Paria Barbtail (split of White-throated Barbtail; co-flagship with Paria Whitestart)

Locally fairly common within its minuscule cloud-forest range on Cerro Humo, but the entire taxon is confined to a few peaks on one peninsula - a true site-restricted specialty. Easy on the right trail, impossible anywhere else.

Small (~14 cm), dark furnariid: rich dark brown above with a whitish/buff-spotted breast and a whitish throat; short, slightly spiny tail and a fine pointed bill. Creeps on mossy trunks and branches. As a Paria isolate of the White-throated Barbtail (often treated as the distinct 'Paria Barbtail'), range alone is near-diagnostic - no other spot-breasted bark-creeping barbtail occurs on the Paria Peninsula. Note: the prompt's 'Hooded/Paria Whitestart group' refers to the co-occurring endemic warbler Myioborus pariae (Paria Whitestart: grey above, yellow below, rufous crown, yellow spectacles) - the two are the headline endemics of the same forest.

Humid montane evergreen and cloud forest, mossy ravines and dense understory of the Paria Peninsula, roughly 800-1200 m; very small total area within Peninsula de Paria National Park.

Forages by creeping over moss-covered trunks, branches and epiphytes, gleaning invertebrates, often low to mid-height; joins or follows mixed-species understory flocks. Inconspicuous; located by movement on mossy bark and by call. Sedentary.

High, thin insect-like calls and a short high-pitched trilled/twittered song typical of Premnoplex - easily lost in the cloud-forest chorus. Recordings: search 'Premnoplex tatei' (and check 'Premnoplex pariae' / White-throated Barbtail Paria) on Xeno-canto and Macaulay Library / eBird.

Bundle it with the Paria Peninsula endemics on Cerro Humo - work the mossy understory and mixed flocks early on the upper trail, and you can often get the Paria Barbtail, Paria Whitestart (Myioborus pariae) and other regional specialties in the same morning. Watch trunks and mossy limbs for the creeping motion rather than scanning canopy, and arrange a local Macuro/Irapa guide for current trail conditions and access.