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Ochre-cheeked Spinetail | Synallaxis scutata
Goudoorstekelstaart | Pijuí canela | Estrelinha-preta
The Ochre-cheeked Spinetail is a spinetail of the undergrowth of dry and semi-deciduous forest. The ochre cheeks and the white throat with a black crescent are characteristic. In the guide area it lives mainly in Bolivia; in Peru only in the south-east.
Voice
The song is a high, thin, whistled phrase with the first part slurred upwards, repeated about once per second.
Recording: Fabrício Grigolin — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
13–14 cm. White supercilium, blackish lores and ochre ear coverts and malar area. Crown and upper back are greyish brown, with a blackish spot on the forehead; the back is dark rufous, turning greyish brown on the rump. The uppertail coverts and tail are rufous; the feathers lack barbs at the tips, giving the tail a spiny look. White throat with a black crescent below; breast pinkish brown to buff, belly paler. Birds in south-eastern Bolivia (subspecies whitii) are more uniformly brown above, without rufous on the back, with darker rufous wings and tail and deeper ochre on the head and underparts. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
White-lored Spinetail Synallaxis albilora lacks the black throat crescent, has orange-ochre underparts and a longer tail, and lives in gallery forest. Plain-crowned Spinetail Synallaxis gujanensis has no ochre cheeks and no black throat patch, and lives in wetter scrub along rivers. Sooty-fronted Spinetail Synallaxis frontalis has a rufous crown, greyish underparts and a longer tail.
Habitat
Undergrowth and edges of semi-deciduous and deciduous forest, from the lowlands up to about 1700 m. It forages in pairs for arthropods, mostly on the ground, and occasionally joins mixed flocks. The nest is a large, elongated mass of twigs, rootlets and dead leaves with a horizontal entrance tube; it lies on the ground, where it resembles a pile of debris.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
Bolivia: in the south-east (subspecies whitii) and locally in the north-west. Peru: only in the south-east; the subspecies of these birds is uncertain. Absent from Colombia, Ecuador and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in eastern and central Brazil, the far north-west of Paraguay and north-western Argentina.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search the undergrowth of dry forest in Santa Cruz, for example in Chiquitano forest, and listen for the high, regularly repeated whistled phrase. Birds forage low, often on the ground.
Conservation status
Least Concern. Clearing of dry forest for agriculture and ranching locally reduces its habitat.
Scientific name
Synallaxis scutata | Sclater, 1859
Sclater described the species in 1859 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Synallaxis was introduced in 1818 by Vieillot. The genus name comes from Ancient Greek sunallaxis, 'exchange'. The species name comes from Latin scutatus, 'shielded', probably for the black throat patch. The specimen the first description was based on came from Bahia, Brazil.