Chestnut Antpitta

Overview

The chestnut antpitta (Grallaria blakei) is a small bird species in the family Grallariidae, endemic to Peru. Taxonomic revisions in 2020 and 2022 significantly reduced its range by splitting it from the Oxapampa and Ayacucho antpittas, though BirdLife International has not yet recognised this split.

Identification

• About 14.5 to 15 cm long, weighing between 37 and 47 g.
• Adults have rufous brown upperparts, a rufous face, and pale rufous throat and breast.
• Belly is whitish buff with obscure dusky barring, while flanks are brown or olive brown and vent/undertail coverts are tawny brown.
• Features a black bill and slate, blue-gray, or silvery gray legs and feet.
• Song is a rapid, monotone, slightly accelerating series of chiming notes described as "chew'chu'uuuuuuuu'uuu".

Habitat

Found intermittently on the eastern slope of the Peruvian Andes from the Cordillera de Colán in Amazonas Department southward, but short of northern Huánuco Department. It inhabits humid montane and secondary forest, favouring stands of bamboo and dense undergrowth.

Diet

Specific diet and foraging behaviour are not detailed, but it is assumed to consume arthropods and possibly small vertebrates like other members of the genus Grallaria. It is known to forage on or very near the ground.

Did you know?

Although historically considered monotypic, a 2020 study revealed that what was previously identified as a single species was actually three distinct taxa, leading to the recognition of the Oxapampa and Ayacucho antpittas as separate species by mid-2022.