The Story
I photographed this Slate-crowned Antpitta (Grallaricula nana) at the Río Blanco reserve near Manizales, Caldas, Colombia on June 24, 2017. It lives in montane forest, almost always in or near dense stands of Chusquea bamboo. It forages alone or in pairs, hopping through dense foliage and on the ground. It has a dark slate-gray crown, olive-brown upperparts and orange-rufous underparts with a white crescent across the lower throat. More than 360 bird species have been recorded at Río Blanco, and it is known among birders for its antpittas.
I took this with a Canon EOS 70D and the EF400mm f/5.6L USM, at 1/250 sec, f/5.6, ISO 1600. IUCN lists the Slate-crowned Antpitta as Least Concern with a decreasing population, and BirdLife International lists Río Blanco as an Important Bird Area, protected because its forest supplies about a third of the drinking water of Manizales.
©2018 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Slate-crowned Antpitta (Grallaricula nana) belongs to the family Grallariidae (Antpittas) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2025), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List