Rufous-banded Miner

The rufous-banded miner is a medium to large member of its genus. It is 14 to 17 cm (5.5 to 6.7 in) long and weighs 25 to 54 g (0.88 to 1.9 oz). The sexes are alike. The nominate subspecies G. r. rufipennis has a brownish gray face with a pale supercilium and a dark gray-brown line behind the eye. It is dull sandy olive from its crown to its uppertail coverts. Its central tail feathers have dull tawny bases, grayish brown middles, a wide blackish band near the end, and dull tawny tips. The rest have progressively redder bases and smaller black bands to the outermost. Its wing is dull gray brown with paler edges to the feathers. Its flight feathers have rufescent bases that form a wide band. Its throat is whitish, its breast pale brownish buff, its belly and flanks paler with a cinnamon tinge, and its undertail coverts dull pale tawny. Its iris is brown, its straight medium-length bill is blackish gray with a pale horn base to the mandible, and its legs and feet are blue-gray. The other subspecies differ in both their size and colors. G. r. ottowi is larger and grayer than the nominate, with narrower wing bars and a paler underside to the wings. G. r. hoyi has almost entirely gray upperparts; its underparts are mostly pinkish gray with the breast being less pinkish. G. r. …

The subspecies of the rufous-banded miner are distributed thus:

G. r. fasciata, western Bolivia and the Pacific slope of Chile between the Atacama Region and Malleco Province G. r. harrisoni, southwestern Antofagasta Region of northern Chile G. r. rufipennis, northwestern Argentina between Jujuy and San Juan provinces G. r. giaii, southwestern Argentina between Neuquén and Chubut provinces, and possibly further south in Argentina and in far southern Chile G. r. ottowi, Sierras de Córdoba in west central Argentina G. r. hoyi, western Argentina between La Rioja and Neuquén provinces and in southern Chile's Aysén Region The rufous-banded miner inhabits several open landscapes: puna grassland, arid montane scrublands, dry rocky slopes, flat areas with scattered vegetation, and also dry riverbeds. In elevation it is found between 3,100 and 4,400 m (10,200 and 14,400 ft) in the Andes. East of them in central Argentina it occurs as low as 2,200 m (7,200 ft) and reaches almost down to sea level in Chile's Atacama Province.

The rufous-banded miner gleans its food on the ground, singly or in pairs. Its diet is mostly arthropods and also includes seeds and leaf buds.