Rufous-fronted Thornbird

The rufous-fronted thornbird is 16 to 17 cm (6.3 to 6.7 in) long and weighs about 18 to 31 g (0.63 to 1.1 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies P. r. rufifrons have a dull buff supercilium that continues past the eye, a dark brown stripe behind the eye, and dark grayish lores on an otherwise pale buff-brown face. Their forehead ("front") is dark rufous and their crown dark brownish with some paler streaks. Their upperparts are a slightly lighter dark brown. Their wings are mostly dull brown with darker brown primary coverts. Their tail is dull brown. Their underparts are mostly brownish white, with darker brownish sides, richer brownish flanks, and pale undertail coverts with a rufescent tinge. Their iris is brown to grayish white, their maxilla blackish to dark gray, their mandible gray to blue-gray, and their legs and feet gray. Juveniles do not have the rufous forehead and their underparts are mottled. Subspecies P. r. sincipitalis is similar to the nominate but with slightly brighter and more rufescent upperparts and flanks and slightly more rufous flight feathers. P. r. peruvianus has more but paler rufous on the forehead than the nominate, and brighter and more fulvous flanks. P. r. specularis has more and deeper rufous on the forehead than the nominate, and a largish rufous patch on the flight feathers and rufescent outer tail feathers.

The rufous-fronted thornbird has a disjunct distribution. The subspecies are found thus:

P. r. peruvianus: the upper watershed of the Marañón River in extreme southern Ecuador's Zamora-Chinchipe Province and the northern Peruvian departments of Amazonas, Cajamarca, and San Martín. P. r. specularis: northeastern Brazil's Pernambuco state P. r. rufifrons: eastern Brazil from Maranhão south to São Paulo state P. r. sincipitalis: eastern Bolivia, Mato Grosso and Mato Grosso do Sul states in Brazil, north-central Paraguay, and northwestern Argentina as far south as Tucumán Province The rufous-fronted thornbird inhabits a variety of landscapes whose common features are dense thickets and at least some trees. They include arid scrublands both lowland and montane; tropical deciduous, gallery, and secondary forest; cerrado; and savannah. In Brazil it mostly occurs below 1,300 m (4,300 ft); elsewhere it occurs locally as high as 2,000 m (6,600 ft).

The rufous-fronted thornbird feeds on arthropods. It usually forages in pairs or small groups that include nest helpers but only rarely joins mixed-species feeding flocks. It mostly forages on the ground but will do so as high as the forest's mid-level. It mostly gleans its prey from leaf litter but will search dead foliage in bushes.