Scaled Antpitta

Overview

The Grallaria guatimalensis, commonly known as the scaled antpitta, is a species of bird in the family Grallariidae. It has a highly disjunct distribution across Central and South America, where it is assessed as Least Concern by the IUCN despite a decreasing population trend.

Identification

• A plump, round antbird 15 to 19 cm long with a stout bill and a very short tail.
• Upperparts are olive brown with black feather edges that give the eponymous scaled appearance, contrasting with tawny underparts.
• The throat is ochraceous or tawny with a pale 'necklace' and wide 'moustache' streaks; the eye-ring is blue-gray.
• Song is a rapid series of quavering, hollow notes that increase in volume and pitch before fading, described as 'cau, cau, cau-cau-caucaucau, cau'.

Habitat

Found in upper tropical and lower temperate zones, including humid evergreen forest, lowland rainforest, and pine-oak forest. It is almost always on the forest floor, favouring areas with dense vegetation, and typically occurs between 500 and 3,000 m in Mexico and Central America, though at lower elevations in Costa Rica.

Diet

It feeds on a variety of arthropods and possibly small vertebrates like frogs, as well as earthworms. Highly terrestrial, it hops, pauses, and dashes to capture prey, often flicking aside and probing leaf litter, and probably attends army ant swarms to capture disturbed invertebrates.

Did you know?

The scaled antpitta is one of several species that regularly visit feeding stations set up specifically to allow human viewing, where they are fed earthworms and similar invertebrates.