Short-billed Canastero

About the Short-billed Canastero

The short-billed canastero (Asthenes baeri) is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. The short-billed canastero's taxonomy is unsettled. The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) and BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) assign it three subspecies, the nominate A. b. baeri (Berlepsch, 1906), A. b. chacoensis (Brodkorb, 1938), and

A. b. neiffi (Contreras, 1980). The Clements taxonomy does not recognize neiffi, assessing it as a clinal variant of chacoensis. This article follows the three-subspecies model. The short-billed canastero is 14 to 15 cm (5.5 to 5.9 in) long and weighs 10 to 18 g (0.35 to 0.63 oz). It has a short and thick bill, and is more similar to the wholly unrelated little thornbird (Phacellodomus sibilatrix) than to other canasteros. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have an indistinct wide grayish supercilium on an otherwise dull grayish brown face. Their crown is dull gray-brown, their back a slightly grayer brown, and their rump and uppertail... Wikipedia →