Tepui Spinetail

Fairly common and one of the more easily seen tepui furnariids; active and not especially shy. A reliable, gettable endemic for client lists where montane forest is accessed.

Small, active Cranioleuca spinetail. Rufous crown contrasting with grayer face and olive-brown upperparts; rufous in wings and tail; plain pale buffy-gray underparts; long, somewhat graduated tail. At close range note the slightly decurved bill — a useful clincher.

Humid montane evergreen forest and woodland of the tepui region (above ~800 m, mostly 1,100-2,450 m), especially in heavily mossed, epiphyte-laden growth; also locally in gallery forest in the Gran Sabana.

Forages from mid-levels to canopy, hopping and gleaning through vines and foliage and occasionally hitching creeper-like up trunks. Often in pairs and a frequent member of mixed-species canopy flocks; more active and conspicuous than the barbtail.

Song a thin, descending, accelerating series 'teee-teee-te-ti-ti'ti'ti'ti'i'i' (high tinkling notes dropping in pitch and speeding up); alarm a high, short, dry rattle. Reference recording Xeno-canto XC221702 (P. Boesman). Recordings: search 'Cranioleuca demissa' or 'Tepui Spinetail' on Xeno-canto and Macaulay Library.

The easiest of the tepui furnariids to nail down — a good 'confidence' endemic early in a tour. Teach trainees the accelerating, descending tinkling trill; it carries and pulls birds in. Work mid-to-canopy mixed flocks at the top of the Escalera and watch for the rufous cap and long tail as it creeps through vine tangles.