Blackish-headed Spinetail (Synallaxis tithys)

Identification & Behavior: ~14.5 cm (5.7 in). The Blackish-headed Spinetail has a brownish mantle. The forehead and face are black and grade to a gray towards the rest of the head and the underparts. The folded wing is mostly rufous. The tail is gray. The juvenile has a paler and dull plumage with fine dusky barring on the throat and breast. It forages in the understory of semi-deciduous forests, generally in pairs. It is similar to the Azara’s  Spinetail and Slaty Spinetail but is distinguished by not having a rufous crown as the other two spinetails do. These spinetails overlap in Tumbes.

Status: The Blackish-headed Spinetail is fairly common in the humid and semi-deciduous forest in extreme northwest Peru in Tumbes. It also occurs in Ec.

Name in Spanish: Cola-Espina de Cabeza Negruzca.

Sub-species: Blackish-headed Spinetail (Synallaxis tithys), Taczanowski, 1877.

Meaning of Name: Synallaxis: Gr. sunallaxeos, sunallaxis = exchange. tithys: Late Gr. titis, titidos= small chirping bird mentioned by Photios.

See more of the Family Furnariidae