Magellanic Tapaculo

It is a wren-like bird, 10 to 12 cm in length. The bill is slender and black while the legs are pinkish and fairly long. The tail is short and held erect. The plumage is dark-grey with a chestnut tinge to the flanks, undertail and wings. Some birds have a silvery-white patch on the crown. Juvenile birds are brown with dark barring and usually lack white on the crown. The song is loud, staccato and repetitive.

The Magellanic Tapaculo is classified as Least Concern. Does not qualify for a more at risk category. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category.

The Magellanic Tapaculo (Scytalopus magellanicus) is a small passerine bird of southern South America. It belongs to the genus Scytalopus, a genus of tapaculos. The species was often known as the Andean Tapaculo in the past and included a number of subspecies distributed along the Andes. These are now treated as species in their own right, leaving the Magellanic Tapaculo with no subspecies although birds in the north of its range are larger and darker and may deserve subspecies status. More

For the purposes of our bird news services, Magellanic Tapaculo is classed as Common: common species, including species that are certain or probable escapees from captivity when occurring in the British Isles. (Note that rarity levels are currently applied nationally and may not reflect local variations in abundance. More