Uncommon to locally fairly common in suitable mossy montane forest; quiet and easily overlooked, so functionally a flock-and-voice bird. Monotypic genus (the only Roraimia), making it a high-value endemic to put on a client list.
Field marks
Small furnariid (14-15 cm, 14-20 g). Warm brown upperparts with a bold rufous supercilium; sharply demarcated white throat; heavily streaked (buff-on-brown) breast and underparts. Diagnostic feature is the 'barbed' tail tip (projecting bare feather-shaft spines). Overall a small, streaky, big-supercilium ovenbird of mossy forest.
Habitat
Humid montane evergreen forest and elfin (cloud) forest, primary and secondary, strongly favoring stands heavy with moss and epiphytes; ~1,000-2,500 m.
Behavior
Forages in the understory, often hitching and probing moss-laden trunks, branches and epiphyte clumps. A regular attendant of mixed-species understory flocks; usually in pairs. Inconspicuous and methodical.
Voice
Song 7-8 clear notes rising rapidly, 'tee-tee-tee-teuu-teuu-tuu-tuu'; call a very high, inquiring 'whit?'. Recordings: search 'Roraimia adusta' or 'Roraiman Barbtail' on Xeno-canto and Macaulay Library.
White-throated/Tepui Foliage-gleaner (Syndactyla roraimae) — larger, white (not rufous) supercilium, blackish face, plain (unstreaked) brown breast, no barbed tail.
Tepui Spinetail (Cranioleuca demissa) — more rufous-capped, plainer below, longer graduated tail, works mid-levels/canopy rather than mossy trunks.
Other streaky understory furnariids do not overlap at these elevations on the tepuis.
Guide note
Sell this as a monotypic Pantepui endemic — clients value the 'only member of its genus' angle. Find it by tracking understory mixed flocks in the mossiest forest along the upper Escalera; scan trunk-and-moss surfaces for a small streaky bird with a big rufous brow. The rising 'tee-tee-teuu' song is the quickest lock-on; brief playback works.
