Azara's spinetail

Azara's spinetail (Synallaxis azarae) is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.

Azara's spinetail is 15 to 18 cm (5.9 to 7.1 in) long and weighs 12 to 18 g (0.42 to 0.63 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies S. a. azarae have a brownish gray face with a slightly paler supercilium. Their forehead and forecrown are dark grayish brown, their hindcrown and nape dark rufous, and their back, rump and uppertail coverts rich olive-brown. Their wings are mostly rufous-chestnut with dark brownish tips on their flight feathers. Their tail is dull chestnut-brown; the tail is graduated and the feathers have somewhat pointed tips. Their chin and edges of their throat are pale grayish with darker tips on the feathers; the center of their throat is sooty black with pale edges on the feathers. Their breast is dark brownish gray, their belly paler and grayer with faint mottling, and their flanks and undertail coverts browner than the breast and belly. Their iris is reddish brown to chestnut, their maxilla black to dark gray, their mandible gray or blue-gray (sometimes with a blackish base or tip), and their legs and feet olive-gray to grayish green. Juveniles have a brown crown and back, an indistinct throat patch, and a pale brown to ochraeceous wash on their underparts.

The other subspecies of Azara's spinetail differ from the nominate and each other thus:

S. a. elegantior: paler than the nominate, with a white spot on the lores, a fainter supercilium, and more fulvous flanks

S. a. media: paler than elegantior, with an even fainter supercilium and smaller loral spot, grayer chest, and paler and more olivaceous flanks

S. a. ochracea: paler than the nominate (especially the crown and wing coverts), with a more buffy brown back, very pale underparts, and an ochraceous tinge to the flanks

S. a. fruticicola: lighter than the nominate but darker than ochrachea

S. a. infumata: similar to the nominate, with more gray on the forehead and brighter rufous wing coverts

S. a. urubambae: similar to the nominate, but with a darker tail tinged olivaceous gray, brighter wing coverts, and dull rufous edges on the flight feathers.

S. a. samaipatae: paler than the nominate, with faint rufous edges on the forehead feathers, a buffish supercilium, and medium gray face and breast

S. a. superciliosa: paler than the nominate, with a more prominent and buff supercilium, and light brown underparts with a whitish belly