Tepui Spinetail
Cranioleuca demissa
Small, creeping bird of highland forest canopy. Chestnut cap, wings, and tail contrast with olive-brown back and gray underparts. At close range, note somewhat decurved bill. Found only in humid highland forests of the tepui region (above 800 m), particularly in areas with heavy growth of mosses and epiphytes. Forages by hitching up large branches and tree trunks, and also creeps along limbs, inspecting bromeliads and bark crevices from which it gleans insect prey. Often encountered with mixed-species flocks. Voice is a long series of high tinkling notes, dropping in pitch and accelerating. No similar species occurs in tepui highlands.
Identification
The tepui spinetail is 14 to 15 cm (5.5 to 5.9 in) long and weighs 14 to 17 g (0.49 to 0.60 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a whitish supercilium on an otherwise dull brownish face with a few pale streaks. Their forehead is brown with some rufous touches, their crown reddish chestnut, and their back rich brown that becomes more rufescent by the uppertail coverts. Their wings are reddish chestnut and their flight feathers are slightly paler with dark fuscous tips. Their tail is dark reddish chestnut; it is graduated and sometimes the feathers lack barbs on the ends giving a spiny appearance. Their chin and throat are whitsh and the rest of their underparts gray with slightly browner flanks. Their iris is chestnut, their maxilla dusky brown to black, their mandible pinkish horn with a dark tip, and their legs and feet olive-yellow to olive-brown. Juveniles have a brown crown and a more olivaceous back and more ochraceous underparts than adults. Subspecies C. d. cardonai has a more olivaceous supercilium and face than the nominate, and olivaceous brown rather than gray underparts.
Taxonomy
The tepui spinetail's taxonomy is unsettled. The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) and BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) assign it two subspecies. The nominate is C. d. demissa (Salvin & Godman, 1884). The other has two subspecific epithets, C. d. cardonai (IOC) and C. d. cardonaorum (HBW) (both Phelps, WH Jr & Dickerman, 1980). The Clements taxonomy does not recognize C. d. cardonai/cardonaorum, treating the species as monotypic.<p>This article follows the two-subspecies model and uses the IOC spelling of the subspecific epithet.
- Scientific name
- Cranioleuca demissa
- Authority
- (Salvin & Godman, 1884)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Furnariidae
- Genus
- Cranioleuca
Range and habitat
The nominate subspecies of the tepui spinetail is found on the namesake tepuis where southeastern Venezuela, west central Guyana, and the northern Brazilian state of Roraima meet. Subspecies C. d. cardonai is found on tepuis in southern Venezuela. The species inhabits montane evergreen forest and woodlands, mostly between elevations of 1,100 and 2,450 m (3,600 and 8,000 ft). It also occurs locally in gallery forest in the Gran Sabana in the Venezuelan state of Bolívar.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The tepui spinetail is a year-round resident throughout its range.<p>The tepui spinetail feeds mostly on arthropods. It forages singly or in pairs and usually as part of a mixed-species feeding flock. It feeds from the forest's middle levels to its canopy. It acrobatically gleans prey from bark and debris while hitching along small branches.<p>The tepui spinetail's nest is a globe of moss suspended from a branch. Nothing else is known about its breeding biology.<p>The tepui spinetail's song is "a thin, descending, accelerating series, 'téé-téé-te-ti ti'ti'ti'ti'ti'i'i'i' " and its alarm call a "high, short, dry rattle".
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Tawny Tit-Spinetail
Sylviorthorhynchus yanacensis
Small, bright cinnamon bird with a long tail. Found at high elevations in pockets of short Polylepis forests and scrub, usually surrounded by grasslands or barren rock. Forages singly or in pairs in shrubs, calling and singing frequently; listen for high-pitched chips and twitters, as well as its song, an accelerating series of high, metallic notes.
Black-billed Gull
Chroicocephalus bulleri
Pale gull endemic to New Zealand. White with light gray wings and back. Tips of wings have thin black border. Note long thin black bill and black or reddish-black legs (but legs turn bright red during late incubation and hatching). Non-breeding adults have a reddish tinge to the base of their bill, while immature birds have a light pink bill with a dark tip and pinkish legs. The species mostly breeds on inland braided riverbeds in the South Island, but a small proportion of the population breeds in the North Island and on the coast. Distinguished from similar Silver Gull by longer, thinner bill, less extensive black on outer wingtips, and lighter overall.
Great Thrush
Turdus fuscater
True to its name, Great Thrush is noticeably large, almost recalling a jay rather than a thrush. Brown overall, varying across range from dark blackish to paler grayish-brown. Note orange bill and legs and yellow eyering (males only). Common and conspicuous in highlands from 2,000–4,000 m. Found in open habitats including forest edges, gardens, towns, and cities, where it is often bold and easy to see. Compare with Chiguanco Thrush, which overlaps in some areas. Great Thrush is larger, darker, and males have yellow eyering.
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