Straight-billed Reedhaunter

Description: Long and straight bill, dark with the base of the mandible pinkish; eyebrow and ventral grayish-white; with ochraceous flanks and subcaudal. The head, cheeks, and back are olive-brown; and the wings and tail reddish, the latter at the tips. The iris is brown, and the legs are grayish. The juveniles are cinnamon-colored in the eyebrow and ventral areas.

Geographical Distribution: In Argentina, it is recorded for the south of Entre Ríos, where it was only recorded twice, both with nests in 1933 and 1998, and for the northeast of Buenos Aires, it is recorded in several places that are very close to each other. In Uruguay, it is distributed in the south and east.

Habitat: Reed beds, strongly associated with Serrucheta (Eryngium spp.).

Feeding: Spiders and insects such as beetles, hemipterans, and hymenopterans.

Nesting: Nests on Serrucheta, less than half a meter from the ground, constructed with dry grasses, plumes of Cortadera (Cortaderia sp.), and wool, with the interior lined with dry grasses, threads, and feathers. It lays 2 to 4 white eggs.

Author of this description: Jorge La Grotteria