Plain softtail
The plain softtail is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru.
Taxonomy and systematics
The plain softtail was at times placed by some authors in genus Phacellodomus. The species has three subspecies, the nominate T. f. fusciceps, T. f. dimorpha, and T. f. obidensis. Because the subspecies are different sizes and are geographically much separated, some authors speculate that they should be treated as full species.Description
The plain softtail is long and weighs. The sexes have almost the same plumage. Adult males of the nominate subspecies have a faint pale supercilium and a thin dark line through the eye on a otherwise pale brownish gray face. Their crown is pale gray-brown with faint buff marks. Their upper back is pale gray-brown that becomes rufescent brown on the lower back, rump, and uppertail coverts. Their tail is rufous. Their wings are mostly dark rufous with dark brown tips on the flight feathers. Their chin is pale buff-brown and their throat, breast, and belly light brown with some faint paler streaks, and their flanks and undertail coverts are a slightly darker brown. Their iris is highly variable, their maxilla bluish horn to pale gray, their mandible pale gray to pale bluish, and their legs and feet olive-green to yellowish olive. Females have paler foreheads and underparts than males. Juveniles are faintly mottled, rather than streaked, on their throat and breast.Subspecies T. f. dimorpha is significantly smaller than the nominate and rather variable in color. In general it is overall much darker than the nominate, with little or no supercilium, a strongly rufescent back, and underparts that can be more rufescent, browner, or grayer than the nominate's. T. f. obidensis is even darker brown overall than dimorpha and has solely brown underparts.
Distribution and habitat
The nominate subspecies of the plain softtail is found in northern Bolivia in the departments of Beni, La Paz, and Cochabamba. Subspecies T. f. dimorpha is found in separately in eastern Ecuador, northeastern Peru, and southeastern Peru. T. f. obidensis is found in central Brazil along the lower Madeira River and central Amazon River in the states of Amazonas and Pará.The plain softtail inhabits tropical evergreen and river-edge forest, primarily várzea and the transition zone between it and dryer landscapes. It does occur in drier deciduous forest. It tends to favor forest edges and areas with dense vine tangles. In elevation it ranges between.