- Pyriglena leucoptera
Identification
A rather large antbird at 17cm.
The male is entirely black colored with white markings on the wings and rump.
The female is brownish and lacks the white markings.
On both sexes the eyes are distinctively red.
An easy bird to identify in the field, especially considering that similar species in the family do not occur in most of its range.
Distribution
Atlantic Rainforest in southern and south-eastern Brazil (eastern Bahia), but also extending west into southern Pantanal, eastern Paraguay and the Esteros del Iberá region in north-eastern Argentina (Misiones).
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species[1].
Habitat
Moist tropical and subtropical forests, both primary and secondary. They stay in the lower levels of the forest, usually near the ground in dark areas.
Behaviour
Diet
Being a professional army-ant follower, most times they are found in families near an ant swarm through the jungle, capturing the varied prey flushed by the deadly ants. Most of its diet consists of arthropods, but may take small reptiles on accasion.
Birds that are often seen together with this species is the Red-crowned Ant Tanager and the Plain-winged Woodcreeper, two species that also associate with army-ants.
References
- Clements, JF. 2010. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2010. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/Clements%206.5.xls/view
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) White-shouldered Fire-eye. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 10 September 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/White-shouldered_Fire-eye
External Links
GSearch checked for 2020 platform.
