Resumen

While participating in a Rapid Biological Inventory to the Santuario Nacional Megantoni, Cuzco department, Peru in May 2004, we encountered Scimitar-winged Pihas Lipaugus uropygialis in tall cloudforest at our high-elevation camp ‘Tingkanari’ (c.2,100–2,300 m; 12o16’S, 72o06’W). The species previously was known in Peru from only one site nearly on the Bolivian border c.400 km to the south-east: Abra de Maruncunca, in Puno department. Over two days, we observed the pihas several times and documented them with photographs and sound-recordings, including the first known observations of the species’ display flight, in which it produces mechanical sound with its uniquely modified primaries. We also present information from the four Peruvian specimens of the species, and discuss various characters, including the voice, display, probable subadult plumage and modifications of the primaries, and their implications for taxonomic relationships between this species and other pihas. We suspect Scimitar winged Piha is restricted to tall humid forest on ridgeline ‘saddles’ at 1,800–2,750 m. These sites probably represent desirable sites for human colonists to clear for pasture and agriculture, and thus are of conservation concern. However, with the potential size of the species’ distribution nearly doubled by the discovery of a Cuzco locality, more of its habitat may be protected than previously thought