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Red-and-white Antpitta | Grallaria erythroleuca
Roodwitte mierpitta | Tororoí de Cuzco | Tovacuçu-ruivo-e-branco
The Red-and-white Antpitta is an antpitta of the east slope of the Andes in southern Peru, with bright rufous upperparts and a white throat and belly. It is the southernmost member of a group of closely related rufous-headed antpittas. It lives hidden in dense bamboo and regrowth.
Voice
The usual song is a hollow series of three whistles, the first highest and the next two on the same pitch: HEE hew-hew. In the Cordillera Vilcabamba it sings four notes. The call is a series of plaintive, descending clew notes.
Recording: Miguel Lezama — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
17–18 cm, round and short-tailed, on long grey legs. The crown and nape are bright rufous, the back, wings and tail slightly duller rufous. The throat and belly centre are white, yellowish in birds from the Cordillera Vilcabamba. The breast sides are rufous with white mottling, the flanks rufous with an olive wash. The sexes are alike. Juveniles have a buff, finely black-barred hindcrown and nape.
Confusion species
Bay Antpitta Grallaria capitalis further north is almost entirely chestnut, without a white throat and belly. Smaller, uniformly rufous antpittas of the Grallaria rufula group in the same region lack white on the underparts and usually live higher. Chestnut-crowned Antpitta Grallaria ruficapilla has a black-streaked belly.
Habitat
Undergrowth of humid montane forest, forest edges and older secondary forest, especially dense regrowth on landslides and Chusquea bamboo, mostly between 2100 and 3000 m, with records from about 1750 to 3400 m. It searches the ground for invertebrates. Little is known about its breeding.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
Only in Peru, on the east slope of the Andes, mainly in Cusco, extending into Junín and Ayacucho. Absent from Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia and the Galápagos. Does not occur outside the guide area.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Listen at dawn for the three-note whistled song along roads through montane forest in Cusco, such as the road to Manu and the montane forests above the Urubamba valley. Check dense bamboo and regrowth along landslides.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The range is small, but the population is considered stable and the species occurs in several protected areas.
Scientific name
Grallaria erythroleuca | Sclater, 1874
Sclater described the species in 1874 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 Greek eruthros, 'red', and leukos, 'white'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Huasampilla, Cusco, Peru.