The Austral Canastero occurs in Patagonia in Chile and adjoining Argentina. It moves alone or in pairs through grassland and steppe with patches of shrubs.
It is slender, with streaked crown, back, and rump. It has a pale eyebrow and dark eye stripe, white underparts, and a relatively short pointed tail whose outer feathers have pale ochre-white tips.
It occurs in Patagonian shrubland, grassland, and steppe. It is common in steppe with an upper layer of shrubs and lower Festuca grasses, but is absent from grass-dominated expanses. It moves alone or in pairs through shrubs and may hold its tail upright.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.