The long-tailed cinclodes (''Cinclodes pabsti'') is a

Near Threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been Conservation status, categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as that may be vulnerable to Endangered species, endangerment in the ne ...

species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Furnariidae. It is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

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Taxonomy and systematics

The long-tailed cinclodes is basal to the genus '' Cinclodes'' and is not very closely related to other species of the genus. It has two subspecies, the

nominate Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to a public office, or the bestowing of an honor or award. A collection of nominees narrowed from the full list of candidates is a short list. Political office In th ...

''C. p. pabsti'' ( Sick, 1969) and ''C. p. espinhacensis'' (Freitas, Chaves, Costa, Santos, FR & Rodrigues, 2012). The second was described as a full species but differs little genetically and morphologically from the nominate. Rader, J.A., Dillon, M.E., Chesser, R.T., Sabat, P. and Martínez del Rio, C. (2014). Morphological divergence in a continental adaptive radiation: South American ovenbirds of the genus ''Cinclodes''. Auk 132(1): 180–190. The long-tailed cinclodes'

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

commemorates the Brazilian botanist Guido Frederico João Pabst.

Description

The long-tailed cinclodes is long and weighs . It is a large cinclodes with a fairly long and straight bill. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a wide, distinct, white

supercilium The supercilium is a plumage feature found on the heads of some bird species. It is a stripe which runs from the base of the bird's beak above its eye, finishing somewhere towards the rear of the bird's head.Dunn and Alderfer (2006), p. 10 Also k ...

that narrows past the eye and a dark band through the eye that widens over the ear

coverts A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are small feathers behind t ...

. Their upperparts are grayish brown with their crown slightly darker than the back. Their wing has two wide but indistinct cinnamon-buff bars and a wider band. Their tail is dark brown with buff or ochraceous tips on the outer feathers. Their throat is white and contrasts with the rest of their underparts, which are pale yellowish buffy-brown. Their iris is brown, their bill black whose

mandible In jawed vertebrates, the mandible (from the Latin ''mandibula'', 'for chewing'), lower jaw, or jawbone is a bone that makes up the lowerand typically more mobilecomponent of the mouth (the upper jaw being known as the maxilla). The jawbone i ...

sometimes has a pale base, and their legs and feet gray to black. Subspecies ''C. p. espinhacensis'' is slightly smaller and lighter than the nominate and has lighter underparts and much darker upperparts.Remsen, Jr., J. V. and G. M. Kirwan (2020). Long-tailed Cinclodes (''Cinclodes pabsti''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.lotcin1.01 retrieved September 3, 2023

Distribution and habitat

The nominate subspecies of the long-tailed cinclodes is found in extreme southeastern Brazil between southeastern Santa Catarina and northeastern

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. It inhabits open landscapes such as temperate grasslands, pastures, and agricultural land. It usually occurs near water The landscapes are often rocky or near houses. In elevation it occurs between . Subspecies ''C. p. espinhacensis'' is found only in a small part of

Serra do Espinhaço Serra (Latin for " saw") may refer to: People and fictional characters * Serra (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Serra (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Serra (footballer), Portuguese footballer Jos ...

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. It inhabits '' campos rupestres'', a montane savanna landscape with a patchwork of rock outcrops and open fields. It is known to occur between about of elevation.

Behavior

Movement

The long-tailed cinclodes is a year-round resident in both its ranges.

Feeding

The long-tailed cinclodes feeds on

arthropod Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...

s and is thought to eat other invertebrates as well. It typically forages alone or in pairs. It is terrestrial, gleaning it prey from the ground, grass, and the edge of watercourses. Subspecies ''C. p. espinhacensis'' forages on rock outcrops in addition to open fields.

Breeding

The long-tailed cinclodes breeds in the austral spring and summer. It is thought to be monogamous. It makes a nest of grass and feathers in a rock crevice or a tunnel it excavates in a rocky soil bank; it has been known to nest in a hole in a house. Nothing else is known about its breeding biology.

Vocalization

The song of the long-tailed cinclodes' nominate subspecies is a "very high, short, sharp, crescendoing rattle/trill" that is sung from a perch or in flight. Its call is "a descending 'tseeoo' ". The song of ''C. p. espinhacensis'' is a "series of notes of which duration, energy, frequency and frequency range first increase gradually and then decrease again, with overall pace increasing steadily towards end" and its call is "generally rather similar to that of nominate but longer".

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

in 2004 originally assessed the long-tailed cinclodes as being of Least Concern but in 2007 uplisted it to Near Threatened. It "has a small range within which habitat is becoming increasingly degraded, in particular owing to the development of pine plantations." Its population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing. The nominate subspecies is considered uncommon to fairly common; it occurs in one protected area. ''C. p. espinhacensis'' is known only from a small number of sites in Serra do Espinhaço, with a maximum extent of about and probably less. The habitat is threatened by numerous human activities including tourism, mining, and conversion for pasture and agriculture. It does occur in and near Serra do Cipó National Park.