See text The cordilleran canastero (Asthenes modesta) is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae.

Adults of the nominate subspecies A. m. modesta have a narrow light buff-brown supercilium, dark brownish lores, brownish ear coverts, and a whitish buff-brown malar region with darker brown streaks.

Their forehead has indistinct blackish spots and their rump and uppertail coverts have a rufescent tinge.

Their central pair of tail feathers are pointed and dark fuscous with rufous outer webs.

It also occurs in arid montane scrublands, Polylepis thickets, and dry open woodlands.

It usually forages singly but sometimes in pairs, gleaning prey mostly from the ground and to a lesser extent from low vegetation.

[5][6] The cordilleran canastero breeds in the austral spring and summer, roughly October to March.

It places it in a variety of locations including a rock crevice, a bush, a hole in a dirt bank, and another bird's abandoned nest.