The Tatama Tapaculo is another Colombian endemic that was only recently described by science. It was first seen in 1992 but only formally described in 2017. It inhabits a relatively small range in the Western Andes which is why it is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN list.
This Colombian endemic was only described by science in 2005! It was previously thrown in with the Ecuadorean Tapaculo complex but close comparison of recorded songs revealed it was in fact a separate species. Although my photos are not great, they are better than the Wikipedia page photos! That just exemplifies how difficult it is to photograph tapaculos in general.
Tapaculos are notoriously hard to see and if you do they are usually darting in the undergrowth making getting a decent photo agonizingly difficult. This photo was the best out of about a hundred! We saw this Ocellated Tapaculo in Colombia. They range from Venezuela to Peru in the Andes. They are the largest of the Tapaculos.
This small and exceedingly cute Antpitta is found in Colombia and Ecuador. As you can see this is one of the species that comes to feeders and the place we visited in Colombia clearly had this one well trained. It is one of ten species of small Antpittas in the genus Grallaricula.
This is the type of picture that people would get of Antpittas before they started feeding and luring them in for photos. We actually had these on our first trip to Colombia in the Santa Marta range and then again on my second trip in the eastern cordillera. On both occasions the looks were similar. They can be found in Colombia and Venezuela.
The Boyaca Antpitta is super interesting because it is one of very few Antpittas that are not hard to see out in the open without any type luring them out. They inhabit mostly open Paramo habitat so hiding in the forest is not an option for them. Their range is restricted to the Eastern Andes at high elevation (9000 to 13000 feet). They are a Colombian endemic. We saw ours in the famous Sumapaz National Park.
The Equatorial Antpitta is another of the 15 species split out from what was formerly known as the Rufous Antpitta. I think the Equatorial one is the one that most fits the old name of Rufous as it is truly rufous all over whereas some of the others have some other distinguishing mark. This is one of the most widely ranging of the Rufous complex and can be found in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. We saw ours in Colombia.
