• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Chestnut-backed Antbird - BirdForum Opus

Poliocrania exsul
Male
Photo by Birdingcraft
Carara National Park, Costa Rica.

Identification

14 cm.
Male

  • Black head, neck and breast
  • Chestnut upperparts, wings and tail
  • Dark brown lower belly and flanks

Female

  • Brownish-black head and neck

Both sexes have a pale blue bare patch of skin around each eye
Juvenile:duller and more slaty

Variation

Subspecies maculifer has rows of tiny white spots on the wings.

Distribution

Central and South America
Central America: Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama
South America: Colombia and Ecuador

Taxonomy

Formerly placed in genus Myrmeciza.

Subspecies

There are 5 subspecies[1]:

  • C. e. exsul:
  • C. e. occidentalis:
  • C. e. niglarus:
  • Eastern Panama and adjacent extreme north-western Colombia (northern Chocó)
  • C. e. cassini:
  • Extreme south-eastern Panama (Darién) and northern Colombia
  • C. e. maculifer:
  • Pacific slope of western Colombia and western Ecuador

Habitat

Up to 900m in understory thickets in wet forest, near streams.

Behaviour

Breeding

The cup nest is made from vines, plants and dead leaves, placed low in vegetation. The 2 white eggs, have purple or reddish-brown spots. Both parents care for the young.

Diet

The diet includes insects, lizards and frogs.

Vocalisation

Call: a grating naar
Song: a whistled peeet peeew

References

  1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2017. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2017, with updates to August 2017. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
  2. Ayerbe Quiñones, F. 2019. An illustrated field guide to The Birds of Colombia. Wildlife Conservation Society/Colombia Program. ISBN: 978-958-5461-41-3
  3. Avibase
  4. Wikipedia

Recommended Citation

External Links

GSearch checked for 2020 platform.

Back
Top