Ocellated Tapaculo Acropternis orthonyx Scientific name definitions

This large, distinctively patterned Tapaculo is found mostly above 2,500m in humid and wet forests, foraging on or near the ground in bamboo thickets. The Ocellated Tapaculo is mostly black, with white teardrops on the tips of its contour feathers and wing coverts. The face (including the forehead and throat), uppertail coverts and rear flanks are dark rufescent. It is uncommon to very locally common from Venezuela through Ecuador, on both slopes of the Andes, and has been found with increased frequency over a larger range since the discovery of its distinctive, down-slurred song in the late 1980s. It forages with elongated, dagger-like hindclaws by hopping with both feet and scraping ground to search for unearthed insect prey.