About Furnarius leucopus cinnamomeus (Lesson, 1844)
The pale-legged hornero measures 15 to 18 cm (5.9 to 7.1 in) in length and weighs approximately 37 to 49 g (1.3 to 1.7 oz). It is a medium-sized hornero with a long, nearly straight bill. Males and females have identical plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies F. l. leucopus have a wide whitish supercilium, brownish gray ear coverts, and a tawny-rufous malar area. Their crown is dark rufescent brown. Their back, rump, and uppertail coverts average bright orange rufous, and range between tawny rufous and rufous amber. Their tail is chestnut. Their wing coverts are chestnut, and their flight feathers are blackish with a wide chestnut band. Their throat is white, transitioning to tawny-ochraceous on the breast. Their flanks are paler tawny-ochraceous, the center of their belly is nearly whitish, and their undertail coverts are whitish with dark brown bases. Their iris is most often reddish brown or chestnut, and is gray-brown or gray in the subspecies tricolor. Their maxilla is dusky horn at its base, with a paler culmen and tip, and their mandible is also pale. Their legs and feet are pale pinkish, pearly gray, or whitish. Juveniles look similar to adults, but differ in having a noticeably shorter bill, and different shaped flight and tail feathers. Compared to the nominate subspecies, subspecies F. l. tricolor has a grayer crown, a more ochraceous back, and paler wings and tail. Subspecies F. l. assimilis has a lighter, more ochraceous rump, wings, and tail than tricolor, and a paler wing band. Subspecies F. l. araguaiae is intermediate between tricolor and assimilis; it has a brighter back than tricolor and a smaller wing band. The subspecies of the pale-legged hornero have the following distribution ranges. F. l. leucopus is found along the Negro and Branco rivers in northern Brazil, and in southwestern Guyana. F. l. tricolor occurs in eastern Peru, western Brazil extending east into Pará, and into Bolivia as far as Santa Cruz Department; there is one recorded occurrence in southeastern Ecuador. F. l. araguaiae is found in western Tocantins and eastern Mato Grosso states in central Brazil, along the Araguaia and das Mortes rivers. F. l. assimilis is found in eastern and southern Brazil between Maranhão, Pernambuco, and Mato Grosso do Sul, and in extreme southeastern Bolivia. The pale-legged hornero lives in a wide variety of semi-open to open landscapes. These include river-side forests and woodlands (gallery forest), secondary forest edges, agricultural areas, and parks and gardens within towns. It prefers humid areas, usually located near water. In terms of elevation, it mostly occurs below 1,100 m (3,600 ft). It rarely exceeds 400 m (1,300 ft) in Bolivia, and locally reaches as high as 1,700 m (5,600 ft) in Peru.
