Photo by Sarah Hadley

Species of the day – March 6, 2013 – Scaled Antpitta (Grallaria guatimalensis)

This was only the second time in five years of netting hummingbirds that we have caught one of these birds! (We often have some other non-hummingbird species which we accidentally catch in the nets and release.) You have to be really lucky in order to see an antpitta. Antpittas have a very distinctive shape –large head, stocky round body, long legs and a very short tail. They spend most of their time running around on or near ground level.