Parker's spinetail (Cranioleuca vulpecula) is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, G. Del-Rio, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 28 September 2023. Species Lists of Birds for South American Countries and Territories. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCCountryLists.htm retrieved October 20, 2023

Taxonomy and systematics

Parker's spinetail was originally described as a species with the binomial Synallaxis vulpecula.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, G. Del-Rio, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 28 September 2023. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved October 20, 2023 Later it was treated as a subspecies of the rusty-backed spinetail (Cranioleuca vulpina) but starting in the late twentieth century it was separated again as a species in its own right.Zimmer, K. J. (1997) Species limits in Cranioleuca vulpina. Orn. Monogr. 48 p.849-864 subsequent phylogenetic work showed that it is not closely related to the rusty-backed spinetail but rather is a sister species of the russet-mantled softtail (C. berlepschi).Derryberry, E. P., S. Claramunt, G. Derryberry, R. T. Chesser, J. Cracraft, A. Aleixo, J. Pérez-Emán, J. V. Remsen, Jr., and R. T. Brumfield. (2011). Lineage diversification and morphological evolution in a large-scale continental radiation: the Neotropical ovenbirds and woodcreepers (Aves: Furnariidae). Evolution 65(10):2973–2986. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01374.x

Parker's spinetail is monotypic.

Description

Parker's spinetail is long and weighs . The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a faint buff supercilium and lores on an otherwise dusky gray face. Their crown, back, rump, and uppertail coverts are rufous; the forecrown has narrow buff streaks. Their tail and wings are also rufous. Their throat is white, and the rest of their underparts are light brown or light brownish gray with indistinct whitish mottling. Their iris is brown or pale brown, their maxilla black, their mandible pale grayish pink, and their legs and feet olive or grayish olive. Juveniles have a duller crown than adults.Schulenberg, T. S. and G. H. Rosenberg (2020). Parker's Spinetail (Cranioleuca vulpecula), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.parspi1.01 retrieved November 13, 2023

Distribution and habitat

Parker's spinetail is found along the upper Amazon River and its major tributaries, from eastern Ecuador, northeastern Peru, and far northern Bolivia into western Brazil as far east as the Rio Negro. It almost exclusively inhabits early-succession vegetation on young river islands. In elevation, it is seldom found above but can reach in Ecuador.

Behavior Movement

Parker's spinetail is not a migrant, but the extent of its local movements in response to the flooding of river islands during the rainy season is not known.

Feeding

Parker's spinetail feeds on arthropods but details are lacking. It typically forages in the under- and mid-storeys of woody vegetation, and usually in pairs. It gleans its prey from bark, dead leaf clusters, and trapped debris while searching along trunks and limbs.

Breeding

Parker's spinetail is thought to be monogamous. Nothing else is known about its breeding biology.

Vocalization

The song of Parker's spinetail is "an accelerating and descending series of nasal notes that ends in a chortle, e.g. tew-tew-tew-tew-trrrrrr" and is similarly described as "an accelerating, rising-falling chatter of nasal notes: teer teew-tew'tu'tutrrr".Schulenberg, T.S., D.F. Stotz, D.F. Lane, J.P. O'Neill, and T.A. Parker III. 2010. Birds of Peru. Revised and updated edition. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey Its calls include "a sharp, fast chut-chut" given singly or tripled and "a longer, descending chatter, tchew-tew'tu'tu.

Status

The IUCN has assessed Parker's spinetail as being of Least Concern. It has a large range and an unknown population size that is believed to be stable. No immediate threats have been identified. It is considered uncommon to fairly common in Peru and fairly common in Ecuador and the rest of its range. "Human activity has little short-term direct effect on Parker's Spinetail, other than the local effects of habitat destruction. Given that this species occupies disturbed habitats, it may even benefit, locally, from human activities, such as a low level of clearing for subsistence agriculture." But changes to the Amazonian hydrology from deforestation, dam construction, or climate change might pose a longer-term threat.

References