Chucao Tapaculo
Scelorchilus rubecula
Fairly common to common in native temperate forest, adjacent shrubbery, wooded patches, and thickets along rivers and streams, especially with bamboo. Loud ringing song is commonly heard, but calling birds can be elusive. At other times can be confiding, walking out at close range as if curious, usually with tail cocked. Plumage distinctive, with bright rusty eyebrow, throat, and breast. Compare with the larger and fatter Chestnut-throated Huet-huet.
Identification
The chucao tapaculo is 18.5 to 19 cm (7.3 to 7.5 in) long. Three specimens of unknown sex weighed 42.6 to 45.4 g (1.50 to 1.60 oz) and a single male specimen weighed 53.7 g (1.89 oz). The adult is dusky brown above; much of the face and the throat and upper breast are rufous. The rest of the breast is dark gray with white bars and the flanks and vent are reddish brown to olive brown.
Taxonomy
The chucao tapaculo has two subspecies. The nominate Scelorchilus rubecula rubecula is primarily found in central Chile from the Biobío Region south to the Aysén Region and the adjoining parts of Argentina. It has occasionally been recorded further north and once in the far southern Magallanes Province. The other subspecies, S. r. mochae, is found only on Mocha Island off the Chilean coast.
- Scientific name
- Scelorchilus rubecula
- Authority
- (Kittlitz, 1830)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Rhinocryptidae
- Genus
- Scelorchilus
Range and habitat
The chucao tapaculo occurs from sea level to 1,500 m (4,900 ft) elevation.Its habitat is temperate and humid forests. It is typically found in Chusquea bamboo thickets within Nothofagus forest but also inhabits secondary woodland.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The chucao tapaculo's diet is dominated by arthropods and seeds. It forages on the ground alone or in pairs. It usually remains hidden in dense foliage but occasionally feeds in more open areas.<p>In Chile the chucao tapaculo lays eggs in September to October and in Argentina, November. The open cup nest is made of soft grass and rootlets built at the end of a burrow up to 3 m (9.8 ft) deep. Two to three eggs are laid. Both the male and female tend nestlings. This species showed a pattern of aggressiveness and territoriality towards the other species of tapaculos in the forest of southern Chile.<p>The chucao tapaculo has a loud song beginning and ending with soft churrs surrounding four or five clearer, louder, and higher pitched notes [1].
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Green-breasted Bushshrike
Malaconotus gladiator
A large, robust bushshrike with a massive head, a chunky hook-tipped black bill, and a pale eye; plumage is dull uniform olive, paler underneath, and head is gray. An uncommon resident endemic to the Cameroon-Nigeria highlands, found singly and in pairs in the canopy and at middle levels of primary hill and montane forest between 930 and 2300 meters of elevation, preferring steep slopes. Gives a low-pitched extended sorrowful “whhooooooo-lwe” song up to 10–15 times in succession, along with harsh clicks and rasps. Other similar large bushshrikes are yellow or orange underneath.
Salvadori's Serin
Crithagra xantholaema
A relatively distinctive gray-brown seedeater with a unique black-and-yellow badge on its upper chest. The yellow rump is conspicuous in flight. Found very locally in dry woodland and savanna, favoring rocky valleys. Similar to Yellow-throated Serin, but there is no known overlap in range, and Salvadori’s is easily separated by the black chest band. The song, consisting of twitters and whistles, is lower-pitched and slower-paced than that of a typical seedeater.
Southern Red-billed Hornbill
Tockus rufirostris
A small, black-and-white hornbill with a petite red bill; male has a black base to the mandible. Pairs occur in open savanna with sparse ground cover, where they hop on the ground foraging for invertebrates. The territorial display, given with the head bowed and wings spread, starts with a series of “kok-kok-kok” notes, becoming a rolling bisyllabic “kokok-kokok”. Similar Damara Red-billed Hornbill differs by having brown (not yellow) eyes and an unmarked creamy white head and neck. Jackson’s Hornbill is larger, with a more robust bill and dark face and eyes. Crowned Hornbill has a solidly brown back and orange bill.
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