Cinclodes


Cinclodes is a genus of passerine birds belonging to the ovenbird family Furnariidae. There are about a dozen species distributed across the southern and Andean regions of South America. They are terrestrial birds of open habitats, typically found near water such as mountain streams or the seashore where they forage for small invertebrates. They are stocky birds with strong legs and feet and pointed, slightly downcurved bills. The plumage is inconspicuous and mainly brown, often with a pale wingbar, stripe over the eye and corners to the tail. They have loud, trilling songs and often raise their wings while singing.

Taxonomy

The genus Cinclodes was introduced in 1840 by the English zoologist George Robert Gray. The name combines the Ancient Greek kinklos, a word for an unknown waterside bird, with -oidēs meaning "resembling". In 1855 Gray specified the type species as the dark-bellied cinclodes, a species that had been described in 1889 by Gmelin under the binomial name Motacilla patagonica.
The genus contains 15 extant species:
ImageCommon nameScientific nameDistribution
Long-tailed cinclodesCinclodes pabstisouthern Atlantic Forest and Espinhaço Mountains
Blackish cinclodesCinclodes antarcticusFalkland Islands and Tierra del Fuego
Buff-winged cinclodesCinclodes fuscussouthern Cone
Cordoba cinclodesCinclodes comechingonusSierras de Córdoba
Chestnut-winged cinclodesCinclodes albidiventrisnorthern Andes
Cream-winged cinclodesCinclodes albiventrispuna grassland
Olrog's cinclodesCinclodes olrogiSierras de Córdoba
Grey-flanked cinclodesCinclodes oustaletiChile
Stout-billed cinclodesCinclodes excelsiornorthern Andes
Royal cinclodesCinclodes aricomaesouthern Peru and western Bolivia
White-bellied cinclodesCinclodes palliatuscentral Peru
-White-winged cinclodesCinclodes atacamensispuna grassland and Sierras de Córdoba
Dark-bellied cinclodesCinclodes patagonicusChile
-Peruvian seaside cinclodesCinclodes taczanowskiicoastal Peru
-Chilean seaside cinclodesCinclodes nigrofumosuscoastal Chile

In addition, a fossil species, Cinclodes major, has been described for the Pleistocene from Argentina.