Jocotoco Antpitta. Almost the entire known population of this bird species exist in the Tapichalaca Reserve, one of the World Land Trust's project areas. Photo © Doug Wechsler/VIREO

Jocotoco Antpitta Grallaria ridgelyi

The Jocotoco Antpitta is a rare and poorly known species first discovered in Ecuador in 1997.

The name Jocotoco is onomatopoeic for the Antpitta’s song and the species name ridgelyi is after Dr Robert Ridgely who discovered the bird. It was found in bamboo thickets in wet montane forest along the trail to Quebrada (River) Honda on the Slopes of Cerro Tapichalaca on the eastern (Amazonian) slope of the Andes.

That such a distinctive species went unnoticed until 1997 suggests that it has a very limited geographical distribution and/or specific habitat requirements. The Jocotoco Antpitta is indeed known from very few locations and has an extremely small range in which habitat destruction and degradation are occurring. The bird is therefore classified as endangered. (See IUCN Red List of Threatened Species for more information on the classification of the Jocotoco Antpitta.)

Dr Robert Ridgely co-founded the Jocotoco Foundation in 1998 with Dr Nigel Simpson. His main objective was to protect land of critical importance to conserve Ecuador's many rare and endemic birds, as well as its overall biodiversity. The Foundation currently owns and manages seven reserves, purchased with funds raised by the World Land Trust. The reserves cover over 18,000 acres and protect numerous species of globally threatened birds and other endangered or threatened animals and plants.

The area where the Jocotoco Antpitta was discovered is now part of the Jocotoco Foundation owned and managed Tapichalaca Reserve, which protects an unusually wet area of temperate-zone forest on the east slope of the Andes. In addition to almost the entire known population of the Jocotoco Antpitta, ten other Red Data Book bird species are also present here, as well as over 30 species of orchid found only in this reserve.

Help Protect the Jocotoco Antpitta and Other Threatened Birds in Ecuador

World Land Trust is working in partnership with the Jocotoco Foundation to protect endangered species such as the Jocotoco Antpitta. To help protect threatnened wildlife in Ecuador, buy an acre of tropical forest today.

More information on the Jocotoco Antpitta

• Read about the discovery of the Jocotoco Antpitta in "A Melon with Pogo Stick legs" - a Bird New to Science
  
• Find more information on the Jocotoco Antpitta on ARKive: Images of life on Earth