White-browed Tit-Spinetail

Overview

The white-browed tit-spinetail (Leptasthenura xenothorax) is a small, Near Threatened species of bird in the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is endemic to the high Andes of Peru, where it inhabits Polylepis woodlands and is assessed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List.

Identification

• A small-bodied, long-tailed furnariid, 16 to 18 cm in length, with a short black bill featuring a pinkish base and black legs.
• Adults have a bright rufous crown and a blackish, whitely streaked face, marked by a prominent white supercilium bordered narrowly in black.
• Upperparts are dull grayish brown with narrow black-outlined white streaks, and wings are dark fuscous with rufescent edges and a pale tawny patch on the flight feathers.
• The tail is dark fuscous to black with bare shafts at the tips, giving a spiny appearance, and underparts are whitish with coarse black mottling on the throat, fading to unmarked pale gray-brown lower down.

Habitat

Found only in the Peruvian Andes, primarily in the departments of Cuzco and Apurímac, between elevations of 3,700 and 4,550 m, though most common at lower elevations within that range. It primarily inhabits Polylepis woodlands but occasionally occurs in montane scrublands, preferring large areas of primary forest but foraging in smaller patches.

Diet

Feeds on arthropods, though the precise diet is not fully known. It forages in pairs or small family groups, regularly joining mixed-species foraging flocks, and typically gleans dense foliage near the top and on the outermost branches of Polylepis trees.

Did you know?

The species is highly vocal and often sings while foraging, producing a rapid, dry descending trill sometimes preceded by 1–4 short introductory notes, lasting roughly two seconds and resembling 'tjit tjit trrrrrrreeeeeeeeuuu'.