Magdalena Tapaculo Scytalopus rodriguezi Scientific name definitions

The Upper Magdalena Tapaculo is restricted, as the name implies, to the upper Magdalena valley, where it is known only from two sites on the east slope of the Central Andes of Colombia. The species presumably occurs at additional localities, but this region has experienced extensive deforestation, and the current distribution can not be large. Consequently, the IUCN Red List rates this species as Endangered. In appearance, this species is much like any of a number of other gray and brown Andean Scytalopus. It was only as recently as 2005, after its vocalizations and genetic profile were better known, that the Upper Magdalena Tapaculo was described as a species. Like most other species of Scytalopus, which are heard frequently but are difficult to observe, the biology of the Upper Magdalena Tapaculo is all but unknown.

c. 11·5 cm; 21·4–22·7 g. Typical tapaculo. Plumage is dark neutral grey , except for rump and flanks, which are cinnamon with fairly straight blackish bars; iris dark brown; bill black; legs and feet dusky brown, some horn-brown on inner surface, claws paler. Distinguished from very similar and sympatric S. spillmanni by smaller size, darker grey plumage overall, shorter wing and tarsus, and darker, dusky brown legs. Sexes similar. Juvenile apparently undescribed elsewhere, but in a recent photograph it shows a brownish overall appearance, with a large whitish area through bib, throat and upper breast, as well as cinnamon colour in sides of head and neck and in tips of great coverts.

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Merenberg and Serranía de las Minas, on E slope of Cordillera Central at head of Magdalena Valley, in Colombia.

Song among the simplest of any tapaculo: a single note repeated at rate of 4–5 per second, most commonly in bouts of 2–5 or more phrases, each with increasing volume and rising pitch; song notes are up-and-downstrokes or downstrokes only, with first overtone at 2·5–3·5 kHz.

ENDANGERED. Restricted-range species: present in Colombian Inter-Andean slopes EBA. Recently described and still little-known. Found only in the upper Magdalena valley on the E slope of the C Cordillera in Huila department (nominate subspecies) and both slopes of the Yariguíes massif in Santander (subspecies yariguiorum). Has a relatively small, disjunct range: despite significant collecting effort, there are no records from intervening departments of Meta, Caquetá, Cundinamarca, Boyacá or Santander. Nominate subspecies has a severely fragmented range, within which it has been recorded at a handful of sites at 2000–2300 m, with total area of occupancy exceedingly small. One of its two known locations, Finca Merenberg Natural Reserve is protected, but the stronghold, at Serranía de las Minas (a ridge 15 km SSE of Finca Merenberg), has no protection at all. Suggestions that the species may occur also on E Andes side of the valley seem to be supported by re-examination of museum specimen from La Palma (also in Huila), which matches this species in plumage and measurements. Although only 150 ha of forest are protected at present, plans are being developed for stronger protection. Population of nominate subspecies possibly 2200 pairs (estimated 1500–7000 birds). Subspecies yariguiorum has been recorded at three localities at 1700–2200 m on both slopes of the Yariguíes massif (3 Donegan, T.M., Avendaño, J.E. and Lambert, F. (2013). A new tapaculo related to Scytalopus rodriguezi from Serranía de los Yariguíes, Colombia. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 133(4): 256-221. Close ). The E slope of the Yariguíes massif has been extensively deforested, especially between 400 m and 2000–2400 m, while deforestation on the W slope has reached 1700–1900 m in N, with intact forest remaining in S (3 Donegan, T.M., Avendaño, J.E. and Lambert, F. (2013). A new tapaculo related to Scytalopus rodriguezi from Serranía de los Yariguíes, Colombia. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 133(4): 256-221. Close ). Subspecies yariguiorum is protected by the Serranía de los Yariguíes National Park. No estimate of global population, but thought to be declining because of habitat destruction; much habitat at suitable elevations already cleared, and heavy deforestation continues. Considered Vulnerable at the national level in Colombia (4 Renjifo, L. M., M. F. Gómez, J. Velásquez-Tibatá, A. M. Amaya-Villarreal, G. H. Kattan, J. D. Amaya-Espinel, and J. Burbano-Girón, Editors (2014). Libro Rojo de Aves de Colombia, Volume I: bosques húmedos de los Andes y la costa Pacífica. Editorial Pontificia Universidad Javeriana & Instituto Alexander von Humboldt, Bogotá D.C., Colombia. Close ).