Brasilia Tapaculo
Scytalopus novacapitalis
Small gray bird, typically fiendishly difficult to see in swampy gallery forest with ferns. Plump, with a short tail; note the cinnamon and black bars on vent. Like many tapaculos, the song is a long and monotonous repetition, in this case of a single “ewk” note.
Identification
The Brasilia tapaculo is 11 cm (4.3 in) long. One male weighed 19.2 g (0.68 oz) and two unsexed specimens weighed 15.6 and 18.6 g (0.55 and 0.66 oz). The adult is blue-gray above and whitish to pale gray below. The lower back and rump are reddish brown and the vent is rufous with gray barring. The juvenile has not been described.
Taxonomy
The Brasilia tapaculo is most closely related to the Planalto tapaculo (Scytalopus pachecoi). Those two species, rock tapaculo (S. petrophilus), and Diamantina tapaculo (S. diamantinensis) form a clade. It was originally thought to be closely related to the white-breasted tapaculo (Eleoscytalopus indigoticus).
- Scientific name
- Scytalopus novacapitalis
- Authority
- Sick, 1958
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Rhinocryptidae
- Genus
- Scytalopus
Range and habitat
The Brasilia tapaculo is found in disjunct areas in eastern Goiás, the Distrito Federal, and western Minas Gerais. It inhabits gallery forest, primarily permanently flooded areas with Blechnum ferns and Euterpe palms. It has a fairly narrow elevational range of 800 to 1,000 m (2,600 to 3,300 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The Brasilia tapaculo forages on the ground for insects, spiders, and centipedes. <p>The only information on the Brasilia tapaculo's breeding phenology is that a specimen collected in July had active gonads. <p>The Brazilia tapaculo's song is an "ewk" note repeated for up to a minute [1]. Its alarm call is a series of sharp "che-te-te" notes. Another call is a fast series of "chip" notes that increase in volume.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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