Streak-throated Canastero (Asthenes humilis)

Identification & Behavior: ~16 cm (6.2 in). The Streak-throated Canastero has a brown back faintly streaked (mottled) with dusky. It has a narrow supercilium from the eye. The sides of the head, neck, throat and upper breast are streaked with dusky. The rest of the underparts are brownish. It has a streaked orange chin patch. The tail is gray and often kept cocked. It forages on the ground in bunch grass with scattered rocks. It is very similar to the Cordilleran Canastero but is distinguished by having a faintly streaked back, streaked sides of the head, throat, breast, and by having a gray tail without rufous.

Status: The Streak-throated Canastero is fairly common in the grasslands of the high Andes at elevations ranging between 3100-4800 m. It also occurs in Bo.

Name in Spanish: Canastero de Garganta Rayada.

Sub-species: Streak-throated Canastero (Asthenes humilis cajamarcae), J. T. Zimmer, 1936.  Andes of NW Peru (S Cajamarca).
(Asthenes humilis humilis), Cabanis, 1873.  Andes of C Peru (La Libertad and Ancash S to Huancavelica and Ayacucho).
(Asthenes humilis robusta), Berlepsch, 1901.  Andes of S Peru (Cuzco S to Puno) and N Bolivia (La Paz, W Cochabamba).

Meaning of Name: Asthenes: Gr. a= a negative prefix and sthenos= power. asthenes= insignificant, powerless. humilis: L. humus, humi= ground. Humilis= small, humble, on the ground.

See more of the Family Furnariidae