White-crowned Tapaculo (Scytalopus atratus)

Identification & Behavior: ~12.5 cm (5 in). The adult White-crowned Tapaculo is uniformly blackish with rufous flanks and a white crown patch in most individuals. The female is similar but has more rufous and dusky fine barring on the flanks and rump. Both sexes show a variable amount of whitish scaling on the belly. The juvenile is dusky-brown with dusky barring. The short tail is often kept cocked.  It forages on or near the ground in humid montane forests. Due to their similarity and secretive habits, positive identification of a tapaculo in the field is often impossible. However, their loud and stereotyped voice constitutes the safest way to identify them to the species level. The White-crowned Tapaculo is similar to the Bolivian Tapaculo but their ranges do not overlap.

Status: The White-crowned Tapaculo is uncommon in montane forests of the east slope of the Andes at elevations ranging between 1000-2000 m. It also occurs in Co and Ec.

Name in Spanish: Tapaculo de Corona Blanca.

Sub-species: White-crowned Tapaculo (Scytalopus atratus atratus), Hellmayr, 1922.

Meaning of Name: Scytalopus: Gr. skutale or skutalon= stick, cudgel and pous, podos= foot. atratus: L. ater= black, atratus= clothed in mourning.

Go to the Family Rhinocryptidae