Leymebamba Antpitta

Small, retiring quail of forest understory. Rarely seen, but can be located by listening for noisy rustling in the leaf litter as birds scratch like chickens. Prefers to run away rather than flush. Loud song often reveals its presence, given mainly early and late in the day: first few notes similar to Little Tinamou song, but then breaks into rollicking choruses that can be almost deafening if close by. Male has rusty face and gray body, female colors reversed, with gray face and rusty body.

A distinctive wagtail with diagnostic wing and breast patterns. It has a prominent, whitish eyebrow with two black crescent-shaped bands on the upper breast; lower one wider when present. Upperparts are brown-gray with a greenish tinge. Two broad white wingbars on an otherwise black wing.  Immature is browner, less green above than adult, the breast-bands brownish-black and narrower, the lower one completely or partially missing. Inhabits all kinds of woodlands, foraging on forest paths, swinging its tail side to side (not up and down), and when disturbed, flushing into trees. Call is a metallic “pink” produced in flight. Song is a two-noted “tis-fee” repeated 4-5 times.

Small tapaculo of high-elevation cloud forest in the eastern Andes of northern and central Peru. Male is uniformly gray; female is paler and browner with extensive buffy barring. Similar to several other tapaculos and best identified by range, habitat, and voice. Inhabits understory of wet, mossy forest. Typical song is very long; it starts with well-spaced chip notes and gradually morphs into bursts of rattling trills.