Slaty antwren

The slaty antwren (Myrmotherula schisticolor) is a small passerine bird in the antbird family. It is a resident breeder in tropical Central and South America from southern Mexico to western Ecuador and eastern Peru.

Slaty antwren

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Thamnophilidae
Genus: Myrmotherula
Species:
M. schisticolor
Binomial name
Myrmotherula schisticolor
(Lawrence, 1865)

This is a common bird in the understory of wet forest and in adjacent tall second growth in foothills typically from 700 m to 1700 m altitude, although locally it may be found down to sea level or up to 2000 m. The female lays two red-brown spotted white eggs, which are incubated by both sexes, in a deep pouch nest constructed from plant fibres. The nest is suspended from the fork of a thin twig less than 2 m up. The male and female parents both feed the chicks.

The slaty antwren is typically 10 cm long, and weighs 9.5 g. The adult male is mainly dark slate with a black throat and breast, black wings with white spots, and a concealed white shoulder patch. The white on the wings is less extensive than in related species. The adult female is olive-brown above and buff-brown below, paler on the throat. Young males are darker, duller and greyer than the adult female. This species has a thin cheeur call, and the infrequent song is a soft t’week t’week t’week t’week weet weet weet weet .

The slaty antwren is normally found as pairs, and often joins a mixed-species feeding flock with woodcreepers, red-crowned ant tanagers, ovenbirds and Basileuterus warblers. It feeds on insects and spiders, taken from foliage.

References
  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Myrmotherula schisticolor". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Stiles, F. Gary & Skutch, Alexander Frank (1989): A guide to the birds of Costa Rica. Comistock, Ithaca. ISBN 0-8014-9600-4
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.