Thick-billed Miner

The thick-billed miner (Geositta crassirostris) is a species of bird in the subfamily Sclerurinae, the leaftossers and miners, of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is endemic to Peru. == Taxonomy and systematics == The thick-billed miner's taxonomy is unsettled. The International Ornithological Committee and BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World assign it two subspecies, the nominate G. c. crassirostris (Sclater, PL, 1866) and G. c. fortis (Berlepsch & Stolzmann, 1901). The Clements taxonomy does not recognize fortis, treating the thick-billed miner as monotypic. The thick-billed and campo miner (G. poeciloptera) are sister species. == Description == The puna miner is a large member of its genus. It is 18.5 to 19 cm (7.3 to 7.5 in) long and weighs 42 to 55 g (1.5 to 1.9 oz). The sexes are alike. The nominate subspecies has a pale face with a creamy supercilium. It is brown or gray-brown from its crown to its rump. Its central tail feathers are brown or dusky brown and the rest are mostly rufous with dusky brown tips. Its wing coverts are brown or gray-brown with whitish buff or paler brown tips. Its primaries are dusky with much rufous on the inner ones…