Tawny tit-spinetail

Appearance

The tawny tit-spinetail is 16 to 17.5 cm long and weighs 10 to 12 g. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a mostly bright cinnamon buff face with a tawny rufous forehead and a tawny brown crown. The Peruvian poplulation has a narrow buff supercilium while that of Bolivian birds is whitish. Their back is tawny brown and their rump and uppertail coverts are rufous. Their wing coverts are dusky with rufous edges and their flight feathers are dusky brown with much rufous on their outer webs. Their tail is graduated and rufous. Their underparts are bright cinnamon buff, somewhat paler in Bolivian birds than Peruvian ones. Their iris is brown, their bill dark brown to black, and their legs and feet dark gray to blackish.

Distribution

The tawny tit-spinetail has a disjunct distribution. One population is found in the Cordillera Blanca of Peru's Department of Ancash and adjacent Department of Lima. A second is in the southern Peruvian departments of Apurímac, Cuzco, and [Puno. A third is found from La Paz Department in northern Bolivia south into Jujuy and Salta provinces in northwestern Argentina.

Status

The IUCN originally assessed the tawny tit-spinetail in 1988 as Near Threatened but in 2016 downlisted it to being of Least Concern. It has a large range and an estimated population of at least 50,000 mature individuals, though that number is believed to be decreasing. "The main threats are heavy grazing by livestock and uncontrolled use of fire, which combine to prevent "Polylepis" regeneration, especially where cutting for timber, firewood and charcoal occurs."

Habitat

The tawny tit-spinetail primarily inhabits "Polylepis" woodland but also occurs in montane scrublands and some grasslands. In elevation it occurs between 3,950 and 4,600 m in Peru, between 2,800 and 4,200 m in Bolivia, and between 2,900 and 3,600 m in Argentina.

Reproduction

The tawny tit-spinetail's breeding season has not been defined but includes November and December. The one known nest was a ball of grass stems with a side entrance, and lined with plant fibers, feathers, and threads. It was in a fork of a "Polylepis" tree 2.5 m above the ground. Both members of the pair constructed it. Nothing else is known about the species' breeding biology.

Food

The tawny tit-spinetail's diet has not been detailed but it is known to be mostly arthropods with small amounts of plant material. It forages in pairs or in small groups that might be families and often join mixed-species feeding flocks. It usually forages by gleaning its prey from leaves, twigs, and the bark of branches. It sometimes hangs upside down to reach prey. It sometimes also forages on the ground.