Little Thornbird

The little thornbird is 13 to 14 cm (5.1 to 5.5 in) long and weighs about 14 to 16 g (0.49 to 0.56 oz). It is the smallest member of its genus. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a wide dull buff-whitish supercilium that extends beyond the eye and an indistinct dull brown stripe behind the eye on an otherwise light brownish face. Their forehead is light rufous with pale streaks, their crown and back dull brown, and their rump and uppertail coverts rufescent-tinged brown. Their wings are mostly shades of brown with darker brown primary coverts and some rufescence. Their tail's central pair of feathers are dull brown, the next pair mostly rufous with a brownish outer third, and the rest bright rufous. Their throat and belly are dingy whitish, their breast slightly darker, and their flanks and undertail coverts whitish with a tawny-brown tinge. Their iris is greenish gray to dark brown, their maxilla black to dark gray, their mandible light horn-gray to gray, and their legs and feet gray to pinkish gray. Juveniles have slightly darker upperparts and slightly grayer underparts than adults.

The little thornbird is found in extreme southern Bolivia's Santa Cruz Department, in western Paraguay, in southwestern Uruguay, and in northern Argentina as far south as Buenos Aires Province. In addition there is at least one record in extreme southwestern Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. It inhabits tropical deciduous forest, Gran Chaco woodlands, savannah with scattered trees, and scrublands. In elevation it ranges from near sea level to 2,000 m (6,600 ft).

The little thornbird feeds on arthropods. It usually forages in pairs or small groups that may include nest helpers, and occasionally joins mixed-species feeding flocks. It captures prey by gleaning from the ground or from vegetation as high as the forest's mid-storey.