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Elusive Antpitta | Grallaria eludens
Ongrijpbare mierpitta | Tororoí del Ucayali | Tovacuçu-xodó
The Elusive Antpitta is a little-known antpitta of lowland rainforest south of the Amazon. It was described only in 1969 and has since been recorded at just a handful of sites in Peru and Brazil. The Spanish name refers to the Ucayali, the river basin where it was first found.
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Voice
A hollow, two-note whistle, the second note slightly higher and longer, repeated at intervals; similar to the call of Ochre-striped Antpitta.
Recording: Felipe Arantes — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
19 cm, plump and almost tailless, on long legs. The upperparts are olive-brown. The throat is white to pale yellow, the breast pale buff; the breast and flanks have black streaks, and the belly is white. It lacks the warm rufous-orange throat and breast of Ochre-striped Antpitta. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
Ochre-striped Antpitta Grallaria dignissima lives north of the Amazon and has a rufous-orange throat and breast. Thrush-like Antpitta Myrmothera campanisona is smaller and browner, with a faintly streaked, greyish-white breast and no sharp black streaks.
Habitat
Humid lowland terra firme forest, locally with bamboo. It lives on the forest floor, feeding on insects and other invertebrates. Almost nothing is known about the nest and breeding biology.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Peru at a few sites in the eastern lowlands south of the Amazon, including Ucayali and southern Loreto. Absent from Colombia, Ecuador and the Galápagos; not recorded in Bolivia. Outside the guide area in western Brazil, including Acre.
How and when to look
Listen at dawn in remote terra firme forest south of the Amazon for the hollow, two-note whistle. A sound recording is the best way to document a record.
Conservation status
Least Concern. Most of the range lies in remote, little-disturbed forest, but little is known about numbers and trends.
Scientific name
Grallaria eludens | Lowery & O'Neill, 1969
Lowery & O'Neill described the species in 1969 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Grallaria was introduced in 1816 by Vieillot. The genus name comes from New Latin grallarius, 'stilt-walker', referring to the long legs. The species name comes from Latin eludens, 'evading, deluding' (from eludere, 'to mock', from ex, 'from', and ludere, 'to play'), referring to a species that long escaped observers. The specimen the first description was based on came from Balta, Río Curanja, Ucayali, Peru.