Thorn-tailed Rayadito

Rayadito

Aphrastura spinicauda

Length: 149mm. Sexes alike. Bill black with base of mandible pale grey; iris dark brown; forehead and broad eyebrow extending to the nape rusty ochraceous; crown and auriculars black; back brown, shoulders cinnamon ochraceous with feathers margined black; rump and uppertail coverts rufous; central rectrices rufous brown, rest of tail feathers blackish with cinnamon brown spot and pointed as a thorn blackish in colour. Throat, breast and belly white, flanks and undertail coverts cinnamon brown. Lesser wing coverts cinnamon with cinnamon bar, greater coverts black with white terminal bar, remiges blackish with rufous cinnamon bar. Legs rufous brown.

Average weight: 12g. Habitat and behaviour: it inhabits all types of forests where it forages in groups that move restless and incessantly, climbing, flitting from branch to branch or on the ground, often in the company of Treerunners. Usually it flies short distances. Notably tame, when something calls its attention it approaches closely and utters repeatedly a harsh cry, moving to an fro all the while. It feeds on insects and invertebrates and some fruit. The nest is built in holes in tree trunks where up to four white eggs are laid. Range: the entire stretch of the Andean Patagonian forests and adjacent areas, from Neuquén to Tierra del Fuego, one of the most common birds throughout the year.