Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.
Population
Estimated population is unknown (2010).
Status VU
Habitat destruction and degradation through accelerating deforestation is the main threat.
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.
Voice
Song is a high-pitched, accelerating, deepening and fading series of shrill notes, lasting around two seconds.
Ash-browed Spinetail (Cranioleuca curtata) [XC813701]
by Fabrice Schmitt from Canaan (Anderson and Niger chacras trail), Peru (song)
Ash-browed Spinetail (Cranioleuca curtata) [XC97781]
by Andrew Spencer from Bosque Shollet, Villa Rica-Oxapampa Road, Pasco, Peru (song)
Subspecies
Considered conspecific with Tepui Spinetail (Cranioleuca demissa) by some authors. The two are part of a superspecies that also includes Red-faced Spinetail (Cranioleuca erythrops), Streak-capped Spinetail (Cranioleuca hellmayri), Line-cheeked Spinetail (Cranioleuca antisiensis) and Baron's Spinetail (Cranioleuca baroni). All share plumage similarities and mostly lower montane distribution, and their close relationship is consistent with recent genetic data. Named taxon furcata, described (from northern Peru) as a separate species, has been shown to be referable to immature plumage of present species. Subspecies cisandina was formerly considered a separate species.
Proposed subspecies griseipectus, from eastern Ecuador, considered indistinguishable from latter.
The following 3 subspecies are recognised:
curtata (Sclater, 1870) - Eastern Andes of Colombia (western slope from south-eastern Santander south to Huila).
cisandina (Taczanowski, 1882) - Eastern Andes of southern Colombia (southern from western Caquetá), eastern Ecuador and northern Peru (southern at least to Pasco).
debilis (von Berlepsch & Stolzmann, 1906) - Andes from central Peru (southern from Ayacucho and Cuzco) south to central Bolivia (south to western Santa Cruz).
BirdLife International Species Factsheet