- Scytalopus opacus
Identification
10-10.5 cm
Male
- Overall medium to dark grey
- One mm wide barring of black and rusty found on rump, tips of tertials, lower flank, and undertail coverts
Female
- Mostly rufous upperside with barring on tail and tips of tertials and coverts
- Underside grey to lower breast
- Flanks and undertail coverts rusty with some dusky barring and with paler mid belly
Separation of species
Paramillo Tapaculo S. canus lacks barring or brown on in the flanks, whereas Paramo Tapaculo S. opacus usually has barring on upper tail coverts, flanks and thighs. Loja Tapaculo is intermediate in plumage except that males of that species usually have white on primary coverts.
Other Tapaculos that are likely to occur near where Paramo Tapaculo is found include Ash-colored Tapaculo, Blackish Tapaculo, and Spillmann's Tapaculo.
Distribution
South America: Central Andes of Colombia to east central Ecuador.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species.[1]
A paper[3][4] from 2010 proposed that the Paramillo Tapaculo and the Paramo Tapaculo should be seen as separate species based on vocalizations. The split is recognised by Clements (2011)[1] and Gill and Donsker (2010)[2].
Habitat
High altitude scrub, 3000-4000 m asl.
Behaviour
Very difficult to observe as it hides in vegetation. Presumably, insects is an important source of food.
Vocalisation
Main song is similar to Loja Tapaculo except that there are one to three introductory notes. After the introductory note, it is a trill of 29-40 notes per second which usually continues for 4-12 seconds. There might be a slight slowing of the trill towards the end.
The call usually lasts around 1 second and consists of 6-7 notes that each have first and up and then a down element. The notes in the call therefore are much slower than the notes in the song.
References
- Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
- Gill, F and D Donsker (Eds). 2010. IOC World Bird Names (version 2.7). Available at http://www.worldbirdnames.org/.
- Krabbe & Cadena 2010. Paper splitting Paramo Tapaculo and describing a new subspecies. (also describes the voices of these species).
- Birdforum thread discussing the above paper
- Krabbe et al. 2020. Paper that resulted in splitting Loja Tapaculo from this species.
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.
