Ochre-fronted antpitta  (Grallaricula ochraceifrons)

Classified as Endangered (EN) on the IUCN Red List 2006 (1).

Discovered in 1976, this little-known bird has only been recorded in a small area of inaccessible cloud forest on the eastern slope of the Andes (3). The male ochre-fronted antpitta has, as its name suggests, an ochre coloured face and eye-ring. The female is less deserving of the name, with the brown crown having only a faint wash of ochre. The upperparts are chiefly olive-brown, with buff-tinged flanks, and the underparts are white and heavily streaked with black (2). The ochre-fronted antpitta belongs to the antbird family, called so because many of the species follow army ants, preying on the insects and small animals that they flush out (4).

Occurs in the central Andes of Peru, in the regions of Amazonas and San Martin (2).

The ochre-fronted antpitta has been found in the dense undergrowth of humid-wet montane forest, between elevations of 1,890 and 1,980 meters (2).

There is nothing known of the behaviour or ecology of the ochre-fronted antpitta, due to a lack of observations, which may be indicative of its rarity (2).

Habitat loss and degradation is likely to pose the greatest threat to the ochre-fronted antpitta, due to its presumed restricted range and specific needs. Whilst much of the area in which it inhabits is inaccessible and unexplored, in other parts, deforestation occurs at an alarmingly high rate, as forest is cleared for crops such as marijuana and coffee (5). Slash-and-burn agriculture in the area is also increasing, catalysed by the recent paving of a highway that traverses the region (6).

The ochre-fronted antpitta has been found near the Alto Mayo Protected Forest (2), but this area is itself critically threatened due to deforestation for agriculture and grazing, illegal extraction of wildlife, high levels of human migration and indiscriminate hunting (7). The American Bird Conservancy, together with Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos (ECOAN), is running a project to conserve threatened birds and other wildlife around Abra Patricia, (a site within the antpitta’s range), by establishing a new private reserve and field station (6). In addition, it has been proposed that surveys and research of the species should be undertaken, along with enforcing the protection of the Alto Mayo Protected Forest and ensuring that high-altitude forest habitat, suitable for the antpitta, is included within its boundaries (2) (3).

View information on this species at the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre.

For further information on the ochre-fronted antpitta see Birdlife International:
http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=5112&m=0

For further information on the Abra Patricia project see the American Bird Conservancy:
http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/international/action/abrapatricia.html