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Rusty-backed Spinetail | Cranioleuca vulpina
Roodrugstekelstaart | Curutié vulpino | Arredio-do-rio
The Rusty-backed Spinetail is a rufous spinetail of scrub and riverine woodland along lowland rivers and lakes. It is tied to vegetation near water, from gallery forest in the llanos to scrub on riverbanks. Parker's Spinetail of the river islands of the upper Amazon was formerly treated as a subspecies of this species.
Voice
A fast, rattling series of high notes, often by both partners. Calls with a sharp, short chip.
Recording: JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
15–16 cm, with a straight, pointed bill and a graduated tail with spiny feather tips. The crown, back, wings and tail are rufous. A pale supercilium; the face is greyish. The throat is whitish, the rest of the underparts pale greyish buff. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
Parker's Spinetail Cranioleuca vulpecula is very similar, but lives on river islands of the Amazon and its tributaries in Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. Yellow-chinned Spinetail Certhiaxis cinnamomeus has a small yellow chin spot and whiter underparts and lives in marsh vegetation. Red-and-white Spinetail Certhiaxis mustelinus has black lores and pure white underparts.
Habitat
Gallery forest, scrub on river islands, riverside shrubs, várzea and thickets around lakes and streams, from sea level to about 400 m. Pairs search for insects in vines and dense shrubs while hitching along branches. The nest is a globe of plant material with a side entrance, in a shrub or tree near water.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
Colombia: in the east, in gallery forest and riverside scrub in the llanos and along the Orinoco. Ecuador: absent. Peru: very locally in the extreme south-east. Bolivia: in the east and in the lowlands of Cochabamba and possibly Beni. Absent from the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in Venezuela, Brazil and Paraguay.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search riverbanks and gallery forest in the llanos of Colombia or along rivers in eastern Bolivia. Pairs often give their rattling song from dense shrubs close to the water.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species has a large range and is described as fairly common locally.
Scientific name
Cranioleuca vulpina | (Pelzeln, 1856)
Pelzeln described the species in 1856 as Synallaxis vulpina; 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 vulpinus, 'fox-like', referring to the foxy colour. The specimen the first description was based on came from Engenho do Gama, Rio Guaporé, Mato Grosso, Brazil.