Alternative name: Shore Miner
- Geositta maritima
Identification
12-13 cm. A dull, small miner without wingband or distinctive patterned tail.
- Dull buff supercilium
- Indistinctive blackish-brown postocular line
- Brownish rest of face
- Brownish-grey crown, slightly paler upperparts
- Dull greyish-brown wings with paler margins on wing-coverts
- Blackish and brownish-grey ,slightly notched tail
- Dull greyish-white underparts, slightly darker on breast, dull pink tinged flanks
- Blackish, medium-length bill
Sexes similar. Juveniles are more buffy.
Distribution
Found from western Peru (south from Ancash) to northern Chile (south to Atacama).
Fairly common in its restricted habitat.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species.
Habitat
Occurs in arid lowland scrub, sandy and rocky desert, usually with little or no vegetation.
From sea-level up to 2600m, sometimes up to 3500.
Behaviour
Diet
Feeds on arthropods and some seeds.
Forages singly or in pairs on the ground.
Breeding
Breeds during austral summer. Eggs were recorded in November in Chile. Presumably a monogamous species. The nest is placed in a tunnel in the ground.
Movements
A resident species.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, B.L. Sullivan, C. L. Wood, and D. Roberson. 2013. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: Version 6.8., with updates to August 2013. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Del Hoyo, J, A Elliot, and D Christie, eds. 2003. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 8: Broadbills to Tapaculos. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8487334504
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Grayish Miner. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 5 May 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Grayish_Miner
