Pallid Spinetail
Cranioleuca pallida
Small, acrobatic spinetail found in the canopy of montane forests; especially fond of epiphytes. Usually accompanies mixed-species flocks. Sandy brown overall with a rufous crown, tail, and wings. Note the well-marked eyebrow and dark ear coverts. Similar to Olive Spinetail, but with rufous (not brown) crown. The song is a fast and high-pitched trill.
Identification
The pallid spinetail is 14 to 15 cm (5.5 to 5.9 in) long and weighs 11 to 12 g (0.39 to 0.42 oz). It is a smallish member of genus Cranioleuca. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a wide whitish supercilium, a blackish spot in front of the eye, a dark brown band behind the eye, and buffy ear coverts with faint dark brownish streaks. Their forehead is streaked blackish and buff, their crown is dark rufous, and their nape gray. Their back and rump are tawny-olive or olive-brown. Their tail is dark rufous; the feathers are graduated and lack barbs at the end giving a spiky appearance. Their wing coverts are rufous, their primary coverts dark brown, and their flight feathers pale cinnamon-tawny to pale olive-tawny. Their chin is buffy whitish, their throat and breast bright buffy to brownish olive, their belly duller pale brownish olive, and flanks and undertail coverts slightly darker. Their iris is reddish brown to pale brown, their maxilla black to dusky horn, their mandible pinkish with a dusky tip, and their legs and feet greenish olive or gray. Juveniles have a darker back than adults, with a brown crown, ochraceous-tinged underparts, and variable dark mottling on the breast.
Taxonomy
The pallid spinetail is monotypic. It and the stripe-crowned spinetail (C. pyrrhophia) are sister species, and the two are closely related to the olive spinetail (C. obsoleta).
- Scientific name
- Cranioleuca pallida
- Authority
- (Wied-Neuwied, M, 1831)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Furnariidae
- Genus
- Cranioleuca
Range and habitat
The pallid spinetail is found in southeastern Brazil from southern Goiás, central Minas Gerais, and southeastern Bahia south into eastern Paraná. It inhabits montane evergreen forest, woodlands, and mature secondary forest. In elevation it ranges from 700 to 2,150 m (2,300 to 7,100 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The pallid spinetail is a year-round resident throughout its range.<p>The pallid spinetail feeds on arthropods. It typically forages in pairs and usually joins mixed-species feeding flocks. It acrobatically gleans prey from vines, dead leaves, bark, trapped debris, fruit, and flowers. It hitches and climbs along small branches from the forest's mid-storey to its canopy.<p>The pallid spinetail is thought to be monogamous and to breed in the austral spring and summer. Its nest is a globe of lichen and moss with a side entrance, typically placed on a tree branch against the trunk or atop a clump of epiphytes. The clutch size, incubation period, time to fledging, and details of parental care are not known.<p>The pallid spinetail's song is an "extr. high, slightly descending series of about 5 'seetseet---tut' notes (often accelerated to a trill at the end)". Its call is "tééé-ssik, tséé-ssik".
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Lorentz's Whistler
Pachycephala lorentzi
A medium-sized bird of montane forest. Male and female look the same. Yellow belly, olive back, dark gray head, pale gray breast and whitish throat. Very similar to Vogelkop Whistler which does not co-occur. Similar to the female Regent Whistler, but Lorentz’s has a plain gray rather than scaled throat and a gray rather than olive chest. Typical whistler song with forceful, up-and-down whistled notes, some with an explosive quality.
Golden-crowned Woodpecker
Chloropicus xantholophus
A large, long-billed woodpecker with an olive back, a bold facial pattern, and heavily marked underparts. The crown is black in the female and yellow in the male, though this yellow patch can be difficult to see. Found in rainforest and secondary forest at low and middle elevations. Calls include a fast whinnying call, a sharp “kwip,” and a series of similar notes. Also gives a distinctive drum that lasts about 3 seconds, beginning fast and then slowing. Similar to Bearded and Fire-bellied Woodpeckers, but there is very little overlap in range; Golden-crowned can be separated from Bearded by the unbarred back and from Fire-bellied by the lack of a red belly. Males further distinguished by their yellow crown.
Usambara Greenbul
Phyllastrephus albigula
A very small, warbler-like greenbul with an olive-green back, pale underparts, an olive-washed gray cap and nape, and a yellow or orange eye. Found in montane forest at middle elevations. Often joins mixed-species flocks. Very similar in appearance to Tiny Greenbul, but found at higher elevations and darker overall, with an olive-green wash to the crown and nape. Similar in overall coloration to Yellow-streaked Greenbul, but much smaller, with a pale eye. Voice apparently very similar to Tiny Greenbul’s. The call is a rough chattering trill that is often mixed with the song: an accelerating, syncopated series of low nasal notes.
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