Ant Swarms (1 Viewer)

[JJP]

I'm interested in people's collective knowledge of which species will follow ant swarms in Costa Rica. Some birds like the Ocellated Antbird make their entire living off of ant swarms. Some flycatchers and wrens are opportunists. I'd like to make a collective list in this thread - either by personal observation of historical understanding of the species mentioned.

We should break it up into species. Antbirds, flycatchers, wrens (including antwrens), warblers, tanagers, shrike-tanagers... or even raptors. Also, I have no experience with migrating warblers like ovenbirds, so someone will have to educate me. Nor do I know if all antpittas will follow.

I'm at work now, and I have no Costa Rica resources available, so I'll need some help. I realize some birds will be complete opportunists and may have been observed once by someone. However, let's try to keep the list to established birds in the literature.. I'll keep the list up-to-date and edit the top post accordingly. We should have a long list.

Basically, all ant birds and ant-tanagers. Let's get a few of these out of the way.

Ocellated
Bicolored
Bare-crowned
Spotted
Immaculate
Rufous-vented Ground-cuckoo

Tanagers
All three ant-tanagers
gray-headed tanager

Warblers
Buff-rumped warbler

Antpittas
Black-crowned Antpitta

 

[delia todd]

Hi JJP

I'm going out shortly, so haven't the time to check each of these for being in CR, but here's a list from Opus that specifically mentions Ant Swarms in the articles.

Hope these help.

D

 

[JJP]

Thanks delia...

I was trying to keep this to Costa Rica birds only, but I did see Black-crowned Antpitta in that list, so I'll add that one.

 

[Birdingcraft]

Quite a few birds will use antswarms in Costa Rica. If you ever come across one, just stay with it as long as you can! A few are obligate followers, but most are opportunists. I believe that the birds below are mentioned in literature but also reflect my field observations.

Obligates are rarely found away from antswarms and need them for survival. These are some of the birds already mentioned such as:

Bicolored Antbird
Ocellated Antbird
Spotted Antbird

Birds that often use antswarms but are also seen away from them with some frequency are:
Rufous-vented Ground-cuckoo
Plain-brown Woodcreeper
Tawny-winged Woodcreeper
Northern Barred Woodcreeper
Ruddy Woodcreeper
Immaculate Antbird
Chestnut-backed Antbird
Bare-crowned Antbird
Black-crowned Antpitta
Streak-chested Antpitta
all 3 antthrushes
Song Wren
Gray-headed Tanager
the three ant-tanagers
Nightingale-thrushes

Then there are a number of bird species that will use antswarms opportunistically such as:
Tinamous
Barred Forest Falcon
Anis
Motmots
Antshrikes
Jays
various Wrens
migratory Catharus thrushes and Wood Thrush
Clay-colored Robin
Kentucky Warbler

I haven't come across a swarm in a while- hopefully this thread will give me some luck!

 

[JJP]

Thanks Pat.

In Belize, you might easily see Black-throated Shrike-Tanager. Which makes me ask the question....have you ever seen White-throated Shrike-Tanager at a Costa Rica ant swarm?

 

[tomjenner]

I think Patrick's list covers everything I've seen at an ant swarm. I believe Black-banded Woodcreeper is known to attend them, though I've never seen one at a swarm myself. I'm trying to remember if I've seen other woodcreepers than the ones listed by Patrick, but from my memory I think mostly of Ruddy, Tawny-winged and Northern Barred. Like Patrick, I've seen Cley-coloured Thrush at ant swarms, so I wonder if other Turdus thrushes may also use them. I remember seeing a Thrushlike Schiffornis and a Louisiana Waterthrush hanging around a swarm, but it was not clear if they were just in the area or specifically there because of the ants.

Tom

 

[Jos Stratford]

To add to the list, a family of Great Currasow religiously followed a swarm at La Selva, CR whilst I was there.

 

[JJP]

To add to the list, a family of Great Currasow religiously followed a swarm at La Selva, CR whilst I was there.

That one threw me for a loop.

 

[Jos Stratford]

That one threw me for a loop.

Er, what does this mean?

 

[Motmot]

I believe Black-banded Woodcreeper is known to attend them, though I've never seen one at a swarm myself.

Tom

The only time I've found Black-bandeds (2) in CR they were with ants.

Some good info on birds attending antswarms in the Monteverde area here:

http://www.ibiologia.unam.mx/pdf/links/neo/rev12/vol_12_3/orni_12_3_ 271-276.pdf

 

[JJP]

Er, what does this mean?

American slang for "that's odd".

 

[JJP]

The only time I've found Black-bandeds (2) in CR they were with ants.

Some good info on birds attending antswarms in the Monteverde area here:

http://www.ibiologia.unam.mx/pdf/links/neo/rev12/vol_12_3/orni_12_3_ 271-276.pdf

Thanks for that article.

For those that don't read it, it's an interesting angle to the habitat issue (Monteverde in this case).... places where there are ant swarms, but generally no strong obligate ant followers such as the antbirds.

This person totaled 50 species following ant swarms, which included some jays, several thrushes, and a few non-insectivorious tanagers.

Apparently ant swarms scream "free buffet" and even if you don't eat, you hang around for scraps or maybe hope for a food fight.

 

[Hamhed]

What about those birds that are there as avian predators? I've seen Roadside Hawks twice at ant swarms and assumed they were there for the antbirds.

 

[JJP]

What about those birds that are there as avian predators? I've seen Roadside Hawks twice at ant swarms and assumed they were there for the antbirds.

I don't know the answer to this. Do Roadside Hawks take small birds as prey?

 

[Motmot]

I don't know the answer to this. Do Roadside Hawks take small birds as prey?

Surely they can complement their diet with a few birds but their main prey are insects, reptiles, amphibians and small rodents. I'd say their presence in swarms is more related to insect/reptile/amphibian trapping than birds.

On the other hand, Barred Forest-falcons do prey heavily on small birds, and their presence at swarms can be related to insect/reptile hunting but surely also includes attending small birds.

 

[tomjenner]

I don't know the answer to this. Do Roadside Hawks take small birds as prey?

Quite often. I have seen one take a Ruddy Ground-Dove, but more surprisingly was an individual that caught an adult Barn Swallow. We were taking the staff photo at the school where I worked in El Salvador. A Roadside Hawk that was nesting in the school grounds flew over and dropped the swallow onto someone's head. I didn't see exactly what happened, but the adults were feeding young at the time and it may have been a food pass that went wrong. I have often wondered how it caught it.

Tom

 

[JJP]

Quite often. I have seen one take a Ruddy Ground-Dove, but more surprisingly was an individual that caught an adult Barn Swallow. We were taking the staff photo at the school where I worked in El Salvador. A Roadside Hawk that was nesting in the school grounds flew over and dropped the swallow onto someone's head. I didn't see exactly what happened, but the adults were feeding young at the time and it may have been a food pass that went wrong. I have often wondered how it caught it.

Tom

Interesting story. I would have bet on the Barn Swallow.

 

[Birdingcraft]

Quite often. I have seen one take a Ruddy Ground-Dove, but more surprisingly was an individual that caught an adult Barn Swallow. We were taking the staff photo at the school where I worked in El Salvador. A Roadside Hawk that was nesting in the school grounds flew over and dropped the swallow onto someone's head. I didn't see exactly what happened, but the adults were feeding young at the time and it may have been a food pass that went wrong. I have often wondered how it caught it.

Tom

Yes, great story! At the Tambopata clay lick in Peru, Roadsides would sometimes snatch a Cobalt-winged Parakeet although they seemed to mostly prey on lizards and tarantulas (!).

 

[Birdingcraft]

The only time I've found Black-bandeds (2) in CR they were with ants.

Some good info on birds attending antswarms in the Monteverde area here:

http://www.ibiologia.unam.mx/pdf/links/neo/rev12/vol_12_3/orni_12_3_ 271-276.pdf

Yes, I overlooked Black-banded! Very often with antswarms I think throughout their range.

 

[tomjenner]

Yes, great story! At the Tambopata clay lick in Peru, Roadsides would sometimes snatch a Cobalt-winged Parakeet although they seemed to mostly prey on lizards and tarantulas (!).

This pair was nesting in the school grounds on the edge of San Salvador in a built up area. There were some open areas of rough ground nearby where the odd small mammal or lizards could have been caught, but I imagine that birds would probably have been their main option as a food source.
One member of staff also described one killing a White-winged Dove in the middle of the primary playground, scaring the kids in the process.

Tom