puna Miner has a creamy white (not rusty) tail base.
Identification
The puna miner is a medium-size member of its genus. It is 13.5 to 14 cm (5.3 to 5.5 in) long and weighs 22 to 29 g (0.78 to 1.0 oz). The sexes are alike. It has a pale grayish brown face with a buffy whitish supercilium. It is pale sandy brown from its crown to its rump; its uppertail coverts are even paler. Its tail feathers have pale tawny rufous bases, dark brownish to blackish middles, and pale tawny rufous tips. The pale basal area is progressively larger from the innermost to the outer feathers and the outermost have almost entirely white outer webs. Its wing coverts and flight feathers are dark brownish with whitish buff tips; the flight feathers also have pale tawny rufous bases that show as a band in flight. Its throat, breast, and belly are pale buff-white with a pale tawny tinge on the flanks. Its iris is brown, its medium-length bill is blackish with a blue-gray base to the mandible, and its legs and feet are dark gray.
Taxonomy
The puna miner is monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Geositta punensis
- Authority
- Dabbene, 1917
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Furnariidae
- Genus
- Geositta
Range and habitat
The puna miner is a bird of the Altiplano, a high elevation plateau in the Andes of far southern Peru, western Bolivia, northeastern Chile, and northwestern Argentina. There it inhabits puna grasslands and barren areas; it sometimes occurs on open slopes above brushy ravines. In elevation it mostly ranges between 3,200 and 4,600 m (10,500 and 15,100 ft) but is found as low as 3,050 m (10,000 ft) and as high as 5,000 m (16,400 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The puna miner is a year-round resident throughout its range.<p>The puna miner forages singly or in pairs. It gleans food from the ground and small shrubs while hopping, not walking. Its diet is mostly arthropods and seeds.<p>The puna miner breeds in the austral summer, generally between October and January. It is thought to be monogamous. It nests in a burrow, usually one made in dry sandy soil by a tuco-tuco (Ctenomys), a small rodent. The clutch size is two or three eggs.<p>The puna miner often sings during a display flight, "a long shrill series of 'veoo' notes, rising early and then descending". The song has some "faster, chattier notes" mixed in. Its flight call is "a sharp, rich 'pzea' or 'kvee'."
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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