Streak-capped Spinetail Cranioleuca hellmayri Scientific name definitions

The Streak-capped Spinetail is a resident of the Santa Marta Mountains of northern Colombia. The Streak-capped Spinetail is olive brown with rufous wings, tail and crown and has black-streaks running through its head and crown. Within its range of the Santa Marta Mountains, the Streak-capped Spinetail is distinct in appearance from the Rusty-headed Spinetail ( Synallaxis fuscorufa), which is the only other spinetail species present. These birds are common in montane forest, second growth woodland and forest borders. Similar to other Cranioleuca, the Streak-capped Spinetail is an acrobatic feeder and is often encountered in mixed flocks.

14–15 cm; 14–16 g. Has narrow whitish supercilium; rest of face flammulated dark brownish and buff; crown reddish-chestnut with blackish streaks, hindcrown to back brown, blending to paler rump, uppertail coverts tawny rufescent; wings mostly reddish-chestnut, remiges with slightly duller edges and dark fuscous tips; tail graduated, rectrices with shafts stiffened basally, tips pointed, reddish-chestnut; chin whitish, blending to pale brownish-gray or grayish-olive breast and belly, flanks and undertail coverts slightly deeper and browner in color; iris pale yellow to whitish; upper mandible blackish to gray, lower mandible pinkish-horn to pinkish; tarsus and toes yellowish-green to pinkish. Sexes alike. Juvenile undescribed. Differs from C. curtata mainly in streaking on crown and face.

Santa Marta Mts of N Colombia; one specimen from extreme NW Venezuela (Sierra de Perijá).