Ochre-cheeked spinetail

The ochre-cheeked spinetail (Synallaxis scutata) is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Peru.

The ochre-cheeked spinetail is 13 to 14 cm (5.1 to 5.5 in) long and weighs 12 to 19 g (0.42 to 0.67 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a wide white supercilium, blackish lores, a fuzzy dark brownish line behind the eye, and ochraceous ear coverts and malar region. Their forehead has a blackish spot. Their crown and upper back are grayish brown and the rest of their back is dark rufous that narrows to the rump, replace by grayish brown. Their uppertail coverts are rufous. Their wings are mostly dark rufous with dark brownish lesser coverts and primary tips. Their tail is rufous; the tips of the feathers have no barbs giving a spiny appearance. Their throat is white with a black crescent on its lower part. Their breast is pinkish brown to pale ochraceous buff that becomes more ochraceous by the undertail coverts; the belly is paler and has a white center. Their iris is dark chestnut to reddish brown or brown, their maxilla black to dark gray, their mandible gray to blue-gray (sometimes with a dark tip), and their legs and feet greenish gray to yellowish olive. Juveniles have faint dark scallops on the breast. Subspecies S. s. whitii has uniform brown upperparts with no rufous, with darker rufous wings and tail and deeper ochraceous face and underparts than the nominate.