Perija antpitta

Not to be confused with Perija antwren.

Perija antpitta
Conservation status
Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1) [1]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Passeriformes
Family:	Grallariidae
Genus:	Grallaria
Species complex:	Grallaria rufula complex
Species:	G. saltuensis
Binomial name
Grallaria saltuensis Wetmore, 1946
Synonyms
Grallaria rufula saltuensis Wetmore, 1946

The Perija antpitta (Grallaria saltuensis) is a Near Threatened species of bird in the family Grallariidae. It is endemic to the Serranía del Perijá on the border of Colombia and Venezuela. ^{[1] [2]}

Taxonomy and systematics

The Perija antpitta was described in 1946 as a subspecies of the rufous antpitta (Grallaria rufula saltuensis). ^[3] In 2018 BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World elevated it to species status based in part on a 2016 publication. ^{[4] [5]} Following a study published in 2020, in 2021 the International Ornithological Committee and the Clements taxonomy followed suit. ^{[6] [7] [8]}

The Perija antpitta had earlier been treated by some authors as conspecific with the tawny antpitta (G. quitensis). ^[9]

The Perija antpitta is monotypic. ^[2]

Description

Grallaria antpittas are a "wonderful group of plump and round antbirds whose feathers are often fluffed up...they have stout bills [and] very short tails". ^[10] The Perija antpitta is about 14 to 15 cm (5.5 to 5.9 in) long. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have buff brown to olive brown upperparts with whitish bases on the forecrown feathers. They have deep olive buff lores, a thin and indistinct whitish eyering, and brownish ear coverts. Their wings are mostly buff brown to olive brown with gray brown to brownish olive outer edges on the flight feathers. Their tail is buffy gray brown. Their throat is whitish. Their underparts are mostly dull white with buffy brown breast sides, flanks, and thighs. Both sexes have a dark brown iris, a dusky brown to grayish black maxilla, a mandible with a grayish pink base and a dark gray to blackish tip, and fuscous, pinkish gray legs and feet. ^{[11] [12] [13]}

Distribution and habitat

The Perija antpitta is found entirely within the Serranía del Perijá in the Venezuelan state of Zulia and the Colombian departments of La Guajira and Cesar. Its exact habitat requirements have not been documented. However, it appears to favor the floor and understory of humid montane forest, its edges, and also nearby disturbed areas. In elevation it ranges between 2,500 and 3,250 m (8,200 and 10,700 ft). ^{[6] [11]}

The Perija antpitta is separated from the closely related Muisca antpitta (G. rufula) by the Serranía de Los Motilones, and from the also closely related Sierra Nevada antpitta (G. spaciator) by the Cesar depression that separates the Perijá range from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. ^[14]

Behavior

Movement

The Perija antpitta is assumed to be resident throughout its range. ^[11]

Feeding

The Perija antpitta's diet and foraging behavior are unknown but are assumed to be similar to those of other Grallaria antpittas. They eat arthropods and other invertebrates captured while running or hopping on the forest floor and stopping to find prey by flipping aside leaf litter and probing the soil. ^[11]

Breeding

Nothing is known about the Perija antpitta's breeding biology. ^[11]

Songs and calls Listen to the Perija antpitta on xeno-canto

Vocalization

The Perija antpitta's long song is a "descending series of 10–20 notes uttered at an average pace of about 5 notes/s and with a frequency drop from start to end of about 500 Hz. Notes are typically pure and overslurred, and they reach a maximum frequency at the start of about 3.5k Hz. The pace accelerates towards the end." Its short song is a "flat-pitched trill, lasting 0.4‒0.5 seconds and comprising 11–14 elements uttered at a pace of 25‒30 elements/s." The species typically sings at dawn and dusk from the ground or a low perch in dense vegetation. ^[11]

Status

The IUCN originally in 2016 assessed the Perija antpitta as Endangered and since 2022 as Near Threatened. It has a limited range and its estimated population of between 1000 and 2500 mature individuals is believed to be decreasing. "The only threat known to this species is the loss and fragmentation of its forested habitat. In the Sierra de Perijá, forests in elevations below 2,000 m are under threat from a range of processes, including colonisation, ranching and the cultivation of narcotics, which are aided by the roads approaching the Colombian side." It is considered uncommon to rare in Colombia. It occurs in the relatively new Chamicero de Perijá preserve in Colombia and may occur in other preserves. ^[11]

References

1. BirdLife International (2022). "Perija Antpitta Grallaria saltuensis". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2022: e.T103660400A216679357. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
2. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (August 2024). "Antthrushes, antpittas, gnateaters, tapaculos, crescentchests". IOC World Bird List. v 14.2. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
3. Wetmore, A. (1946). "New birds from Colombia". Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 106:1–14
4. HBW and BirdLife International (2018) Handbook of the Birds of the World and BirdLife International digital checklist of the birds of the world. Version 3. Available at: http://datazone.birdlife.org/userfiles/file/Species/Taxonomy/HBW-BirdLife_Checklist_v3_Nov18.zip retrieved 10 November 2023
5. Boesman, Peter (20 April 2016). "Notes on the vocalizations of Perija Antpitta (Grallaria saltuensis)". birdsoftheworld.org. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
6. Isler, Morton L.; Chesser, R. Terry; Robbins, Mark B.; Cuervo, Andrés M.; Cadena, Carlos Daniel & Hosner, Peter A. (21 July 2020). "Taxonomic evaluation of the Grallaria rufula (Rufous Antpitta) complex (Aves: Passeriformes: Grallariidae) distinguishes sixteen species". Zootaxa . 4817 (1): zootaxa.4817.1.1. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.4817.1.1. ISSN   1175-5334. PMID   33055681. S2CID   222829674.
7. Gill, F, D Donsker, and P Rasmussen (Eds). 2021. IOC World Bird List (v 11.2). Doi 10.14344/IOC.ML.11.2. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
8. Clements, T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
9. Krabbe, N., and T. S. Schulenberg (2003). Family Formicariidae (ground-antbirds). In Handbook of the Birds of the World. Volume 8: Broadbills to Tapaculos (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, and D. A. Christie, Editors). Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain. pp. 682–731
10. Ridgely, Robert S.; Greenfield, Paul J. (2001). The Birds of Ecuador: Field Guide. Vol. II. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. pp. 436–437. ISBN   978-0-8014-8721-7.
11. Greeney, H. F., G. M. Kirwan, and P. F. D. Boesman (2024). Perija Antpitta (Grallaria saltuensis), version 2.0. In Birds of the World (H. F. Greeney and B. K. Keeney, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.rufant6.02 retrieved 8 September 2024
12. McMullan, Miles; Donegan, Thomas M.; Quevedo, Alonso (2010). Field Guide to the Birds of Colombia. Bogotá: Fundación ProAves. p. 143. ISBN   978-0-9827615-0-2.
13. Hilty, Steven L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela (second ed.). Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press. pp. Plate 42.
14. Chesser, R. Terry; Isler, Morton L.; Cuervo, Andrés M.; Cadena, C. Daniel; Galen, Spencer C.; Bergner, Laura M.; Fleischer, Robert C.; Bravo, Gustavo A.; Lane, Daniel F.; Hosner, Peter A. (24 July 2020). "Conservative plumage masks extraordinary phylogenetic diversity in the Grallaria rufula (Rufous Antpitta) complex of the humid Andes". The Auk. 137 (3). doi: 10.1093/auk/ukaa009 . ISSN   0004-8038.