Loja Tapaculo (Scytalopus androsticus)

Identification & Behavior: ~10 cm (4 in). The adult Loja Tapaculo is mouse gray with a reduced amount of rufous barred with black on the flanks, vent, and rump. Most males appear to have most or all of the primary-coverts white. The female is similar but has more rufous barred with black on the flanks, vent, and rump. The tail is short and often kept cocked. It forages on or near the ground in shrubbery of humid montane forests near the tree line and humid montane scrub interspersed with bunch grass. Due to the similarity and secretive habits among tapaculos, positive identification by appearance in the field is often impossible. Tapaculos’ loud and stereotyped voices constitute the safest way to identify them to the species level. It is likely to have limited overlap with the Chusquea Tapaculo but generally ranges at higher elevations.

Status: The Loja Tapaculo is fairly common in humid montane forests and adjacent humid scrub mixed with bunch grass on the east slope of the Andes, north of the Maranon Valley. It ranges at elevations between 2900-3300 m. It also occurs in Ec.

Name in Spanish: Tapaculo de Loja.

Sub-species: Loja Tapaculo (Scytalopus androstictus), Krabbe and Cadena, 2010.

Meaning of Name: Scytalopus: Gr. skutale or skutalon= stick, cudgel and pous, podos= foot. androsticus: .

Got to the Family Rhinocryptidae