Puna Miner

The puna miner is a medium-size member of its genus. It is 13.5 to 14 cm (5.3 to 5.5 in) long and weighs 22 to 29 g (0.78 to 1.0 oz). The sexes are alike. It has a pale grayish brown face with a buffy whitish supercilium. It is pale sandy brown from its crown to its rump; its uppertail coverts are even paler. Its tail feathers have pale tawny rufous bases, dark brownish to blackish middles, and pale tawny rufous tips. The pale basal area is progressively larger from the innermost to the outer feathers and the outermost have almost entirely white outer webs. Voice: The puna miner often sings during a display flight, "a long shrill series of 'veoo' notes, rising early and then descending". The song has some "faster, chattier notes" mixed in. Its flight call is "a sharp, rich 'pzea' or 'kvee'."