The Royal Cinclodes is a passerine

Passerine

A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...

 bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

 which breeds in the Andes

Andes

The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...

 of south-east Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

 and adjacent Bolivia

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

. It was formerly considered to be a subspecies of the Stout-billed Cinclodes

Stout-billed Cinclodes

The Stout-billed Cinclodes is a species of bird in the Furnariidae family.It is found in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru....

 C. excelsior.

This bird has a population of less than 250, and is classified as Critically Endangered. It is confined to tiny, humid patches of Polylepis

Polylepis

Polylepis is a genus containing about twenty species of shrubs or trees native to the mid- and high-elevation regions of the tropical Andes. This group is unique in the rose family in that it is predominantly wind-pollinated. They are usually gnarled in shape, but in certain areas some trees are...

woodland and montane scrub, and the major threat to tis survival is the use of fire and heavy grazing which restrict the regeneration of Polylepis.