Apurimac Spinetail (Synallaxis courseni)

Identification & Behavior: ~19.5 cm (7.6 in). The Apurimac Spinetail has a dark gray mantle and rufous crown. The folded wing is rufous. The tail is gray. The throat has a variable amount of black. The forehead and underparts are dark gray. The juvenile has a similar but dull plumage without a rufous crown. It forages in the shrubbery of forest edges, second growth, and dense understory of humid montane forests. It is similar to the Azara’s  Spinetail but is distinguished by having a gray and longer tail and darker gray plumage. These two spinetails replace each other geographically.

Status: Endemic. The Apurimac Spinetail in fairly common and largely restricted to the Apurimac Valley where it ranges at elevations between 2500-3500 m.

Name in Spanish: Cola-Espina de Apurímac.

Sub-species: Apurimac Spinetail (Synallaxis courseni), Blake, 1971.

Meaning of Name: Synallaxis: Gr. sunallaxeos, sunallaxis = exchange. courseni: In honor of Charles Blair Coursen (1899-1974) US businessman, President of General Biological Supply House Chicago, sponsor, field ornithologist.

See more of the Family Furnariidae