Cactus canastero

The cactus canastero was long placed in genus Asthenes. Beginning in 2010 it and three other members of Asthenes were moved to the newly coined genus Pseudasthenes.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 Beyond that move, its taxonomy is unsettled. The International Ornithological Committee and BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World treat it as monotypic.HBW and BirdLife International (2022) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 7. Available at: https://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v7_Dec22.zip retrieved December 13, 2022 The Clements taxonomy assigns it two subspecies, the nominate P. c. cactorum (Koepcke, 1959) and P. c. lachayensis (Keopcke, 1965).Clements, J. F., P.C. Rasmussen, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, A. Spencer, S. M. Billerman, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2023. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2023. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ retrieved October 28, 2023 However, the two putative taxa "appear to be products of clinal variation combined with differences in degree of plumage wear, and described characters do not permit diagnosis of individual specimens".Remsen, Jr., J. V. and E. de Juana (2020). Cactus Canastero (Pseudasthenes cactorum), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.caccan1.01 retrieved November 17, 2023

This article follows the monotypic species model.

The cactus canastero is {{convert|13|to|14|cm|in|sigfig=2|abbr=on}} long and weighs {{convert|16|to|19|g|oz|abbr=on}}. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a pale buff supercilium, fuscous lores and stripe behind the eye, and dull buff ear coverts. Their crown and upperparts are uniform plain dull brown. Their wing coverts are mostly dull rufous and their flight feathers dull fuscous with a rufous patch that shows as a band on the closed wing. Their tail's central pair of feathers are brown, the next two pairs dull dark fuscous with tawny edges on the outer webs, the next pair rufous with dark fuscous edges near their base, and the outer two pairs almost entirely rufous. Their chin and center of their throat are pale orange-tawny; their breast and the rest of their underparts are pale buff. Their iris is brown, their maxilla black to gray, their mandible blue-gray with a blackish tip, and their legs and feet gray-brown to black.

The cactus canastero is found on the west slope of the Andes in Peru, in the Department of La Libertad and then from the Department of Lima south to the Department of Arequipa. It inhabits arid montane scrublands with scattered bushes and columnar cacti. In elevation it ranges between {{convert|50|and|2500|m|ft|sigfig=2|abbr=on}}.

The cactus canastero is a year-round resident throughout its range.

Little is known about the diet or feeding behavior of the cactus canastero. It is usually seen singly or in pairs and is believed to glean arthropods from the ground, rocks, cacti, and maybe low vegetation.

The cactus canastero breeds in the austral spring and summer. It is thought to be monogamous and nests in columnar cacti. Nothing else is known about its breeding biology.

{{birdsong|url=https://xeno-canto.org/species/Pseudasthenes-cactorum |species=cactus canastero}}

The cactus canastero's song is "a weak, dry trill lasting up to 6 seconds" and its call a "low-pitched, fast, dry trill" that is often repeated.

The IUCN has assessed the cactus canastero as being of Least Concern. It has a large range and an unknown population size that is believed to be decreasing. No immediate threats have been identified. It is poorly known and considered uncommon. Its "[h]abitat is subjected to at least moderate overgrazing".

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cactus canastero

Category:Birds of the Peruvian Andes

Category:Endemic birds of Peru

cactus canastero

Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot