ANTPITTAS   -   GRALLARIDAE

Undulated Antpitta Grallaria squamigera canicauda Owlet Lodge, Abra Patricia, Amazonas department, Peru. The new antpitta feeding station has been fairly successful, attracting this Undulated Antpitta most mornings. I hope they can entice some of the endemic antpittas to come in, which currently are quite a pain to see. The bird comes in only right at dawn when there is almost no light. I photographed this on a tripod and only had a speed of 1/8 of a second at 3200 ISO. (S6)

Giant Antpitta Grallaria gigantea fagani Refugio Paz de las Aves, Pichincha province, Ecuador. That's Maria, the bird that made Angel Paz famous in the birding world. "She" was the first of the antpittas to lose fear of humans and come eat earthworms off the trail. (S6)

Scaled Antpitta Grallaria guatimalensis regulus Tandayapa Bird Lodge, Pichincha province, Ecuador. 25 January 2008. This bird was brooding two moderately-developed nestlings. The nest was about 150 m from the lodge, a messy clump of vegetation on a branch about 1.5 m off the ground. (D3)

Scaled Antpitta Grallaria guatimalensis regulus Tandayapa Bird Lodge, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Another shot of the nest. I don't know if this individual is the same as in the above photo, or its mate. (D3)

Moustached Antpitta Grallaria alleni andaquiensis Tandayapa Bird Lodge, Pichincha province, Ecuador. I guess you'll have to take my word on this one. This was perhaps only the second nest found for this species. The photo was taken on 28 November, 2003. (P1f)

Ochre-striped Antpitta Grallaria dignissima Yasuní Research Station, Orellana province, Ecuador. This is one of the hardest antpittas to see. Weirdly, it was the first species of antpitta I ever saw, in August 1999; despite hearing them on numerous occasions, I didn't see another one until I photographed this bird in August 2010, eleven years later! A poor shot, but I'll take it considering I never expected to get a photo of this species. (S6)

Chestnut-crowned Antpitta Grallaria ruficapilla ruficapilla Cabañas San Isidro, Napo province, Ecuador. The antpittas around San Isidro have become virtually tame since they started feeding worms to them every morning. I think this bird is a juvenile because of the scaling on the crown and the less distinct breast streaking. (D3)

Santa Marta Antpitta Grallaria bangsi El Dorado reserve, Santa Marta Mountains, Magdalena department, Colombia. This endemic Santa Marta Antpitta is the latest in the series of antpittas that have now been coaxed out into the open by feeding it worms every day, a phenomenom made famous by Angel Paz in Ecuador. (S5)

Jocotoco Antpitta Grallaria ridgelyi Tapichalaca Reserve, Zamora-Chinchipe province, Ecuador. This fabulous bird has now become very easy to see since the park rangers started feeding them earthworms every day. Only discovered in 1997, it inhabits only a very small range of temperate Andean cloudforest in far southern Ecuador and extreme northern Peru. (S5)

Jocotoco Antpitta Grallaria ridgelyi Tapichalaca Reserve, Zamora-Chinchipe province, Ecuador. The brown scaling on the crown indicates that this is a young bird. (S5)

Chestnut-naped Antpitta Grallaria nuchalis nuchalis Tapichalaca Reserve, Zamora-Chinchipe province, Ecuador. Another visitor, along with the Jocotoco, at the worm feeders. It is less reliable, sometimes only coming in briefly before being chased off by the larger and dominant Jocotocos. (S5)

White-throated Antpitta Grallaria albigula Calilegua NP, Jujuy province, Argentina. Hardly a good photo, but there are not many out there of this species. It is found in cloudforest from extreme SE Peru to NW Argentina. (S5)

Yellow-breasted Antpitta Grallaria flavotincta Refugio Paz de las Aves, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Another one of the antpittas that has learned to come in and eat worms at Angel Paz's reserve. He call's this one "Willy". Yellow-breasted Antpitta is a Chocó endemic, restricted to middle elevations of the Andes of NW Ecuador and W Colombia. It is very similar to the next species, but has a different song. (S6)

White-bellied Antpitta Grallaria hypoleuca castanea Cabañas San Isidro, Napo province, Ecuador. A blurry shot because it was dark and always moving. My videoof it is better. It was picking up worms that were put out for it on a trail near the lodge. Rather than eat the worms on the spot, it picked up as many as it could carry and hopped away. (D3)

Tawny Antpitta Grallaria quitensis quitensis Papallacta pass, Pichincha province, Ecuador. Unlike most antpittas, this one is usually easy to see. It is very common in and near the páramo in the high mountains on either side of Quito - note the latin name. (S5)

"Fenwick's" Antpitta Grallaria sp. nov. Dusky Starfrontlet Reserve, Antioquia department, Colombia. This bird was discovered a few years ago, and it to is now coming into a worm feeder near the reserve cabin. It is currently being described, and it will likely be named in honor of George Fenwick, president of the American Bird Conservancy, and a patron of the reserve where this antpitta was found. (S5)

Streak-chested Antpitta Hylopezus perspicillatus periophthalmicus Playa de Oro, Esmeraldas province, Ecuador. I was chasing after this off-trail in the very dark understory of the wet Chocó rainforest. Shot handheld at 1/20 sec with a bit of flash to light things up - it's tough to get any kind of a decent shot under those conditions, so I can't be too picky. (S5f)

White-browed Antpitta Hylopezus ochroleucus Araripe National Forest, Ceará state, Brazil. Another blurry shot, but this time because it was constantly rocking back and forth. This species lives in dry forest in northeastern Brazil. (D3)

Tepui Antpitta Myrmothera simplex simplex La Escalera (Sierra de Lema), Bolívar state, Venezuela. It was a bit lucky to find this one sitting on one perch for a long time, singing away. It was so dark that I had to take dozens of shots before one came out sharp. (D3)

Ochre-breasted Antpitta Grallaricula flavirostris zarumae Buenaventura reserve, El Oro province, Ecuador. (S5)		Ochre-breasted Antpitta Grallaricula flavirostris zarumae Buenaventura reserve, El Oro province, Ecuador. Possibly the same bird as the previous photo, or its mate. (S5)

Rusty-breasted Antpitta Grallaricula ferrugineipectus leymebambae Reserva Geobotanica Pululahua, Pichincha province, Ecuador. This species is in dire need of a taxonomic revision. The races occurring in Colombia and Venezuela are vocally very different fromleymebambae, which occurs in Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. There seem to be habitat differences as well, but so far there isn't any published data to support the split. I photographed this bird on 18 April 2003, and it was a significant northward range extension of leymebambae. (S1f)

Sucre Antpitta Grallaricula  cumanensis pariae Slopes of Cerro Humo, Paria peninsula, Sucre state, Venezuela. Note the white belly and pale lower mandible, typical of this species, which has now been split from Slate-crowned Antpitta G. nana; see SACC proposal 421. (D3)

Sucre Antpitta Grallaricula cumanensis pariae Slopes of Cerro Humo, Paria peninsula, Sucre state, Venezuela. The same bird, but a front-on view. (D3)