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Black-faced Antthrush - BirdForum Opus

Photo © by megan perkins
Carara, Costa Rica, March 2010
Formicarius analis

Includes Panamanian Antthrush

Identification

18–19 cm

  • Upperparts brown to rufous brown (northern end of distribution)
  • Underparts grey to brown, usually a little paler than upperside
  • Black face and throat
  • Rear side of head rufous in northern populations becoming more ochre or buff or plain brown in the south east
  • Rufous under the tail

Sexes similar

Similar species

Mayan Antthrush differs in presence of a rufous band below the black throat and absence of rufous on undertail coverts.

Distribution

Central and South America
Central America: Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama
South America: Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad, the Guianas, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia

Taxonomy

Mayan Antthrush was formerly included in this species.

Subspecies[1]

This is a polytypic species:
The hoffmanni Group

  • F. a. umbrosus: Caribbean slope of Honduras to western Panama
  • F. a. hoffmanni: Lowlands of south-western Costa Rica to western Panama (western Chiriquí)
  • F. a. panamensis: Eastern Panama (Choclé and Darién) and adjacent north-western Colombia
  • F. a. virescens: West base of Santa Marta Mountains (north-eastern Colombia)
  • F. a. griseoventris: Mountains of northern Colombia and north-western Venezuela in west Maracaibo basin

The analis Group

  • F. a. saturatus: Northern Colombia to north-western Venezuela; winters to Trinidad
  • F. a. connectens: Eastern Colombia east of the Andes
  • F. a. crissalis: Extreme eastern Venezuela to the Guianas and adjacent north-eastern Brazil
  • F. a. zamorae: Eastern Ecuador to north-eastern Peru and western Brazil (north of River Solimões)
  • F. a. analis: Amazonian Peru south of River Amazon to western Brazil and northern Bolivia
  • F. a. paraensis: Eastern Brazil (River Tapajós to Belém and western Maranhão)

The Hoffmanni group is sometimes split as Panamanian Antthrush. See also the information in Vocalizations, below, remembering that in Antthrushes a different song normally equals a different species.

Habitat

Tropical broadleaf forest interior ground and understory.

Behaviour

Breeding

The nest is lined with leaves and built into a cavity in a hollow branch or tree stump. The clutch consists of 2 white eggs.

Diet

The diet includes ants and other insects. They can be found following columns of army ants.

Vocalisation

Differs significantly between populations:
1. Birds from Honduras south to somewhere in northern Columbia (hoffmanni group) typically have a song of one note followed by two lower notes.
2. Birds from the rest of their South American range (analis group) have a song of one note followed by seven or so notes that ascend slightly and then descend in pitch.

References

  1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2019. The eBird/Clements Checklist of Birds of the World: v2019. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
  2. Gill F, D Donsker & P Rasmussen (Eds). 2021. IOC World Bird List (v11.1). doi : 10.14344/IOC.ML.11.1. http://www.worldbirdnames.org/
  3. Wikipedia
  4. BirdForum Member observations
  5. Birdforum thread containing discussion of the vocalizations of this species
  6. Patten, M. A., J. van Dort, and P. F. D. Boesman (2021). Black-faced Antthrush (Formicarius analis), version 1.1. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.blfant1.01.1

Recommended Citation

External Links

GSearch checked for 2020 platform.

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