Dark-breasted Spinetail (Synallaxis albigularis)

Identification & Behavior: ~16.5 cm (6.4 in). The Dark-breasted Spinetail has a brown mantle and rufous crown. The folded wing is brown with rufous wing coverts. The tail is grayish. The chin is white with the rest of the throat black. The underparts are gray with a pale center of the belly. The juvenile is mostly brown. It forages in tall grass mixed with scrub and shrubbery, second growth, and forest edges. It is similar to the Cinereous-breasted Spinetail but is distinguished by having a white chin and black rest of the throat. The voice is essential in identifying these spinetails.

Status: The Dark-breasted Spinetail is fairly common and widespread in Amazonia where it is known to range up to 1800 m along the foothill of the Andes. It also occurs in Co, Ec, Br, and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Cola-Espina de Pecho Oscuro.

Sub-species: Dark-breasted Spinetail (Synallaxis albigularis albigularis), P. L. Sclater, 1858.

Meaning of Name: Synallaxis: Gr. sunallaxeos, sunallaxis = exchange. albigularis: L. albus= white and gularis, gula= throated, throat.

See more of the Family Furnariidae