About Leptasthenura platensis Reichenbach, 1853
The tufted tit-spinetail (scientific name Leptasthenura platensis Reichenbach, 1853) measures 15 to 17 cm (5.9 to 6.7 in) in length and weighs 10 to 12 g (0.35 to 0.42 oz). It is a small, slender, long-tailed furnariid that has a short crest and a short bill. The sexes of this species have identical plumage. Adult tufted tit-spinetails have a thin pale supercilium on an otherwise dull grayish brown face. Their crown and crest are dark brown with paler streaks, their back and rump are dull grayish brown, and their uppertail coverts are a paler grayish brown with a tawny tinge. Their wings are mostly grayish brown, with some paler feather edges and tips. Their tail is mostly dark fuscous, with some dull rufous coloring at the ends of the outermost feathers; the tail is graduated, and the feathers narrow at the tips, giving the tail a spiny appearance. Their throat and upper breast are whitish with faint brownish markings, while the rest of their underparts are pale grayish brown, with slightly darker flanks and undertail coverts. Their iris is brown, their bill is black with a pale base to the mandible, and their legs and feet are dark olive-green. Juveniles do not have a crest; they have less distinctly marked crown and breast than adults, and rounded tail feathers. The tufted tit-spinetail is found in northern and central Argentina, ranging from Salta Province to Buenos Aires Province, in western Rio Grande do Sul in extreme southern Brazil, and across most of Uruguay. Only sight records exist for the species in Paraguay, so the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society classifies it as hypothetical in that country. It inhabits a range of landscapes, including gallery forest and other riparian zones, arid scrublands, dry woodlands, and brushy areas and Monte Desert located near these dry habitats. Its elevation range extends from sea level to 1,000 m (3,300 ft).
