unidentified wren in La Mesa, Cundinamarca, Colombia (2 Viewers)

[Kirk Dean]

Hi, all. New to forum. I snapped a few pictures of this wren (I think it is a wren) on April 18 near La Mesa, Colombia. Foothills of the Cordillera Orientale west of Bogota in the Magdalena river basin. Elevation approx 1100 meters. Area was mix of low-density residential and farmland with fair amount of undeveloped land. The bird stayed in cover, thus my ISO was high and resolution not great. My first reaction was to think it was a largish house wren. Merlin did later identify a house wren singing in an area about 300 m away, but Merlin is not all that accurate in Colombian bird songs yet. It had solid brown back and kind of buff belly. There was no apparent barring that I can see, and really no eye stripe or supercilium to speak of. It either had a little crest or just a bad hair day. Attaching my photos unaltered except for crop. Please see if you can help identify it. Thanks

 

[mjh73]

Female Barred Antshrike?

 

[Kirk Dean]

I think you are correct. Thank you so much. Somehow I thought antshrikes had longer, less wren-like tails, but this would explain color, crest, lack of eyestripe, facial pattern.

 

[AveryBartels]

Female Barred Antshrike indeed