Rufous-vented Tapaculo
Scytalopus femoralis
A fairly common cloud forest tapaculo found in the eastern Andes of northern and central Peru. Adult is gray with brown bars on the lower underparts. Young birds are browner and extensively marked with buff bars and scales. Similar to Trilling Tapaculo and Junin Tapaculo, and identification should be based on range and voice. Rufous-vented Tapaculo gives sharp chips and low frog-like notes, either alone or in an accelerating series. Inhabits forest understory and usually tough to see.
Identification
The rufous-vented tapaculo is 12.5 cm (4.9 in) long. Males weigh 21 to 28 g (0.74 to 0.99 oz) and females 20 to 24 g (0.71 to 0.85 oz). Adults have a dark brown head and back with a dark brown wash and the rump is dark reddish brown. The throat, breast, and belly are a paler gray; flanks and vent area are cinnamon with broad dark bars. The juvenile is brown above with faint bars and yellow buff with dark bars below.
Taxonomy
The rufous-vented tapaculo has no subspecies. However, what are now the Santa Marta tapaculo (Scytalopus sanctaemartae), long-tailed tapaculo (S. micropterus), white-crowned tapaculo (S. atratus), and Bolivian tapaculo (S. bolivianus) were formerly treated as subspecies of it.
- Scientific name
- Scytalopus femoralis
- Authority
- (Tschudi, 1844)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Rhinocryptidae
- Genus
- Scytalopus
Range and habitat
The rufous-vented tapaculo is found in the central Andes of Peru from southern Amazonas south to Junín. There it inhabits the undergrowth of both primary and secondary humid forest. It ranges between 1,000 and 2,050 m (3,280 and 6,730 ft) elevations, but is usually found above 1,600 m (5,200 ft) and in a few locations as high as 2,550 m (8,370 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
No information has been published about the rufous-vented tapaculo's feeding or breeding phenologies. Its song is a single descending note repeated for several minutes [1].
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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