Marañon Spinetail
Synallaxis maranonica
Very shy spinetail restricted to the Marañon Valley of northwestern Peru and extreme southern Ecuador; highly threatened due to ongoing habitat loss. Plumage is mostly gray with chestnut back, wings, and tail. Inhabits dense tangles inside forest, often in damp gullies or near rivers and streams. Hard to see well, and usually first detected by voice. Typical song is a whining “chew, pit-year” repeated every few seconds.
Identification
The Maranon spinetail is 14 to 16 cm (5.5 to 6.3 in) long and weighs 16 to 17 g (0.56 to 0.60 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a dark brownish gray face and forehead. Their crown and upper back are dark grayish brown that become more rufescent brown by the rump and uppertail coverts. Their wings are dark rufous with dark fuscous tips on the flight feathers. Their tail is dark rufous; it is graduated and the feathers have blunt tips. Their throat is pale grayish, their breast darker brownish gray, their belly a lighter brownish gray, and their flanks gray with an olive tinge. Their iris is brown, their maxilla black to dark gray, their mandible blue-gray, and their legs and feet gray to olive. Juveniles have faint dark scallops on the breast and belly and a pinkish yellow mandible.
Taxonomy
The Maranon spinetail was previously treated as a subspecies of the plain-crowned spinetail (S. gujanensis). Recognition of plumage, vocal, and genetic differences led to their separation. The Marañon spinetail is monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Synallaxis maranonica
- Authority
- Taczanowski, 1879
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Furnariidae
- Genus
- Synallaxis
Range and habitat
The Maranon spinetail is found in the valley of the Marañón River from far southeastern Ecuador's Zamora-Chinchipe Province south into the northern parts of Peru's departments of Cajamarca and Amazonas. It inhabits the undergrowth of semihumid gallery forest, secondary forest, and deciduous woodlands along rivers, and occurs less often at the edges of humid forest. In elevation it ranges between 650 and 1,200 m (2,100 and 3,900 ft) in Ecuador and 450 and 1,850 m (1,500 and 6,100 ft) in Peru.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The Maranon spinetail is a year-round resident throughout its range.<p>The Maranon spinetail feeds on arthropods. It usually forages in pairs, gleaning its prey from the ground, foliage, and small branches up to about 2 m (7 ft) above the ground.<p>Nothing is known about the Maranon spinetail's breeding biology.<p>The Maranon spinetail's song is "a very slow-paced, somewhat nasal 'kieeuuw...keeeu' ", often with several seconds between phrases. It is sung by both sexes.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Arfak Honeyeater
Melipotes gymnops
A medium-sized honeyeater of montane forest and edge on the Bird’s Head of New Guinea. Dark gray with a black head and chest. White streaking from the upper belly gets broader, to all pale in the base of the tail. The most prominent feature is the large yellow patch of bare facial skin centered around the eye. No other co-occuring honeyeaters have this color and shape facial patch. Call, a long croaking whistle “Wuueeeeeeuuuuu!” first rising then falling back down.
Timor Leaf Warbler
Phylloscopus presbytes
A small green-and-yellow warbler from Timor and Flores. Bill largely black, with a pale spot at the base of the lower part; legs dark. Olive-green above with a broad yellow eyebrow and sometimes also a faint central crown stripe. Throat white, contrasting with yellow underparts. Sometimes shows an indistinct single wingbar. Juveniles browner with no crown stripe. Found in hill and montane forest and edges in Flores, extending to lowlands and scrub on Timor. Single birds, pairs, and groups can be found in the canopy. Differs from Arctic, Japanese, and Kamchatka Leaf Warblers in dark legs, yellower underside, central crown stripe (if present), and lack of a second wing bar. Sings a short, high warble: “swit-swee-swit-swee.”
Scarlet-faced Liocichla
Liocichla ripponi
Garish medium-sized laughingthrush-like bird. Olive overall with a bright red face and wing panels. Note pale eyes. Furtive and shy, typically foraging in dense undergrowth, often in mixed flocks, but also often singly or in pairs. Favors dense hill forest. Song is a repeated “chew-chew-weee?-chew”; gives dry rattling calls.
Start Your Bird Watching Journey
Identify a bird outdoors and keep the field guide close for your next observation.