Pinto's spinetail is an Endangered species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is endemic to north-eastern Brazil. It is known locally as "tatac".
Region
Northeastern Atlantic Forest, Brazil
Typical Environment
Occurs in coastal and subcoastal lowland Atlantic Forest fragments from Paraíba south through Pernambuco to Alagoas. It favors dense understory in mature forest and older secondary growth, including vine tangles, thickets, and edges near watercourses. The species often persists in small, disturbed remnants but requires structurally complex understory. Habitat loss to agriculture and urbanization has left its range highly fragmented.
Altitude Range
0–600 m
Climate Zone
Tropical
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
Pinto's spinetail is a skulking ovenbird endemic to Brazil’s northeastern Atlantic Forest and known locally as “tatac.” It keeps its long, rufous tail cocked as it forages through dense tangles. The species is highly sensitive to forest loss and fragmentation, surviving mostly in small, isolated remnants. Its conservation is tied to protecting and restoring understory-rich lowland forest in the Pernambuco Center of Endemism.
Temperament
skulking and territorial
Flight Pattern
short rapid wingbeats
Social Behavior
Typically occurs singly, in pairs, or as family groups, keeping close to dense cover. Nests are enclosed stick structures with side entrances, placed low to mid-level in thickets. Both parents participate in nest building and feeding the young. Pairs maintain territories year-round.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
Song is a fast, dry, accelerating series of rattling chips or trills that may end abruptly. Calls include sharp tchik notes given while moving through dense undergrowth.
Plumage
Overall dusky-brown to olive-brown with a warm rufous, long, graduated tail and rufous-toned wings; underparts brownish with paler buff wash. Face slightly grayer with darker ear-coverts and a faint pale supercilium. Feathers appear loose and slightly shaggy on the crown and nape, typical of spinetails.
Diet
Primarily takes arthropods such as beetles, caterpillars, orthopterans, and spiders gleaned from leaves, twigs, and vine tangles. It probes bark crevices and dead leaf clusters and occasionally sallies short distances to snatch prey. Small fruits may be taken opportunistically but comprise a minor portion of the diet.
Preferred Environment
Feeds in dense understory, vine tangles, bamboo patches, and along forest edges and streamside thickets. Foraging is usually within 0.5–3 m above ground where cover is thickest.
