- Grallaria alleni
Identification
16.5cm.
- Light olive-brown forecrown and slate-grey crown and nape
- White lores (narrowly dark-tipped)
- Fairly uniform olive-brown auriculars
- Dark rufescent brown to olive-brown upperparts with scaled effect
- Rufous-chestnut tail
- Rufescent brown chin and throat
- Broad white malar stripe
- White lower throat forming crescent across chest
- Olive-brown breast with narrow white streaks
- Buffy white belly, cinnamon washed flanks
Juveniles not described.
Similar species
Whiter belly, more prominent streaks on breast (forming star-like pattern) than Scaled Antpitta. Bill also entirely black and upper mandible straight, not curved.
Distribution
Colombia and Ecuador.
An endangered, restricted-range species. Longtime feared extinct, but andaquiensis refound in 1990, nominate in 1995.
Taxonomy
Two subspecies are recognized:
- G. a. alleni in Colombia on western slopes of central Andes
- G. a. andaquiensis in Magdalena valley in Colombia and in northern Ecuador
Probably closely related to Tachira Antpitta.
Habitat
Dense undergrowth and forest floor in wet primary forest. Often in ravines and on steep slopes. Found at 1800 - 2500m.
Where range overlaps with Scaled Antpitta found above the latter and in less disturbed habitats.
Behaviour
Forages on the ground. Diet unknown.
No information about breeding season and nest. Sings from a perch 0.5 to 3m above the ground.
Presumably a resident species.
References
- Clements, JF. 2010. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2010. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/Clements%206.5.xls/view
- Dickinson, EC, ed. 2003. The Howard and Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World. 3rd ed., with updates to October 2008 (Corrigenda 8). Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0691117010
- Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds). 2010. IOC World Bird Names (version 2.7). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
- Del Hoyo, J, A Elliot, and D Christie, eds. 2003. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 8: Broadbills to Tapaculos. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. ISBN 978-8487334504
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Moustached Antpitta. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 19 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Moustached_Antpitta
