Hoary-throated Spinetail
Synallaxis kollari
A skulking, mostly rufous bird with a gray crown and a white throat bordered by black. Throat pattern and long, rufous tail are distinctive. Occurs only in understory of gallery forest in savanna regions along tributaries of the Rio Branco in northern Brazil and western Guyana. Usually in pairs, which clamber through low vegetation searching for insects. Almost always first detected by voice: a hard, doubled note, often given in alternation by members of a pair, and occasionally extended into a longer series, especially in response to playback. No similar species are likely to occur in same habitat.
Identification
The hoary-throated spinetail is 14.5 to 16 cm (5.7 to 6.3 in) long. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have grayish lores, dark rufous cinnamon ear coverts, and a rufous streak behind the eye. Their crown is gray-brown and their nape, back, rump, and uppertail coverts bright rufous. Their wings are rufous with dusky tips on their flight feathers. Their tail is rufous. Their throat is dull black with white tips on the feathers. Their underparts are mostly rufous cinnamon with pale ochraceous lower flanks and buffy or pale cinnamon-white in the center of their belly. Their iris is dark reddish brown, their maxilla blackish gray, their mandible blue-gray with a blackish tip, and their legs and feet blue-gray.
Taxonomy
The hoary-throated spinetail was originally described in genus Synallaxis. In the early twentieth century some authors moved it into the newly created genus Poecilurus. By 2000 the merger of Poecilurus into Synallaxis was generally accepted and a study published in 2011 confirmed that placement. That study also established that the hoary-throated spinetail is a sister species to the white-whiskered spinetail (S. candei) and the rufous-breasted spinetail (S. erythrothorax).<p>The hoary-throated spinetail is monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Synallaxis kollari
- Authority
- Pelzeln, 1856
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Furnariidae
- Genus
- Synallaxis
Range and habitat
The hoary-throated spinetail has a very restricted range in the extreme northern Amazon Basin. It is found only along several tributaries of the Branco River in the Brazilian state of Roraima and Guyana's Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo Region. It inhabits gallery forest along the watercourses, which flow through grasslands called "Lavrado" in Brazil and the Rupununi savannah in Guyana. The total length of the narrow bands it inhabits is less than 600 km (370 mi). It favors dense undergrowth heavy with vines and Inga shrubs.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The hoary-throated spinetail is a year-round resident.<p>Nothing is known about the hoary-throated spinetail's diet or foraging behavior, though it is assumed to feed on arthropods like other Synallaxis spinetails.<p>Nothing is known about the hoary-throated spinetail's breeding biology. It is assumed to build a stick nest similar to those of other Synallaxis spinetails.<p>The hoary-throated spinetail makes a "double-noted 'tuh-tih', the second note higher". It is not known if this is a song or a call.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Small, reclusive moorhen. Often confused with the much more common and extroverted Common Moorhen. Lesser Moorhen is smaller and has a narrower white streak along the side, a mostly yellow bill, and all-yellow legs. Immature is brownish - warmer brown than immature Common Moorhen - with a yellow bill. Found in wetlands, especially grassy, seasonally flooded ones. Shy and retiring. Calls a series of clucks or drier “chak” notes.
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A common pigeon frequently seen in a range of habitats from urban areas to savannas and light woodlands. Large with a purple-and-gray scaly body and a silvery patch at the side of the neck. In flight has distinctive black flight feathers and pale gray wingbars. The song is a low and monotonous “wuu-pupuh, wuu-pupuh”.
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Very large woodcreeper with a massive, robust bill. Plumage is rather uniformly cinnamon with some faint streaking on the breast. Note the black lores. Found in dry forest, woodland, and gallery forest. Sings a slightly descending series of double notes: “hick-up, hick-up, hick-up.” Other woodcreepers within its range are much smaller, with streaked or spotted plumage.
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