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Pallid Spinetail
(Cranioleuca pallida)
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Intervales, São Paulo, Brazil
April 2004The Pallid Spinetail is distributed in south-east Brazil from southern Bahia to Paraná. It is found in Atlantic Rain Forest at between 700 and 2150 metres, usually near the canopy or on the edges. It is a Brazilian endemic.
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At first glance I assumed that this was an Olive Spinetail Cranioleuca obsoleta largely because of its brown rather than rufous crown. However, I was concerned that the entire wing was rufous because the Olive Spinetail has only rufous wing coverts. I consulted Jeremy Minns who suggested that it might be an immature Pallid Spinetail since the juvenile has a brown not a rufous crown. This was confirmed by Fernando Straube. |
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Both Jeremy and Fernando commented on the position of the bird since neither of them had seen one on the ground before. But birds have to bathe at some time and this was obviously a convenient puddle. Fernando also mentioned that, although Ridgely & Tudor say, "Olive Spinetail lacks the rufous crown and is probably never sympatric with Pallid", there is in fact an extensive area in the south of São Paulo state and in Paraná where the two species occur together. |
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