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Spillmann's Tapaculo Scytalopus spillmanni Scientific name definitions

Niels Krabbe and Thomas S. Schulenberg
Version: 1.0 — Published March 4, 2020
Text last updated January 1, 2003

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Originally Appeared in

HBW Alive

Introduction

Spillmann's Tapaculo in appearance is a standard Scytalopus tapaculo, mostly gray with brown flanks and rump. For many years it was classified as a subspecies of Brown-rumped Tapaculo (Scytalopus latebricola), but vocal differences between these two contributed to the recognition of spillmanni as a separate species. Spillmann's Tapaculo is common and widespread in the Andes of Colombia and Ecuador. Like most other species of Andean Scytalopus, which are heard frequently but are difficult to observe, Spillmann's Tapaculo forages for small invertebrates very close to the ground in dense understory of humid montane forest; its biology otherwise is all but unknown.

Field Identification

12 cm; male 21–30 g, female 20–29·5 g. A medium-sized tapaculo with dark-barred brown flanks. Male is blackish-grey above, feathers narrowly and indistinctly tipped dusky, rump and uppertail-coverts dark brown; dark brown wash on edges of inner remiges, lower back, and often on edges of tail and on nape; grey below, belly sometimes with silvery feather tips, lowest part of belly pinkish-buff, flanks and undertail-coverts ochra­ceous tawny to cinnamon-brown, barred dusky; iris dark brown; bill blackish to black; tarsus dark brown, dark grey-brown or blackish, somewhat lighter on inside. Distinguished from S. vicinior primarily by voice; individual specimens rarely separable. Female is occasionally like male, but more often heavily washed with brown above (rendering dusky tips more conspicuous), with lower belly extensively orange, barred flanks also lighter, recalling S. parkeri. Juvenile has brown upperparts barred dusky, dusky tail edged brown, variable below, dusky with buff bars (bars wider than on juvenile S. parkeri), throat sometimes nearly uniform light buff, bars on belly sometimes whitish.

Systematics History

Formerly considered a race of S. latebricola. Most closely related to S. parkeri. Population in E Andes of Colombia may warrant subspecies status; research needed. Monotypic.

Subspecies

Monotypic.

Distribution

W (1), C & E (2) Andes (including Serranía de los Yariguíes (3) ) of Colombia S to Ecuador (in W to Cotopaxi, in E to right bank of R Paute).

Habitat

Inhabits humid forest undergrowth, especially with Chusquea bamboo, mostly at 1900–3200 m, but locally up to 3500 m; to 3700 m in Ecuador (W Napo). Replaced sharply at higher elevations by S. canus; at lower levels replaced by S. micropterus on Amazonian slope and by S. vicinior on Pacific slope. Exact location of boundary between present species and S. parkeri in S not known.

Movement

Probably sedentary.

Diet and Foraging

29 stomachs held small beetles and other small or tiny insects; stomach of one juvenile contained a fairly large spider. Forages low in undergrowth and on the ground.

Sounds and Vocal Behavior

Male song 10–20 seconds long (rarely longer), a trill at 4 kHz (first overtone), usually with 1 or 2 slightly higher introductory notes, pace 25–35 downstroke notes per second, volume increasing at beginning, pitch often rising slightly towards end; male also gives series (0·5–1 second long) of notes at 2-second intervals, pace 26–30 per second, pitch distinctly rising from 2·8 to 3·4 kHz (first overtone). Scold c.1 second long, 11–15 notes at 3·6 kHz, first and last 2 lower-pitched. Female’s advertising call a slow, gradually descending series of squeaky, high-pitched notes, usually triggering song from 1 or more males; female, sometimes as introduction to descending series, gives very explosive, high-pitched “brzk” with several audible harmonics.

Breeding

Specimens with active gonads indicate probable breeding throughout year; two juveniles collected in Jan in Ecuador (Napo). No other information.

Conservation Status

Conservation status on Birdlife LC Least Concern
Not globally threatened. Common and widespread; fairly common in Ecuador. Occurs in several national parks and ecological reserves.
Distribution of the Spillmann's Tapaculo - Range Map
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  • Year-round
  • Migration
  • Breeding
  • Non-Breeding
Distribution of the Spillmann's Tapaculo

eBird and Macaulay Library

Recommended Citation

Krabbe, N. and T. S. Schulenberg (2020). Spillmann's Tapaculo (Scytalopus spillmanni), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.spitap2.01
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