About Synallaxis candei Orbigny & Lafresnaye, 1838
The white-whiskered spinetail (Synallaxis candei Orbigny & Lafresnaye, 1838) measures 15 to 17 cm (5.9 to 6.7 in) in length and weighs 14 to 16 g (0.49 to 0.56 oz). Males and females have identical plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a broad white "moustache" and a wide rufous supercilium, set against an otherwise blackish face. Their crown is dark gray mottled with black, while their nape, back, rump, and uppertail coverts are bright rufous. Their wings are also bright rufous, with dusky tips on the flight feathers. The proximal two-thirds of their tail is bright rufous, and the distal third is dark fuscous. Their chin is white, and their throat is black. Their breast and sides are bright rufous, their flanks are slightly paler, their belly is white, and their undertail coverts are pale rufous. They have a dark brown iris, a black maxilla, a black or blackish mandible with some yellowish coloring on the underside, and slate-gray to blue-gray legs and feet.
Compared to the nominate subspecies, S. c. atrigularis has a brown back, no supercilium, grayish white flecks on the black cheek and chin, a dusky chestnut base to the tail, a duller breast, and more olivaceous flanks. S. c. venezuelensis is paler overall than the nominate; it has a white throat with a black band below it, and a sharper boundary between the two color sections of the tail.
The nominate subspecies occurs in the Sucre and Magdalena departments of northern Colombia. S. c. atrigularis is found in the middle reaches of the Magdalena River valley in northern Colombia. S. c. venezuelensis occurs in the Cesar and La Guajira departments of far northern Colombia, and extends east into northwestern Venezuela as far as the Falcón and Lara states. The white-whiskered spinetail lives in tropical deciduous forest, arid scrublands, overgrown pastures, and the edges of mangrove stands. In terms of elevation, it occurs from sea level up to 300 m (1,000 ft) in Colombia, and reaches as high as 1,100 m (3,600 ft) in Venezuela.
