Plain-mantled Tit-Spinetail vs Wren-like Rushbird

Plain-mantled Tit-Spinetail

Leptasthenura aegithaloides

Tiny11 gShrubland

The plain-mantled tit-spinetail is 15 to 17 cm (5.9 to 6.7 in) long and weighs 7.5 to 11 g (0.26 to 0.39 oz). It is a small, slender, long-tailed furnariid with a short bill. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies L. a. aegithaloides have a white supercilium on an otherwise dark brownish, whitish streaked, face. Their crown is dark brown with wide golden-tawny streaks, their hindneck dark brown with grayish-white streaks, and their back, rump, and uppertail coverts dull brownish. Voice: The subspecies of the plain-mantled tit-spinetail have quite different voices. The nominate subspecies' song is "a high-pitched descending, broken trill lasting 2–5 seconds, with accentuated sharper notes, e.g. 'chikiti-chikiti-chikiti- chikiti-ti-ti-ti-pweew-ti-ti-ti-pweew-ti-ti-ti…' ". Its calls include a "shorter, lower-pitched nasal trill, 'prrr' " and "a double 'tzk-tzk' or 'pit-tzk-tzk' ".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Tomás Tamagno · CC BY 4.0

Wren-like Rushbird

Phleocryptes melanops

Tiny15 gWetland

The wren-like rushbird is 13 to 14 cm (5.1 to 5.5 in) long and weighs 11 to 16 g (0.39 to 0.56 oz). It is a small furnariid whose plumage closely resembles that of the wholly unrelated marsh wren (Cistothorus palustris). It has a longish slightly decurved bill. The sexes' plumages are essentially alike though females are slightly paler than males. Adults of the nominate subspecies P. m. melanops have a wide buff supercilium, grayish lores, a dark brown band behind the eye, mottled dark brown ear coverts, and a buff malar area. Their crown is blackish with wide brown streaks. Voice: In much of its range, the wren-like rushbird's song is a "repeated mechanical ticking, repeated several times per second, sometimes for several minutes, often ending with trill like that of cicada". One author describes it as sounding "like an idling motor, with the throttle occasionally opened". The song of the Andean population is "similar but with more strident tones".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Enrique González · CC BY 4.0

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Plain-mantled Tit-Spinetail and Wren-like Rushbird.