Appearance
"Grallaria" antpittas are a "wonderful group of plump and round antbirds whose feathers are often fluffed up...they have stout bills [and] very short tails". The Sierra Nevada antpitta is about 13 to 14 cm long. The sexes have the same plumage. Adults have a mostly dark reddish yellow-brown crown, upperparts, wings, and tail with lighter edges on the flight feathers. They have a whitish spot behind the eye that sometimes is part of an eyering. Their underparts are mostly light grayish white with a brownish yellow tinge that is strong across their breast. Their flanks are the same dark reddish yellow-brown as their upperparts. Both sexes have a dark brown iris, a dark gray to blackish maxilla, a mandible with a grayish pink base and a dusky to blackish tip, and plumbeous or dark bluish gray legs and feet.Distribution
The Sierra Nevada antpitta is found only in the isolated Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta of northern Colombia. Their range includes parts of Magdalena, La Guajira and Cesar departments.Status
The IUCN follows HBW taxonomy and so has not assessed the Sierra Nevada antpitta separately from the multi-subspecies "rufous" antpitta "G. rufula" "sensu lato". "Given its extremely small distribution and the historic and continued threat to habitat within its range, this Colombian endemic antpitta should most likely be considered threatened, as are many other species endemic to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta."Habitat
Its exact habitat requirements have not been documented. However, it appears to favor the floor and understory of temperate forest that is heavy with moss and epiphytes. In elevation it ranges between 2,200 and 2,900 m.It is separated from the closely related Perija antpitta by the Cesar depression separating the Santa Maria range from the Serranía del Perijá.
Reproduction
Nothing is known about the Sierra Nevada antpitta's breeding biology.Food
The Sierra Nevada antpitta's diet and foraging behavior are unknown but are assumed to be similar to those of other "Grallaria" antpittas. They eat arthropods and other invertebrates captured while running or hopping on the forest floor and stopping to find prey by flipping aside leaf litter and probing the soil.References:
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