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Bolivian Tapaculo | Scytalopus bolivianus
Boliviaanse tapaculo | Churrín boliviano | Macuquinho-boliviano
The Bolivian Tapaculo is a tapaculo of the dense undergrowth of lower humid montane forest in south-eastern Peru and Bolivia. It was formerly treated as a subspecies of Rufous-vented Tapaculo and was recognised as a separate species mainly on the basis of its song. The male often has white on the crown, like the closely related White-crowned Tapaculo further north.
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Voice
The song is a trill lasting up to about 15 seconds. The alarm is a rapid kekekeke; the female probably gives a high, buzzy brzk.
Recording: Dante Buzzetti — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
11–12 cm, round and short-tailed. The male is mostly dark grey, with rufous-brown flanks and undertail coverts with dusky bars; the amount of white on the crown varies from none to a distinct patch. The female is paler grey, washed brown above, with a brown, black-barred belly. Juveniles resemble the female.
Confusion species
Trilling Tapaculo Scytalopus parvirostris usually lives higher, has a thinner bill and no white on the crown, and sings a trill of a different tempo. White-crowned Tapaculo Scytalopus atratus is very similar, but occurs only north of the range of Bolivian Tapaculo, south to Cusco. Diademed Tapaculo Scytalopus schulenbergi lives much higher, at the treeline, and has a silvery-white eyebrow.
Habitat
Dense undergrowth of humid evergreen broadleaf forest on the eastern slope, mainly between 1000 and 2300 m, locally up to about 2850 m. It lives on or just above the ground and presumably feeds on small invertebrates. Almost nothing is known about its diet and breeding.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
Absent from Colombia and Ecuador. In Peru only in the south-east, in Puno. In Bolivia on the eastern slope from La Paz through Cochabamba and Santa Cruz to Chuquisaca. Absent from the Galápagos. Does not occur outside the guide area.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Listen in the Yungas of La Paz, for example around Coroico, and along the roads through the montane forest of Cochabamba for the long trill from dense undergrowth at lower and middle elevations. When answering its song the bird often moves back and forth low in the vegetation.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The population size is unknown and probably declining through deforestation, but not fast enough for a higher category. The species occurs in several national parks and reserves.
Scientific name
Scytalopus bolivianus | Allen, 1889
Allen described the species in 1889 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Scytalopus was introduced in 1837 by Gould. The genus name combines Greek skutalē or skutalon, 'stick', with pous, 'foot'. The species name bolivianus refers to Bolivia; this is not necessarily the type locality. The specimen the first description was based on came from Reyes, Beni, Bolivia.