The dusky-tailed canastero (''Pseudasthenes humicola'') is a 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 ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, G. Del-Rio, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 28 September 2023. Species Lists of Birds for South American Countries and Territories. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCCountryLists.htm retrieved October 20, 2023

Taxonomy and systematics

The dusky-tailed canastero was originally described as ''

Synallaxis ''Synallaxis'' is a genus of birds in the Ovenbird (family), ovenbird family, Furnariidae. It is one of the most diverse genera in the family and is composed of small birds that inhabit dense undergrowth across tropical and subtropical habitats ...

humicola'' and subsequently placed in genera '' Siptornis'', ''

Thripophaga ''Thripophaga'' is a genus of birds that popularly are known as softtails. They are members of the ovenbird family, Furnariidae. They are found in wooded and shrubby habitats, sometimes near water, in South America. Taxonomy and systematics So ...

'', and ''

Asthenes Canasteros and thistletails are small passerine birds of South America belonging to the genus ''Asthenes''. The name "canastero" comes from Spanish language, Spanish and means "basket-maker", referring to the large, domed nests these species mak ...

'' by various authors and taxonomic systems.Pantoja, V., J. V. Remsen, Jr., and P. F. D. Boesman (2021). Dusky-tailed Canastero (''Pseudasthenes humicola''), version 2.0. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, S. M. Billerman, and M. A. Bridwell, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.dutcan1.02 retrieved November 17, 2023 Beginning in about 2010 it and three other members of ''Asthenes'' were moved to the newly coined genus ''

Pseudasthenes ''Pseudasthenes'' is a genus of small suboscine passerine birds, commonly known as canasteros or false canasteros, in the ovenbird family. It was described in 2010 to accommodate four species split from the related genus ''Asthenes''. The genus ...

''.Derryberry, E. P., S. Claramunt, G. Derryberry, R. T. Chesser, J. Cracraft, A. Aleixo, J. Pérez-Emán, J. V. Remsen, Jr., and R. T. Brumfield. (2011). Lineage diversification and morphological evolution in a large-scale continental radiation: the Neotropical ovenbirds and woodcreepers (Aves: Furnariidae). Evolution 65(10):2973–2986. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01374.x The dusky-tailed canastero has three 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 ...

''P. h. humicola'' ( Kittlitz, 1830), ''P. h. goodalli'' (Marin, Kiff & Peña, 1989), and ''P. h. polysticta'' (

Hellmayr Carl Eduard Hellmayr (29 January 1878 – 24 February 1944) was an Austrian ornithologist. Biography Hellmayr was born in Vienna and studied at the University of Vienna, although he did not complete his degree. After his studies he worked in Vie ...

, 1925).

Description

The dusky-tailed canastero is long and weighs . The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a narrow whitish

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 ...

on an otherwise dark gray-brown face with faint paler streaks. Their crown is dark brown, their back a slightly paler brown, and paler brown rump and uppertail coverts that have a rufescent tinge. Their wings are mostly the same brown as the back with dull rufous on the shoulder. Their tail's central feathers are also mostly the same brown as the back with dark fuscous tips; the rest of the feathers are fuscous blackish. Their throat is whitish with black flecks, their upper breast whitish with black streaks, their lower breast brownish gray with faint pale streaks, their belly paler unstreaked brownish gray, their flanks rufescent brown, and their undertail

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 ...

darker rufous-brown. Their iris is dark brown, their

maxilla In vertebrates, the maxilla (: maxillae ) is the upper fixed (not fixed in Neopterygii) bone of the jaw formed from the fusion of two maxillary bones. In humans, the upper jaw includes the hard palate in the front of the mouth. The two maxil ...

dull black, their

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 ...

bluish gray with a black tip, and their legs and feet greenish to gray. Juveniles have a more rufous rump than adults, with less streaking on the underparts more rufescent on the tail. Compared to the nominate, subspecies ''P. h. goodalli'' has more streaks on its face, a darker crown, less visible streaks on its breast, and brighter cinnamon on its shoulder, flanks, and undertail coverts. ''P. h. polysticta'' is very like the nominate but with duller brown flanks and undertail coverts and more spotting on the underparts.

Distribution and habitat

The dusky-tailed canastero is endemic to Chile. Subspecies ''P. h. goodalli'' is the northernmost. It is found in the southwestern part of the

Antofagasta Region The Antofagasta Region (, ) is one of Chile's Administrative divisions of Chile, sixteen first-order administrative divisions. Being the second-largest region of Chile in area, it comprises three provinces, Antofagasta Province, Antofagasta, El ...

in the north of the country. The nominate subspecies is found from the Atacama Region south into the northern part of the

Maule Region The Maule Region (, ) is one of Chile's 16 first order administrative divisions. Its capital is Talca. The region derives its name from the Maule River which, running westward from the Andes, bisects the region and spans a basin of about 20,6 ...

. At least one historical record in western Argentina leads The

International Ornithological Committee The International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) is an international organization for the promotion of ornithology. It links basic and applied research and nurtures education and outreach activities. Specifically, the IOU organizes and funds global co ...

to include "Argentina (?)" as part of its range, but that record has not been accepted by the South American Classification Committee of the

American Ornithological Society The American Ornithological Society (AOS) is an ornithological organization based in the United States. The society was formed in October 2016 by the merger of the American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) and the Cooper Ornithological Society. Its ...

or the

Clements taxonomy ''The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World'' is a book by Jim Clements which presents a list of the bird species of the world. The most recent printed version is the sixth edition (2007), but has been updated yearly, the last version in 202 ...

. Subspecies ''P. h. polysticta'' is found from southern Maule south to the

Araucanía Region The Araucanía ( ), La Araucanía Region ( ) is one of Chile's 16 first-order administrative divisions, and comprises two provinces: Malleco in the north and Cautín in the south. Its capital and largest city is Temuco; other important cities ...

.Clements, J. F., P.C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2023. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2023. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ retrieved October 28, 2023 The dusky-tailed canastero's habitat varies geographically. In the northern part of its range it is found in desert with some shrubs and the edges of dry forest near the coast, and very locally inland in valleys with some vegetation. In the central and southern parts of its range it extends from near the coast up to about in the piedmont foothills. There it inhabits semi-arid steppe landscapes with many bushes and the edges of forests as well. In all parts of its range it shuns populated areas.

Behavior

Movement

The dusky-tailed canastero is a year-round resident throughout its range.

Feeding

The dusky-tailed canastero feeds mostly 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 but includes smaller amounts of berries and seeds in its diet. It forages mostly by itself or in pairs, taking its prey while moving among the branches of shrubs and trees.

Breeding

The dusky-tailed canastero breeds between August and December with the peak of activity in mid-September. Both members of a pair build the nest, a covered basket of thorny twigs suspended from a forked branch or cactus. Its egg chamber is lined with softer plant material, horsehair, and feathers. The clutch size is two to four eggs. The incubation period is 20 to 22 days and fledging occurs 15 to 16 days after hatch. Both parents incubate the clutch and provision nestlings.

Vocalization

The dusky-tailed canastero has two songs which are mostly sung during the breeding season. One is squeaky disyllabic notes "gradually becoming louder, higher-pitched, and longer in duration after which notes again get fainter, shorter, and lower-pitched...''chi-wee.. chi-wee''". The other is a "long, somewhat variable dry rattling trill which descends in pitch". Its call, heard year-round, is a "short and sharp ''tsik''".

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 ...

has assessed the dusky-tailed canastero as being of Least Concern. It has a large range and an unknown population size that is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified. It occurs in several protected areas. However, it "does not tolerate human disturbance, so changes in habitat may negatively impact the population."

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1271712 dusky-tailed canastero dusky-tailed canastero Taxa named by Heinrich von Kittlitz Endemic birds of Chile Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Fauna of the Chilean Matorral