Critically Endangered
Urrao antpitta
Grallaria fenwickorum
Urrao antpitta is a perching bird in the family Grallariidae (order Passeriformes) — Grallaria fenwickorum, recorded as Critically Endangered and tied to Colombia.
Appearance
The bird most closely resembles the brown-banded antpitta, that is endemic to the Cordillera Central of Colombia, but it has a slate-grey breast and lacks the brown flanks and breast band of the other species. A captured fledgling was covered with dark grey down with brown edges above and was buff below. Its feet were dark pink. Its bill was black above and orange below, with conspicuous red-orange edges.
Measurements of the living bird from that Barrera and Bartels' holotype material was derived, as well as of the two collected specimens, show weights ranging from 53.5 to 57.4 grams (1.89 to 2.02 oz), flat wing chords of 95–99 millimetres (3.7–3.9 in), tail lengths of 57–63 millimetres (2.2–2.5 in), and tarsus lengths of 44.5–49.9 millimetres (1.75–1.96 in). The song comprises three notes of increasing length and frequency.
Range and habitat
The massif has over 27 square kilometres (10 mi2) of relatively intact páramo and Polylepis woodland, containing more such habitat than all the other páramos in the region combined. There the bird is restricted to upper montane cloud forest dominated by Colombian oak, at an altitude of 2,600 to 3,300 metres (8,500 to 10,800 ft) above sea level, where most territories contain Chusquea bamboo thickets. It is suspected that its range may be larger than currently known, but so far surveys have failed to confirm this.
The bird has a very restricted known range, limited to the Colibrí del Sol reserve and its immediate vicinity, while previous surveys in similar habitat in the region have failed to record the species. Although it is protected in the Colibrí del Sol reserve, it needs further protective measures.
GBIF currently lists 691 occurrence points. Those points follow where people logged the taxon — museum drawers and surveys included — not a closed range boundary.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Diet and breeding
The species exhibits behaviour typical of other members of its genus. It is a shy, terrestrial forager for insects (especially beetles) in the leaf-litter within the forest understorey. The males captured in February and March had enlarged testes, typical of breeding birds.
In crisis
The known population of 24 territories has an estimated area of 5.8 square kilometres (2.2 mi2), giving a conservative global population estimate of 57–156 territories. Both articles on the new species propose that the IUCN classify Fenwick's antpitta as critically endangered, and this will be followed in the forthcoming 2011 edition of the BirdLife International list, that is the authority used for birds by the IUCN.
Urrao antpitta is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Urrao antpitta, Wikidata item Q1268896 and GBIF occurrence geography. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
