The Magdalena tapaculo (''Scytalopus rodriguezi''), also known as the Upper Magdalena tapaculo, is a member of the

tapaculo The tapaculos or tapacolos are a family, Rhinocryptidae, of small suboscine passerine birds, found mainly in South America and with the highest diversity in the Andean regions. Three species ( Chocó, Tacarcuna, and the silvery-fronted) are ...

s, a group of

Neotropical The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

s. It was described as new to science in 2005. It is a

restricted-range endemic An Endemic Bird Area (EBA) is an area of land identified by BirdLife International as being important for habitat-based bird conservation because it contains the habitats of restricted-range bird species (''see below for definition''), which are th ...

presently known only from two localities on the eastern slope of the Cordillera Central at the head of the

Magdalena Valley The Magdalena River Valley ( es, Valle del Río Magdalena) is a valley in Colombia located within the Colombian Andes. The valley is specifically situated between the Central and Eastern Ranges and crossed by the river of the same name, the Magdale ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

at 2000 m or more above sea-level. Its range is believed to be no greater than 170 km², and its population around 2,200 pairs; due to its recent description, no formal evaluation of its conservation status has taken place yet, however. It is found in humid

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s with dense

understorey In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the forest canopy without penetrating it to any great extent, but abov ...

. The species scientific name honours

José Vicente Rodriguez Mahecha José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

, a Colombian conservationist. The existence of this species was first suspected in 1986, when a tape-recording of the bird's song was made, but political instability in the region prevented a return visit until 2002–2003, when the species' existence was confirmed.

References

* Krabbe, N., P. Salaman, A. Cortés, A. Quevedo, L. A. Ortega and C. D. Cadena (2005) A new species of tapaculo from the upper Magdalena valley, Colombia. '' Bull. B. O. C.'' 125: 93-108
BirdLife Species Factsheet
Retrieved on 22 May 2007.

Magdalena tapaculo The Magdalena tapaculo (''Scytalopus rodriguezi''), also known as the Upper Magdalena tapaculo, is a member of the tapaculos, a group of Neotropical birds. It was described as new to science in 2005. It is a restricted-range endemic presently k ...

Birds of the Colombian Andes Birds of the Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena Endemic birds of Colombia

{{Rhinocryptidae-stub