Checker-throated Stipplethroat
Epinecrophylla fulviventris
This antwren is tiny, round, and short-tailed. There are no bright colors, just a mix of buffy underparts and grayer-brown upperparts. Look for the male’s distinctive black-and-white spotting on throat. Female lacks this feature, but note her dark wing with buffy spots. Both sexes have a pale eye. Found in pairs or small flocks, usually in the lower levels of forests. Often joins larger mixed-species flocks.
Identification
The checker-throated stipplethroat is 10 to 11 cm (3.9 to 4.3 in) long and weighs 8.5 to 11.5 g (0.30 to 0.41 oz). The sexes have nearly identical plumage. Males have a mostly gray face and a black throat with large white spots. Females have a mostly brownish buff face and throat. Adults of both sexes have a gray-brown crown and upperparts and a reddish tail. Their wing coverts are blackish brown to olive-brown with yellow-ochre tips and their flight feathers are reddish. Their breast is gray and the rest of their underparts are brownish buff that is darker towards the vent area. Their iris is golden that darkens with age. Juveniles have a gray iris that yellows as they mature.
Taxonomy
The checker-throated stipplethroat was originally placed in genus Myrmotherula and then given the English name checker-throated antwren. Based on genetic and vocal studies it and seven other members of the genus were moved to the newly created genus Epinecrophylla. All were eventually named "stipplethroats" to highlight a common feature and to set them apart from Myrmotherulaantwrens. Though three subspecies have been proposed, that treatment has not gained acceptance and major taxonomic systems deem the species monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Epinecrophylla fulviventris
- Authority
- (Lawrence, 1862)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Thamnophilidae
- Genus
- Epinecrophylla
Range and habitat
The checker-throated stipplethroat is found on the Caribbean slope from far southeastern Honduras through Nicaragua and Costa Rica into western Panama, on both the Caribbean and Pacific slopes from western Panama into Colombia, east in Colombia into the Magdalena River valley, and south through western Colombia and Ecuador nearly to Peru. It inhabits evergreen forest in the lowlands and foothills and adjacent mature secondary forest. It favors areas with dense vine tangles that collect debris. In elevation it mostly ranges up to about 750 m (2,500 ft) in Central America, to 1,200 m (3,900 ft) in Colombia, and to 900 m (3,000 ft) in Ecuador. It does reach 900 m (3,000 ft) in Costa Rica and 2,000 m (6,600 ft) in Colombia.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Moustached Antpitta
Grallaria alleni
Medium-sized antpitta. Typical antpitta shape: plump and short-tailed with long legs, like a grapefruit on stilts. Mostly brown with a brighter cinnamon belly and grayish crown. Note blotchy white mustache stripe. Very similar in appearance to Scaled Antpitta but typically occurs at slightly higher elevations. Moustached has a less pronounced scaly pattern on the upperparts, browner cheeks, and a slower, higher-pitched song without a stutter in the middle than Scaled Antpitta. Fairly rare and local within limited range in the Andes of Colombia and Ecuador. Occurs in mossy cloud forest in the lower subtropics from around 1,850–2,000 m. Very rarely seen; typically stays hidden in the dense understory, occasionally hopping onto forest trails at dawn or dusk.
Biak Megapode
Megapodius geelvinkianus
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Muisca Antpitta
Grallaria rufula
Plump bird with long legs and a short tail that ranges in the eastern Andes of Colombia, barely reaching over the border into Venezuela. Plumage is chestnut brown with an orange tinge to the breast and slightly paler belly; sometimes shows a faint mustache streak. Skulks in the understory of high elevation elfin forest and usually stays on the ground, but sometimes comes up to a low perch to sing. Common vocalization is a sweet, rising whistle followed by a lower pitched gargle, and also gives a series of flat whistles. It used to be called Rufous Antpitta.
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