Hoary-throated Spinetail

Overview

The hoary-throated spinetail (Synallaxis kollari) is an Endangered species within the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is a monotypic species found exclusively in the extreme northern Amazon Basin.

Identification

• Males and females share identical plumage, measuring 14.5 to 16 cm in length.
• Adults feature a gray-brown crown with a bright rufous nape, back, and rump, contrasting with rufous wings that have dusky tips on the flight feathers.
• The throat is dull black with white feather tips, while underparts are rufous cinnamon with pale ochraceous lower flanks.
• Distinctive features include grayish lores, dark rufous cinnamon ear coverts, a rufous streak behind the eye, dark reddish brown irises, and blue-gray legs and feet.
• Vocalisation consists of a double-noted 'tuh-tih' where the second note is higher, though it is unclear whether this is a song or a call.

Habitat

Restricted to gallery forest along watercourses in the extreme northern Amazon Basin, specifically tributaries of the Branco River in Roraima, Brazil, and the Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo Region in Guyana. The habitat consists of narrow bands flowing through grasslands known as "Lavrado" in Brazil and the Rupununi savannah in Guyana, favouring dense undergrowth heavy with vines and Inga shrubs. The total length of these inhabited bands is less than 600 km, and the bird is a year-round resident.

Did you know?

Approximately 60% of the gallery forest within the species' range lies inside indigenous reserves that are not formally protected, where illegal rice farming by non-indigenous people poses a significant threat alongside habitat degradation and fires.