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Scaled Antpitta | Grallaria guatimalensis
Schubkapmierpitta | Hormiguero cholino escamoso | Tovacuçu-escamado
The Scaled Antpitta has the largest range of any antpitta, from Mexico to Bolivia. In the guide area it lives in humid montane forest of the Andes, hidden on the forest floor. It is heard far more often than seen.
Voice
A series of low, hollow notes that slowly swells in volume and pitch and then fades, lasting a few seconds. Heard mainly at dusk and dawn.
Recording: José María Loaiza B. — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
16–18 cm, round and short-tailed, on long pinkish-grey legs. The crown, nape and back are olive-grey to olive-brown, with black feather edges that give a scaled pattern. An ochre moustachial stripe is bordered by a dark throat stripe; the throat is brown, with a pale crescent below it. The breast and belly are fairly uniform rufous-brown to ochre-brown. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
Moustached Antpitta Grallaria alleni is slightly smaller, with a plain slate-grey crown, an unscaled back and a bright white moustachial stripe. Plain-backed Antpitta Grallaria haplonota has plain olive-brown upperparts without scaling and paler ochre-yellow underparts. Undulated Antpitta Grallaria squamigera is much larger, with a white throat and ochre-yellow, heavily barred underparts.
Habitat
Humid montane forest, cloud forest and old secondary forest with dense undergrowth, at roughly 1200 to 3000 m, locally lower. It hops over the forest floor, searching the leaf litter for earthworms, insects and other invertebrates. The nest is a cup of moss and leaves, low above the ground on a stump or in dense vegetation.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia in all three Andean ranges. In Ecuador on the western and eastern slopes. In Peru mainly on the eastern slope, in the north also on the western slope. In Bolivia on the eastern slope south to Cochabamba and western Santa Cruz. Absent from the Galápagos. Outside the guide area from Mexico through Central America to Venezuela and Trinidad, and on the tepuis of the Guiana Shield.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Listen at dawn along trails through humid montane forest for the swelling series of hollow notes. A singing bird often stands motionless on the forest floor or on a fallen log.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species also occurs in secondary forest, but disappears where forest is cleared completely.
Scientific name
Grallaria guatimalensis | de Lafresnaye, 1842
De Lafresnaye described the species in 1842 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 guatimalensis refers to Guatemala, not necessarily the type locality. The specimen the first description was based on came from Guatemala.