Cordilleran Canastero - BirdForum Opus

Photo by Stanley Jones
Ancash, Lima, Peru, August, 2017

Asthenes modesta

Identification

Showing orange throat patch
Photo by njlarsen
Lauca NP, Chile, November 2009

15–16 cm (6-6¼ in)

• Brown upperparts
• Grey head
• Pale underparts
• Orange throat patch
• Dull streaked breast
• Brown tail, rufous edging
• White supercilium

Similar Species

Canyon Canastero has a longer tail and is more evenly rufous on upperpart including upper tail. They overlap in part but Cordilleran Canastero continues further up in elevation than Canyon.

Distribution

South America: found in Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.

Taxonomy

Subspecies

Clements recognizes these subspecies[1]:

• A.m. proxima:

• Central and south-eastern Peru (Junín and Cuzco)

• A.m. modesta:

• Puna of southern Peru to western Bolivia, northern Chile and north-western Argentina

• A.m. rostrata:

• Andes of northern Bolivia (Cochabamba)

• A.m. hilereti:

• Tucuman and Catamarca, northwestern Argentina

• A.m. cordobae:

• sierras of Córdoba and San Luis, west-central Argentina

• A.m. serrana:

• Cerro Famatina, in La Rioja (west-central Argentina)

• A.m. australis:

• Andes of Chile (Atacama to Colchagua) and adjacent Argentina south to Santa Cruz

One further subspecies (navasi) is no longer generally recognised[3].

Habitat

Puna, temperate and semi-humid grasslands and rocky scrub.

Behaviour

They run on the ground with tail held upwards.

Diet

Their main diet consists of insects such as ants and cockroaches.

References

1. 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, M. Smith, and C. L. Wood. 2024. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2024. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Gill, F, D Donsker, and P Rasmussen (Eds). 2024. IOC World Bird List (v 15.1). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.15.1. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
3. Avibase
4. http://birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=159193 Birdforum thread] discussing id of this species
5. Alvaro Jaramillo. 2003. Birds of Chile. Princeton Field Guides. ISBN 0-691-11740-3
6. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved Dec 2017)
7. Wikipedia
8. Arthur Grosset

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Cordilleran Canastero. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 2 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Cordilleran_Canastero

External Links

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