White-browed Tapaculo
Scytalopus superciliaris
Small, mouse-like bird of the high Andes in NW Argentina. Found in lower, more humid forest than similar Zimmer’s Tapaculo. Prefers humid montane forest hillsides and ravines, especially with dense understory. Most often found by voice: a burry, emphatic, two part ”skyew-yew”.
Identification
The white-browed tapaculo is 10.5 cm (4.1 in) long. The nominate adult's most striking features are its long white supercilium, throat, and upper breast. The back and wings are grayish brown to brownish gray. The lower breast is gray. The rump is brown with fine bars. The flanks, belly, and crissum (the area around the cloaca) are pale olive-brown with black bars. Subspecies S. s. santabarbarae is darker, with upper parts trending to chestnut and the underparts being blackish-brown instead of gray.
Taxonomy
The white-browed tapaculo has at times been considered a subspecies of Magellanic tapaculo (Scytalopus magellanicus). It and Zimmer's tapaculo (S. zimmeri) form a superspecies. It has two subspecies, the nominate Scytalopus superciliaris superciliaris and S. s. santabarbarae.
- Scientific name
- Scytalopus superciliaris
- Authority
- Cabanis, 1883
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Rhinocryptidae
- Genus
- Scytalopus
Range and habitat
The white-browed tapaculo is found only in northwestern Argentina. The nominate subspecies ranges from Jujuy Province south to northern La Rioja Province. Subspecies S. s. santabarbarae is probably limited to the Santa Bárbara Mountains of Jujuy, though it might also extend into Salta Province.<p>The white-browed tapaculo inhabits the undergrowth of Alnus and Polylepis woodlands, often in shaded rocky ravines. In elevation it ranges from 1,500 to 3,350 m (4,920 to 10,990 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: stable.
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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White-spotted Wattle-eye
Dyaphorophyia tonsa
A pied wattle-eye of lowland forests. Males are white below with an iridescent black belt. Overall iridescent black above except for the white spot over the eye, the white sides of the neck, and the white rump. Males also have purplish eye wattles that are larger above the eye than below the eye. Females are decidedly different, with reddish-brown throats, wings and backs, gray faces, limited white above the eye, a black crown, and a purplish eye-ring. Both sexes are similar to Chestnut Wattle-eye, but note White-spotted Wattle-eye’s white spots above the eye and the more extensive white on the neck of the males. Call is a hollow “pwoo,” sometimes doubled, given repeatedly about every half second. Also gives shorter “rick rick rick” calls like other wattle-eyes.
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