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Slaty-crowned Antpitta | Grallaricula nana
Grijskapdwergmierpitta | Ponchito enano | Tovaquinha-de-coroa-cinza
The Slaty-crowned Antpitta is a small antpitta with a slate-grey crown above an olive-brown face and orange-rufous underparts. It lives in the higher montane forest of the northern Andes, almost always in or near dense Chusquea bamboo. At the right elevation it is one of the commonest Grallaricula antpittas in the guide area.
Voice
The song is a fast series of high, clear whistles falling in pitch, with small differences between the subspecies. The call is a descending tew.
Recording: Brian Cox — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
11 cm, round and short-tailed, on long grey legs. The crown is dark slate-grey, the face olive-brown with an orange-rufous loral spot and eye-ring. The upperparts and tail are olive-brown, the wings more tawny. The underparts are mostly orange-rufous, with a white crescent on the lower throat and a white centre to the belly. Birds of the subspecies occidentalis are somewhat paler below. The bill is black with a white or pink base. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
Rusty-breasted and Rufous-breasted Antpittas (Grallaricula ferrugineipectus and Grallaricula leymebambae) have a brown crown without grey. Hooded Antpitta Grallaricula cucullata has a wholly orange head and a grey breast. Ochre-breasted Antpitta Grallaricula flavirostris has an olive-brown crown and an ochre-yellow breast, and lives lower. Crescent-faced Antpitta Grallaricula lineifrons has a black face with a white crescent and streaked underparts.
Habitat
The undergrowth of humid upper montane forest and cloud forest, almost always in or near dense Chusquea bamboo, including bamboo-rich disturbed patches and secondary growth as long as enough forest remains around them; in Ecuador and Peru roughly between 2000 and 2900 m, in Colombia up to 3300 m. It forages alone or in pairs low in the vegetation and in the leaf litter, eating insects, other arthropods and earthworms; it sometimes follows army ants. The nest is a shallow cup of leaves on a platform of sticks, 2 to 2.5 m up in or near bamboo; the clutch is usually a single egg.
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: the subspecies occidentalis in the Western and Central Andes, the nominate in the Eastern Andes and the subspecies hallsi in the Serranía de los Yariguíes. In Ecuador on the eastern slope. In Peru in the north, to the Marañón in Cajamarca. Absent from Bolivia and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in the Andes and coastal mountains of Venezuela, in the tepui region and adjacent Guyana and Brazil.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Listen in bamboo-rich cloud forest between 2000 and 3000 m for the fast, falling series of whistles. The Río Blanco reserve near Manizales in Colombia is a well-known site for the species.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The range is large and the population is believed to be stable.
Scientific name
Grallaricula nana | (de Lafresnaye, 1842)
De Lafresnaye described the species in 1842 as Grallaria nana; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Grallaricula was introduced in 1858 by Sclater. The genus name is a diminutive of the genus Grallaria, Modern Latin for 'stilt-walker'. The species name comes from Latin nanus, 'dwarf'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Bogotá, Colombia.