Creamy-crested Spinetail (Cranioleuca albicapilla)

Identification & Behavior: ~17 cm (6.6 in). The Creamy-crested Spinetail has olive-brown upperparts with rufous shoulders (upper wing coverts) and tail. It has a bushy buffy crown and pinkish bill. The sides of the head and breast are tinged with buffy. The throat is whitish. It forages in pairs in Andean scrub and riparian forests. It is similar to the white-crowned sub-species of the Marcapata Spinetail (weskei), but their ranges are not known to overlap.  

Status: Endemic. The Creamy-crested Spinetail is uncommon in the south-central Andes at elevations ranging between 2500-3800 m.

Name in Spanish: Cola-Espina de Cresta Cremosa.

Sub-species: Creamy-crested Spinetail (Cranioleuca albicapilla albicapilla), Cabanis, 1873. Andes of C Peru (Junín and Huancavelica S to Ayacucho and Apurímac).
(Cranioleuca albicapilla albigula), J. T. Zimmer, 1924.  Andes of S Peru (Cuzco S to Ayacucho and Apurímac).

Meaning of Name: Cranioleuca: Gr. kranion= skull, head and leukos= white. albicapilla: L. albus= white and capillus, capillus= capped, hair of the head.

See more of the Family Furnariidae