The pale-tailed canastero (Asthenes huancavelicae), is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae.

[3][4][5][6] To further complicate matters, these taxa have plumage, morphological, vocal, behavioral, and nest structure characteristics that may better place them in the thornbird genus Phacellodomus rather than Asthenes.

Adults of the nominate subspecies have a light gray supercilium and an indistinct brownish line behind the eye in an otherwise dull buff face.

Juveniles have an entirely white throat and faint dusky bars or mottling on the breast and belly.

Subspecies A. h. usheri is overall paler than the nominate, with lighter brown upperparts, no rufous on the rump and uppertail coverts, and very pale whitish buff outer webs on the outermost tail feathers.

The nominate subspecies is found in the basin of the Mantaro River in Peru's departments of Huancavelica and Ayacucho.

It forages on the ground and in low woody vegetation, usually singly or in pairs, and gleaning for its prey.

That of A. h. usheri is a globular mass of sticks about 40 cm (16 in) long, some of which are thorny, with an entrance near the top and a tunnel to the nest chamber.

The song of the pale-tailed canastero's subspecies A. h. usheri is "a thin even-paced trill that rises and falls".