Chusquea Tapaculo (Scytalopus parkeri)

Identification & Behavior: ~12.5 cm (5 in). The Chusquea Tapaculo is dusky-gray with rufous flanks, rump, and vent area barred with dusky. The female is similar but has lighter coloration and more rufous on the flanks. The juvenile is brown with dusky barring. The short tail is often kept cocked. It forages in the understory of bamboo alone or in pairs. Due to their secretive habits, extreme similarity among species and the generally low light in the places they inhabit, positive identification of a tapaculo in the field is often impossible. However, their loud and stereotyped songs and calls are given frequently and constitute the safest way to identify them to the species level. The Chusquea Tapaculo is similar to the Long-tailed Tapaculo but occurs at higher elevations.

Status: The Chusquea Tapaculo is uncommon in montane forests in extreme northeast Peru at elevations ranging between 2200-2900 m. It also occurs in Ec.

Name in Spanish: Tapaculo de Chusquea.

Sub-species: Chusquea Tapaculo (Scytalopus parkeri), Krabbe and Schulenberg, 1997.

Meaning of Name: Scytalopus: Gr. skutale or skutalon= stick, cudgel and pous, podos= foot.
parkeri: In honor of Theodore ‘Ted’ Albert Parker III (1953-1993) US field ornithologist with unparalleled knowledge of Neotropical birds, tragically killed in an air crash.

Got to the Family Rhinocryptidae