thumb|C. c. marabinus, Colombia

The yellow-chinned spinetail (Certhiaxis cinnamomeus) is a passerine bird found in the tropical New World from Trinidad and Colombia south to Argentina and Uruguay. It is a member of the South American ovenbird family Furnariidae.

Taxonomy

The yellow-chinned spinetail was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with the treecreepers in the genus Certhia and coined the binomial name Certhia cinnamomea. The specific epithet is from Modern Latin cinnamomeus meaning "cinnamon-coloured". Gmelin based his description on the "Cinnamon creeper" that had been described in 1782 by the English ornithologist John Latham. Latham had examined a specimen in the British Museum. Latham did not specify the origin of the specimen but in 1902 Hans von Berlepsch and Ernst Hartert designated the type locality as Cayenne. The yellow-chinned spinetail is now placed with the red-and-white spinetail in the genus Certhiaxis that was introduced in 1844 by the French naturalist René Lesson.

Eight subspecies are recognised:

Further south, like its sister species, the red-and-white spinetail (C. mustelinus) it is found along the Amazon River corridor. From the upper Amazon exiting the Andes, it only occurs in the river corridor, then bifurcating up the Madeira River, southwestwards into Bolivia. From there, it ranges along the Andean foothills to northwestern Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay and finally the Rio de la Plata. It is apparently absent from much of Pará and northern Mato Grosso states, essentially between the Madeira and Araguaia River corridors. But apart from that region it occurs in most of South America in the area enclosed by – running counterclockwise – the lower Amazon and the Madeira River, the Andes, the Paraguay River and lower Paraná River, and the Atlantic Ocean.

This species is a common resident breeder in marshes and the edges of mangrove swamps; in general its habitat is open woodland in the vicinity of rivers.

References

Sources

  • ffrench<!---not capitalised--->, Richard; O'Neill, John Patton & Eckelberry, Don R. (1991): A guide to the birds of Trinidad and Tobago (2nd edition). Comstock Publishing, Ithaca, N.Y.
  • Hilty, Steven L. (2003): Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London.
  • Laverde-R., Oscar; Stiles, F. Gary & Múnera-R., Claudia (2005): Nuevos registros e inventario de la avifauna de la Serranía de las Quinchas, un área importante para la conservación de las aves (AICA) en Colombia [New records and updated inventory of the avifauna of the Serranía de las Quinchas, an important bird area (IBA) in Colombia]. Caldasia 27 (2): 247–265 [Spanish with English abstract]. PDF fulltext
  • Yellow-chinned spinetail videos on the Internet Bird Collection
  • Certhiaxis cinnamomea--"Yellow-throated Spinetail" photo gallery VIREO
  • Photo-Medium Res; Article pbase – Brazil photos
  • 2 Photos-High Res; Article https://www.nhlstenden.com/"Yellow-chinned/Yellow-throated Spinetail"
  • Yellow-chinned spinetail: Photos and vocalizations The Avifauna of the Interior of Ceará, Brazil

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