Dec 28

Bird of the day

Rusty-crowned tit-spinetail

Leptasthenura pileata

The rusty-crowned tit-spinetail (Leptasthenura pileata) is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is endemic to Peru.

The rusty-crowned tit-spinetail is about 15 cm (5.9 in) long and weighs 8 to 12.5 g (0.28 to 0.44 oz). It is a small, long-tailed furnariid with a short bill. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a short indistinct white supercilium on an otherwise grayish face. Their crown is rufous with narrow white streaks. Their back is blackish with narrow white streaks and their rump light gray-brown with minimal or no streaks. Their wing coverts are dusky brown with light gray-brown edges and their flight feathers dusky brown with pale cinnamon-rufous at the base of some. Their tail's central pair of feathers are dusky brown with much pale gray, the next two pairs mostly dusky brown, and the outer pairs dusky brown with progressively more pale gray on their ends to the almost entirely pale outermost pair. Their throat is white with dusky spots and their breast and belly light grayish brown with faint whitish streaks on the breast. Their iris is dark brown, their bill black with a pink or pinkish gray base to the mandible, and their legs and feet gray to black. Subspecies L. p. cajabambae is very similar to the nominate but has black streaks rather than white on the crown. L. p. latistriata is also similar to the nominate, but the streaks on its back are wider and more contrasting. Its breast and belly are a darker gray and the breast streaks are heavier.

Aliases

Leptasthenura pileata