- Cranioleuca obsoleta
Identification
13-15 cm. A small, short-billed and relatively dull Spinetail with a plain brown crown.
- Whitish supercilium
- Dull brown postocular band with auriculars and moustachial region vaguely flammulated dull buff and brown
- Plain dull buff malar area, forehead vaguely flammulated brown and buff, blending to dull brownish-olive crown
- Back and rump richer brown
- Dark chestnut-rufous wing-coverts, dull dark brown primary coverts, warm brown remiges
- Chestnut-rufous, graduated tail with spiny appearance
- Whitish throat
- Buffy brownish breast, blending to pale olive-buff belly
- Flanks and undertail-coverts darker
Sexes similar. Juveniles with darker upperparts and dark scaling on underparts.
Distribution
Eastern Paraguay, southeastern Brazil and northeastern Argentina.
Fairly common to common, rare in Paraguay.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species.
Closely related with Pallid Spinetail and Stripe-crowned Spinetail (and is sometimes considered conspecific with the latter).
Habitat
Found in humid forest and second growth, also in Araucaria woodland. Occurs from sea-level up to 1000 m.
Behaviour
Diet
Feeds on arthropods.
Forages usually in pairs, often in mixed-species flocks. Looks for food in mid-storey, sometimes up to the canopy. Hitches along branches and small trunks and uses often its tail for support. Gleans acrobatically items from moss, epiphytes and bark.
Breeding
Not much known. Breeding season probably during austral spring-summer and lays eggs in October. Presumably a monogamous species. The nest is a slanted, oblong mass with an entrance hole near top of lower side.
Movements
This is a resident species.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved Jan 2018)
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Olive Spinetail. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 8 December 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Olive_Spinetail
