Blackish-headed Spinetail

The blackish-headed spinetail is 14.5 to 17 cm (5.7 to 6.7 in) long and weighs 14 to 18 g (0.49 to 0.63 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a mostly black face with some whitish grizzling on the cheeks. Their forecrown is black, their hindcrown and upper back dark gray, and their rump and uppertail coverts dark brownish. Their wing coverts are tawny-rufous and their flight feathers dark fuscous with rufescent brown edges. Their chin is blackish and their throat black. Their underparts are mostly gray with a paler belly and an olive tinge to the flanks and undertail coverts. Their iris is reddish brown to gray-brown, their maxilla black to dark gray, their mandible blue-gray to gray, and their legs and feet gray or pale gray to bluish horn. Juveniles are more olivaceous than adults, with an ill-defined black forehead and gray mottling on their underparts.

The blackish-headed spinetail is found from Manabí and Loja provinces in southwestern Ecuador south into the departments of Tumbes and Piura in far northwestern Peru. It inhabits the undergrowth of tropical deciduous forest, secondary forest, and adjacent scrublands. In elevation it ranges from near sea level to almost 1,300 m (4,300 ft).

Movement The blackish-headed spinetail is considered a year-round resident throughout its range but there is some slight evidence of elevational movements.

Feeding The blackish-headed spinetail feeds on arthropods. It usually forages in pairs and only rarely joins mixed-species feeding flocks. It gleans prey from leaf litter, foliage, and small branches in dense cover up to about 2 m (7 ft) above the ground.

Breeding The blackish-headed spinetail is thought to breed during the January to April rainy season. Its nest is a ball of sticks typically placed about 3 to 7 m (10 to 23 ft) up in vine tangles. Nothing else is known about its breeding biology.

Vocalization The blackish-headed spinetail's song is "a short, dry, ascending trill, 't-t-t-t-t-tit' " that it repeats every few seconds. "Excited birds can give a 'weé-di weé-di weé-di' series."