Bird Guide

Choco Tapaculo vs Tatama Tapaculo

Choco Tapaculo (Scytalopus chocoensis)

Choco Tapaculo

Scytalopus chocoensis

Small20 gForest

The Chocó tapaculo is 11 cm (4.3 in) long. Males weigh 19 to 22.5 g (0.67 to 0.79 oz) and females 17 to 20.1 g (0.60 to 0.71 oz). The male's mantle is dark gray, its lower back gray with a brown wash, and the rump dark brown with dusky bars. It is lighter gray below to the lower belly, which is reddish-brown with dark bars. The female is similar but the brownish wash extends to the head. The throat is lighter gray than the upper breast; the lower belly sometimes has a yellowish wash. The juvenile's upper parts are drab brown but for the dark brown rump; it appears barred below. Voice: The Chocó tapaculo's song is "a very resonant series 5-60 seconds long...the first few notes often slightly lower-pitched and delivered at a faster rate" . The call is a series of short sharp notes .

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Choco Tapaculo
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Song · Esmeraldas: 7 km WNW Lita, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Michael Bakker Paiva · CC BY 4.0
Tatama Tapaculo (Scytalopus alvarezlopezi)

Tatama Tapaculo

Scytalopus alvarezlopezi

Small25 g

The Tatama tapaculo is almost entirely black, though the underparts are grayish black and the rump has a tinge of dark brown. The flanks and lower abdomen have indistinct bars. Its overall length is about 12 cm (4.7 in) and two males weighed 24.0 and 25.4 g (0.85 and 0.90 oz). Voice: The Tatama tapaculo's song is "a seemingly endless, machine-like series of short, unmodulated, frog-like phrases, each involving c. 7–9 nearly identical notes, which can be repeated up to 1.5 minutes, or more" .

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Bruno Conjeaud · Public domain

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Choco Tapaculo and Tatama Tapaculo.