The Rufous Antpitta group is among the most complex of Neotropical taxonomic conundrums. The species, as it is currently considered, ranges from the Venezuelan-Colombian border area south through Bolivia, and consists of no fewer than 7 vocal types (and quite possibly more cryptic forms not apparent from the recordings available in the XC collection), some of which are so utterly unlike the others that there must surely be more than one species involved. Indeed, none of the types is very similar to any other, and there is far more variation between every type of Rufous Antpitta than there is between, say, Chestnut-crowned and Rusty-tinged Antpittas, or White-bellied, Yellow-breasted, and Bay Antpittas.
Further complicating the issue is that each group of Rufous Antpitta have both distinctive song and calls. This article will focus primarily on the songs, but I'll also include calls where available. Deciding which vocalization is the song and which is the call is very subjective in this group. Vocalizations seem to fall into two categories, a long and short one. Which is these is given most often seems to vary, but in general I label the one given more often as song, and the one given less often as call.
The groups are discussed from north to south.
The song of the subspecies (ssp. spatiator in the Santa Marta Mountains is the highest pitched of all the Rufous Antpitta forms. It consists of a long (3 second) series of short, high-pitched but descending notes, with the whole series descending. The overall impression of this vocalization is more like an antwren than an antpitta.
The apparent call of this form (I can only find one recording), is a short, high-pitched whistle with a slight descent, sounding startlingly like a Grallaricula antpitta.
There is a distinctive (both in terms of sound and sight) form of Rufous Antpitta in the Perija Mountains (ssp. saltuensis) on the Colombia/Venezuelan border, but as of yet there are no recordings of that subspecies available on the web.
Eastern Cordillera of Colombia
In the eastern Colombia cordillera (at least around Bogota; unnamed subspecies) the Rufous Antpittas sound very different than they do to either the north or the south and west. The song in this area is made up of a series of long, clear, even whistles given at a fairly high pitch, with the whole series descending slightly.
The call of this subspecies is a very distinctive 'whistle-purr': a clear, fairly high-pitched whistle reminiscent of one note of the song, followed by a lower pitched 'purr', an even, modulated note about the same length as the first.
Western Cordillera of Colombia through northern Peru
The songs of Rufous Antpitta (ssp. rufula) in these areas are what many birders consider the 'classic' song of the species: a short clear note followed by a rapid, mellow stutter, at a pitch a bit lower than that of the Eastern Andes form from Colombia, in all lasting about a second. It is both lower pitched and much shorter than the song from the eastern Colombia cordillera, and shorter and made up of more notes than the birds from the Cajamarca area on the other side of the Marañón River.
The call of this form is like a longer version of the second part of the song: a rapid, mellow series of quick, bell-like notes at a medium pitch, lasting up to 6 seconds and at times with short breaks between the note series. Unlike the song, this vocalization is given at much longer intervals.
The cajamarcae subspecies, found from northern Peru south of the Marañón River to an unknown point south of Cajamarca has a song made up of a slow series of medium-pitched, mellow notes, lasting from 3-4 seconds, and consisting of 5 to 8 or more notes. It is perhaps most like the form from the Eastern Andes of Colombia, but lower pitched, with shorter notes sounding less like whistles.
The call of this subspecies is a rapid series of short, forceful notes, with a distinctive upslur to the end of the series, all lasting from 2 to 4 seconds, and at about the same pitch as the song. The two vocalizations of this subspecies of Rufous Antpitta are harder to pin into long and short, but in general the slower one is heard more often, and given at shorter intervals.
The song of the obscura subspecies of Rufous Antpitta, found in central Peru, is like a buzzier version of the song of the rufula subspecies. It consists of a single, fairly clear note, followed by a fast, highly modulated (buzzy) whistle, the whole vocalization lasting about a second. The second note of the song sounds like a fast police whistle.
The call is a series of even-pitched buzzy whistles (like the second note of the song, but a bit drier, and shorter), given rapidly, and lasting anywhere from 2 to 6 seconds. In most of the recordings available this vocalizations speeds up and rises towards the end, but along the Satipo Road at least it seems to be even in terms of pitch and pacing. There appears to be a lot of variation in the call of obscura Rufous Antpittas, but the song seems to be more consistent.
Southern Peru to Bolivia
The songs of the southernmost forms (ssps. occabambae and cochabambae) of Rufous Antpittas are the simplest in the entire group: a short, medium-pitched whistle followed by another whistle at a slightly lower pitched. Occasionally two whistles follow the first. Some samples from Bolivia are a bit faster, with slightly shorter notes, but I believe these simply fall into variation of this type rather than being a new type entirely.
The long call of this species is a long, fast trill made up of short, bell-like notes rather like the first note of the song but a bit higher-pitched. Like the long calls of some of the types above there appears to be a lot of variation in this call, with some examples rising a bit at the end, while some are slower and made up of fewer notes. In general, though, all the variations are recognizable as this form.
Below is a rough map I made of the distributions of the various types of Rufous Antpitta. From north to south they are: Dark blue = spatiator, Brown = saltuensis, Green = unnamed ssp., Purple = rufula, Yellow = cajamarcae, Light blue = obscura, and Red = occabambae and cochabambae. Markers of the same colors as the ranges denote recording locations for the cuts above, where coordinates were available.
View Rufous Antpitta subspecies distribution in a larger map