Crested Doradito

The crested doradito is 10 to 11 cm (3.9 to 4.3 in) long and weighs 6 to 9.9 g (0.21 to 0.35 oz). Both sexes have a shaggy crest. Adult males have a mostly pale olive head, upperparts, and tail. Their crown is blackish with yellowish white edges on the feathers and a partially hidden yellow stripe in the middle. Their cheeks are dusky, and their back has subtle dusky streaks. Their wings are pale olive with dull whitish edges on the flight feathers and wing coverts; the last show as two wing bars. Their throat and underparts are bright yellow. Adult females have a paler head than males, wider pale-yellow edges on the crown feathers, and a very faint pale yellow supercilium. Their underparts are a paler yellow than the male's. Both sexes have a dark brown iris and black legs and feet with a long hallux. Males have a slender, black, warbler-like bill; females' bills have a black maxilla like the males' and a pinkish-orange mandible. Juveniles are similar to adult females, but their crest has less black and more ochre, and their underparts are very pale.

The crested doradito has a highly disjunct distribution. Its largest single range is from eastern Bolivia south through southwestern Brazil and Paraguay into northeastern Argentina and Uruguay. There are isolated populations elsewhere in Bolivia and in Venezuela (mostly Falcón), Guyana, and in several parts of Brazil. It has occurred as a vagrant on Trinidad. The South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society has unconfirmed sight records in French Guiana and therefore lists the species as hypothetical in that country. The species inhabits reed beds, marshes, and tall grassy areas near water. In elevation it reaches 500 m (1,600 ft) above sea level though only 200 m (700 ft) in Venezuela.

The crested doradito's diet has not been detailed but is known to include insects and spiders. It typically forages in pairs or small family groups. It feeds in vegetation in marshes and along their borders, mostly by gleaning vegetation while perched, and often clinging sideways to sedge or reed stems to feed.