Plain Softtail

The plain softtail is 16 to 18 cm (6.3 to 7.1 in) long and weighs 23 to 24 g (0.81 to 0.85 oz). The sexes have almost the same plumage. Adult males of the nominate subspecies have a faint pale supercilium and a thin dark line through the eye on a otherwise pale brownish gray face. Their crown is pale gray-brown with faint buff marks. Their upper back is pale gray-brown that becomes rufescent brown on the lower back, rump, and uppertail coverts. Their tail is rufous. Their wings are mostly dark rufous with dark brown tips on the flight feathers. Voice: The song of the plain softtail's nominate subspecies "begins with widely spaced, dry ticking notes, accelerating and rising to extremely high notes, then descends into bursts of sputtering tick notes". That of T. f. dimorpha is "a sharp, loud, and descending churring". That of T. f. obidensis is a "very rhythmic chattering with rattles in tune". All three subspecies typically sing in duet.