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Unicolored Tapaculo | Scytalopus unicolor
Salvins tapaculo | Churrín unicolor | Tapaculo-unicolor
The Unicolored Tapaculo is a small grey tapaculo of the Andes of north-western Peru, in southern Cajamarca and La Libertad. Adults are almost plain grey, to which the English and Spanish names refer. The species was formerly lumped with Blackish Tapaculo and Trilling Tapaculo, but differs from both in song.
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Voice
The song is a short series of notes that speeds up. The call is a single note.
Recording: Fabrice Schmitt — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
10.5–11 cm. The male is grey, darker on the upperparts and paler on the underparts, with at most a light brown wash on the rump and rear flanks. The female resembles the male, but the brown wash is often stronger, sometimes with fine dark barring on the flanks and undertail. Juveniles are brown above and dull yellowish below, with spots on the belly and barring on the flanks.
Confusion species
Blackish Tapaculo Scytalopus latrans is blackish in the male and has a different song. Trilling Tapaculo Scytalopus parvirostris lives east of the Marañón and sings a long trill. Ancash Tapaculo Scytalopus affinis lives further south, in Ancash, mainly in high-elevation scrub and Polylepis woodland.
Habitat
Dense undergrowth of humid montane forest, forest remnants in ravines and dense scrub, between about 2000 and 3200 m. It tolerates some disturbance and also occurs in small forest fragments. It searches on and just above the ground for small insects and other 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, in the Andes of the north-west, in southern Cajamarca and La Libertad. 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
Search dense vegetation in ravines and forest remnants in southern Cajamarca and La Libertad, and listen for the short, accelerating song. Within its small range it is locally fairly common.
Conservation status
Near Threatened. The range is small, and the forest is highly fragmented and threatened by fire, although the species tolerates some disturbance.
Scientific name
Scytalopus unicolor | Salvin, 1895
Salvin described the species in 1895 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 comes from Latin unicolor, 'one-coloured', after the uniform dark plumage. The specimen the first description was based on came from Cajabamba and Huamachuco, Peru.