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Ash-browed Spinetail | Cranioleuca curtata
Grijsbrauwstekelstaart | Curutié cejigrís | Arredio-de-sobrancelha-cinza
The Ash-browed Spinetail is an ovenbird of humid montane forest on the eastern slope of the Andes, from Colombia to Bolivia. It forages in the canopy among moss, dead leaves and epiphytes, almost always with mixed flocks. With the Red-faced and Line-cheeked Spinetails it forms a group of closely related species that replace each other geographically.
Voice
The song is a fast, shrill series of notes that accelerates and descends, usually ends in a trill and fades in intensity.
Recording: Mauricio Cuéllar Ramírez — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
14–15 cm, with a pointed bill and a rufous tail with spiny tips. Crown and wings are chestnut, with a whitish to dingy grey eyebrow. The back is warm brown, more reddish towards the rump. The throat is paler, the underparts greyish olive. The form on the eastern slope of Colombia, Ecuador and northern Peru is darker, with more chestnut; the form in southern Peru and Bolivia is paler, with a chestnut forehead. The sexes are alike; juveniles have a strong eyebrow and ochraceous-rufous underparts.
Confusion species
Red-faced Spinetail Cranioleuca erythrops of the western slope has an entirely rufous face without a pale eyebrow. Line-cheeked Spinetail Cranioleuca antisiensis lives further west and in drier regions, with a white eyebrow and streaked cheeks. Marcapata Spinetail Cranioleuca marcapatae and Light-crowned Spinetail Cranioleuca albiceps in southern Peru and Bolivia live higher, in cloud forest above about 2400 m, and have a brighter rufous back; the latter has a pale crown.
Habitat
Humid foothill and lower montane forest, in Colombia between 800 and 2300 m, further south mostly between 900 and 1700 m, locally from 650 to 2500 m. It forages in the middle strata and canopy along branches, moss and dead leaves for insects, often hanging. As in related species, the nest is a ball of moss hanging from a branch.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia on the western slope of the Eastern Andes from Santander to Huila, and on the eastern slope from Caquetá southwards. In Ecuador on the eastern slope of the Andes. In Peru along the eastern slope over the whole length of the country. In Bolivia on the eastern slope in La Paz, Cochabamba and western Santa Cruz. Absent from the Galápagos. Does not occur outside the guide area.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Follow mixed flocks in foothill and lower montane forest along mountain roads on the eastern slope, such as the Manu road in Peru or the roads through the Yungas in Bolivia; the bird often forages hanging from dead leaves.
Conservation status
Least Concern. Its habitat on the eastern slope is locally cleared for farming and roads.
Scientific name
Cranioleuca curtata | (Sclater, 1870)
Sclater described the species in 1870 as Synallaxis curtata; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Cranioleuca was introduced in 1853 by Reichenbach. The genus name comes from Greek kranion, 'skull', and leukos, 'white'. The species name comes from Latin curtatus, 'shortened', presumably referring to the short tail. The specimen the first description was based on came from Bogotá, Colombia.