Planalto Tapaculo
Scytalopus pachecoi
Small, nondescript bird that is usually very difficult to spot. Mostly dark gray with a cinnamon vent with dark bars. Females are browner. Occurs in primary forests and old second growth, including Araucaria forest with dense understory; especially fond of areas with terrestrial bromeliads. The song is a very long and monotonous repetition of a single note.
Identification
The Planalto tapaculo is about 12 cm (4.7 in) long and weighs about 15 g (0.53 oz). The male's upperparts are mainly dark gray and the underparts paler gray. The flanks are buff with dark bars, which differentiate it from the similar but unbarred mouse-colored tapaculo. The female is browner and the juvenile has not been described.
Taxonomy
The Planalto tapaculos was previously included in the mouse-colored tapaculo (Scytalopus speluncae) but was described as a new species in 2005 based on differences in plumage and vocalizations. Its specific epithet honors Fernando Pacheco, a Brazilian ornithologist.
- Scientific name
- Scytalopus pachecoi
- Authority
- Maurício, 2005
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Rhinocryptidae
- Genus
- Scytalopus
Range and habitat
The Planalto tapaculo is known from southern Brazil (several parts of Rio Grande do Sul and southeastern Santa Catarina) and extreme northeast Misiones Province of Argentina. It inhabits forest and forest edge where it is often found near streams and in undergrowth such as bamboo thickets. It has been found at higher densities in secondary forest than in undisturbed forest. It ranges up to 1,500 m (4,900 ft) elevation.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The Planalto tapaculo forages for arthropods in the forest understory, primarily in thickets of terrestrial bromeliads and bamboo.<p>Almost nothing is known about the Planalto tapaculo's breeding phenology. A nest found in September in Argentina was not described but contained two eggs.<p>The Planalto tapaculo's song contains a long series of notes starting at a rate of two or three per second and accelerating into a trill [1]. This compares to five notes per second in the faster song of the mouse-colored tapaculo. The Planalto tapaculo has a distinctive, monosyllabic contact call and a loud alarm call.
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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