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ANTBIRDS - Antshrikes

Order Passeriformes    Family Thamnophilidae

The Antbirds of family Thamnophilidae occur in tropical and subtropical Central and South America. There are more than 200 species, known variously as  antwrens, antbirds and antshrikes (here ordered by size with antwrens the smallest and antshrikes the largest). Other miscellaneous names for some of the species in the Thamnophilidae family are: antvireos, bare-eyes, bushbird, fire-eyes. Collective, members of the Thamnophilidae family are known as antbirds. They not closely related to the wrens, vireos or shrikes.

Most species live in forests and most feed in the understory and midstory of the forest, although a few feed in the canopy and a few on the ground. They feed on ants and other insects. They use a number of techniques to obtain prey. The majority of antbirds are arboreal, with most of those feeding in the understory, many in the middle story and some in the canopy. A few species feed in the leaf litter; The antbirds that forage arboreally show a number of techniques and specialisations. Some species perch-glean, perching on a branch watching for prey and snatching it by reaching forward, where others sally from a perch and snatch prey on the wing.

Thamnophilidae are related to antpittas of family Grallariidae and the antthrushes of family Formicariidae.


Genus Batara - 1 species

Antshrike,_Giant  Batara cinerea  Found: northeast Argentina, southern Bolivia  also southern Brazil
The largest antshrike.
Image by: 1) Joao_Quental  - Brazil  2) Nick Athanas - Brazil  3) Hector Bottai - Brazil  4) Cornell_Univ's_Neotropical_Birds_Online - Glenn_Bartley
1) Female 2, 3, 4) Male



Genus Biatas - 1 species

Antshrike,_White-bearded   Biatas nigropectus  Found: Atlantic forest of Argentina, Brazil
The White-bearded Antshrike has mainly rufous plumage; white cheek, throat. Male has black cap, upper-breast.
Image by: 1) Arthur_Grosset  2) Nick Athanas  3) Claudio_Timm



Genus Cymbilaimus

Antshrike,_Bamboo   Cymbilaimus sanctaemariae  Found: lowland/bamboo forests of Bolivia, Brazil, Peru
Similar to: Fasciated Antshrike. Male Bamboo Antshrike paler than Fasciated Antshrike. Female Bamboo Antshrike has unbarred underparts; male Fasciated Antshrike has barred underparts. Their voices are different.
Image by: 1) Cornell_Univ's_Neotropical_Birds_Online - Joe_Tobias in Peru  2) joel_rosenthal  Tony_Castro - Peru
1) Female 2) Male


Antshrike,_Fasciated   Cymbilaimus lineatus  Found: Central America, northern South America
The male Fasciated Antshrike has mainly black-and-white striped plumage; black crown; red eyes. Female is barred dark brown and yellowish-brown; russet crown; red eyes.
Similar to: Bamboo Antshrike. Male Bamboo Antshrike paler than Fasciated Antshrike. Female Bamboo Antshrike has unbarred underparts; male Fasciated Antshrike has barred underparts. Their voices are different.
Image by: 1, 3) Nick Athanas- Costa Rica  2) Brian_Gratwicke - Panama  4) Francesco_Veronesi - Panama



Genus Frederickena

Antshrike,_Black-throated  Frederickena viridis  Found: Guiana region including northeast Brazil and southeast Venezuela
The male Black-throated Antshrike has slate-gray plumage; black throat; red-eyes. Female has rufous-brown upperparts; densely barred underparts including tail; red eyes.
Image by: 1) Philip_Stouffer - Brazil  2) Cornell_Univ's_Neotropical_Birds_Online - Philip_Stouffer, Kurazo_Okada in Brazil
1) Female 2) Male


Antshrike,_Fulvous  Frederickena fulva  Found: eastern Ecuador, southeastern Colombia, nort-eastern Peru
The male Fulvous Antshrike has blackish plumage with grayish-white barring throuhout. Female has mainly cinnamon plumage with dark barring. Previously subspecies of Undulated Antshrike; they differ vocally.
Image by: 1, 2) Cornell_Univ's_Neotropical_Birds_Online - Harold Greeneyin Ecuador


Antshrike,_Undulated  Frederickena unduliger  Found: northwest Brazil, southeast Peru.
The male Undulated Antshrike has blackish plumage with grayish-white barring throuhout. Female has rusty-brown plumage with black barring.
Image by: 1) Andre_Grassi - Brazil



Genus Hypoedaleus - 1 species

Antshrike,_Spot-backed  Hypoedaleus guttatus  Found: southeastern Argentina, southern Brazil, northeastern Paraguay
The Spot-backed Antshirke has black upperparts with heavy white barring and spotting; white underparts with variable amount of buffy-orange on the flanks and undertail coverts.
Image by: 1, 2) Dario Sanches  3) Nick Athanas - Brazil



Genus Mackenziaena

Antshrike,_Large-tailed   Mackenziaena leachii  Found: Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay
The male Large-tailed Antshrike has black plumage with small white spots on upperparts and flanks. Female black with buffy-golden tinge and white spots throughout.
Image by: 1) Ricardo_Gentil  2, 3) Nick Athanas - Brazil  4) Dario_Sanches


Antshrike,_Tufted  Mackenziaena severa  Found: northeast Argentina, southeast Brazil, eastern Paraguay
The male Tufted Antshrike has charcoal gray plumage. Female has mainly blackish plumage barred whitish and pale rufous; rufous crest.
Image by: 1) Nick Athanas  2) Paulo_Chaves - Brazil  3) Claudio_Timm  4) Dario_Sanches
1, 2) Female 3, 4) Male



Genus Pygiptila - 1 species

Antshrike,_Spot-winged   Pygiptila stellaris  Found: northern South America
The male Spot-winged Antshrike has mainly gray plumage; lighter underparts; white spots on wings;  black cap. Female has gray upperparts; cinnamon wings; duller clay-colored face, underparts.
Image by: 1)) Nick Athanas 2) Cornell_Univ's_Neotropical_Birds_Online - Alexander_Lees
1, 2) Male



Genus Sakesphorus

Antshrike, Black-crested   Sakesphorus canadensis   Found: northern South America
Image by: 1) Feroze_Omardeen - Trinidad 2, 3) Dominic Sherony  4) Joao_Quental - Brazil  5) Feroze_Omardeen 
1) Female 3, 4, 5) Male



Antshrike,_Glossy   Sakesphorus luctuosus  Found: Brazil
The Glossy Antshrike has mainly black plumage; white wing patch; white tips on tail. Male has black crown; female has chestnut-brown crown.
Image by: 1) Hector_Bottai  2) Nick Athanas  3) Cornell_Univ's_Neotropical_Birds_Online - Arthur Grosset
1) Female 2, 3) Male


Antshrike,_Silvery-cheeked   Sakesphorus cristatus  Found: Brazil
The male Silvery-cheeked Antshrike has a brown mantle; some black on wings with white spots; black crown, face, throat, breast median; pale gray rest of underparts, nape. Female has rufous-brown mantle, creast, tale; pale gray face underparts with rufous wash.
Image by: 1, 2) Nick Athanas 3) Joao_Quental



Genus Taraba - 1 species

Antshrike,_Great   Taraba major  Found: Mexico to middle South America
The male Great Antshrike has black upperparts, head, tail; 2 white wing-bars; white underparts. Female has rufous upperparts; white underparts. Both have red eyes.
Image by: 1) Nick Athanas - Brazil  2) Miguelrangeljr  3) Gustavo_Duran - Argentina 4) Claudio_Timm  5) Bertrando_Campos 
1, 2) Female  3 - 5) Male




Genus Thamnistes - 1 species

Antshrike,_Russet   Thamnistes anabatinus  Found: southern Mexico to northern Bolivia
The Russet Antshrike has olive-brown upperparts; cinnamon-rufous wings; pale yellowish underparts; dark eye-line.
Image by: 1) Nick Athanas 



Genus Thamnomanes

Antshrike,_Bluish-slate   Thamnomanes schistogynus  Found: Bolivia, Brazil, Peru
The male Bluish-slate Antshrike has dark bluish-gray plumage with (usually hidden) white shoulder patch. Female has mainly gray upperparts, head, throat; cinnamon-rufous underparts.
Image by: 1) Cornell_Univ's_Neotropical_Birds_Online - Kristian_Svensson, Joao_Quental   3) Dominic_Sherony - Peru 


Antshrike,_Cinereous   Thamnomanes caesius  Found: northern South America
Image by: 1, 2) Nick Athanas
1) Female 2) Male


Antshrike,_Dusky-throated   Thamnomanes ardesiacus  Found: northern South America
The male Dusky-throated Antshrike has dark gray plumage; some have black throat patch. Female has dark brown plumage.
Similar to: Saturine Antshrike. Saturine Antshrike has white on shoulders; Dusky-throated Antshrike does not.
Image by: 1) Cornell_Univ's_Neotropical_Birds_Online - Gordon_Dimmig, Kester_Clarke  3) Nick Athanas - Ecuador
1) Female 2, 3) Male


Antshrike,_Saturnine   Thamnomanes saturninus  Found: Bolivia, Brazil, Peru
Similar to: Dusky-throated Antshrike. Saturine Antshrike has white on shoulders; Dusky-throated Antshrike does not.
Image by: 1)Cornell_Univ's_Neotropical_Birds_Online - Gabriel_Leite



Genus Thamnophilus
The antshrikes feed on insects found on foliage in trees.

Antshrike,_Acre  Thamnophilus divisorius  Found: southwest Brazil; east central Peru
The male Acre Antshrike has very dark bluish-gray plumage; blacker over head, wings, tail. Females have blusih-gray upperparts; brownish-orange underparts.
Image by: 1, 2) Guillermo_Knell


Antshrike,_Amazonian  Thamnophilus amazonicus  Found: Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru
The male Amazonian Antshrike has mainly gray plumage; black wings, tail; paler gray underparts. Female has dark olive upperparts; yellowish-brown head, underparts.
Image by: 1) Nick_Athanas - Ecuador  2) Claudio_Timm  4) Hector_Bottai - Brazil


Antshrike,_Band-tailed   Thamnophilus melanothorax  Found: tlantic regions of the Amazon Basin
The male Band-tailed Antshrike has mainly black plumage; white dots on shoulders; broad white band on tail tip. Female has mainly deep rufous plumage; black on forehead, throat, breast.
Image by: 1, 2) Cornell_Univ's_Neotropical_Birds_Online - Kurazo_Okada
1) Female 2) Male


Antshrike,_Bar-creasted  Thamnophilus multistriatus  Found: Columbia, Venezuela
The male Bar-creasted Antshrike has barred black-and-white plumage. Female has orange upperparts, crown; rest barred balck-and-white.
Similar to: Barred Antshrike. Male Barred Antshrike has black crown; male crested=Antshrike has barred crown. Female Bar-creasted Antshrike has orange on upperparts while female Barred-Antshrike ahs rufous.
Image by: 1,  3,  4) Alejandro_Tamayo  2) Julian_Londono - Columbia 


Antshrike, Barred Thamnophilus doliatus  Found: South America 
The male Barred Antshrike has barred black-and-white plumage; paler underparts; white based black crest. Female has rufous upperparts; chestnut crest; blacked-streaked side of head and neck; rich buff underparts.
Similar to: Barr-crested Antshrike. Male Barred Antshrike has black crown; male Bar-crested Antshrike has barred crown. Female Bar-creasted Antshrike has orange on upperparts while female Barred-Antshrike ahs rufous.
Similar to: Linned Antshrike. Male Lined Antshrike has darker underparts than male Barred Antshrike. Female Barred Antshrike has rufous underparts; female Lined Antshrike has barred underparts.
Image by: 1, 4) New Jersy Birds     2, 5, 6) Dario Sanches   3, 7) Charlie Westerinen - near the Arenal volcano in Costa Rica.
1, 2, 3) Female  4 - 7) Male



Antshrike,_Black  Thamnophilus nigriceps  Found: Panama, Columbia
Image by:  1) Aaron_Maizlish - Panama  2, 3) Nick_Athanas - Panama  
1, 2) Female  3) Male


Antshrike,_Black-backed  Thamnophilus melanonotus  Found: Columbia, Venezuela
The male Black-backed Antshrike has black upperparts with white on edges of flight feathers; black center of underparts; white rest of underparts. Female has brown upperparts; dark brown wings; rufous-brown tail; pale buff underparts.
Image by: 1) Nick_Athanas - Columbia  2) Cornell_Univ's_Neotropical_Birds_Online - Trevor_Ellery


Antshrike, Black-hooded   Thamnophilus bridgesi  Found: Costa Rica, Panama
The male Black-hooded Antshrike has mainly black plumage; three rows of white stripes on wings. Female has brown mantle, underparts.
Image by: 1) Cornell_Univ's_Neotropical_Birds_Online - Jean_Luc_Baron in Costa Rica  2) Jerry Oldenettel - Tarcoles River, Costa Rica  3) Sergey_Pisarevskiy - Costa Rica


Antshrike,_Blackish-gray  Thamnophilus nigrocinereus  Found: Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Venezuela
The male Blackish-gray Antshrike has black upperparts with white wing and tail markings; gray underparts. Female has brown upperparts; gray head, rufous underparts.
Image by: 1, 2) Cornell_Univ's_Neotropical_Birds_Online - Daniel_Uribe  2) Nick_Athanas 
1) Female 2, 3) Male


Antshrike,_Bolivian_Slaty-  Thamnophilus sticturus  Found: Bolivia, southwest Brazil; northern Paraguay
Image by: 1, 2, 3) Cornell_Univ's_Neotropical_Birds_Online - Ian_Davies in Bolivia


Antshrike,_Castelnau's  Thamnophilus cryptoleucus  Found: Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru
The male Castelnau's Antshrike has mainly black plumage; white fringing to wing coverts. Female has all black plumage.
Image by: 1) Nick_Athanas - Ecuador  2) Cornell_Univ's_Neotropical_Birds_Online - Anselmo_d'Affonseca in Brazil
1, 2) Male


Antshrike,_Chapman's  Thamnophilus zarumae  Found: Ecuador, Peru
The male Chapman's Antshrike is the only barred antshrike found west of the Andes.
Image by: 1) Nick_Athanas - Peru  2) Pia_Oberg - Ecuador
1) Female   2) Male


Antshrike,_Chestnut-backed  Thamnophilus palliatus  Found: Bolivia, Brazil, Peru
The Chestnut-backed Antshrike has chestnut upperparts; black underparts barred white. Male has black crown; female has chestnut crown.
Similar to: Lined Antshrike. Female Chestnut-backed Antshrike and Lined Antshrike virtually identical; differentiated via voice. Males easily differentiated by their backs.
Image by: 1, 2) Nick_Athanas - Brazil  3) Danilo_Schinke
1) Female 2, 3) Male


Antshrike,_Cocha  Thamnophilus praecox  Found: Ecuador
The male Cocha Antshrike has glossy black plumage; female has glossy black head, nape, breast; rest chestnut-brown.
Image by: 1, 2) Nick_Athanas
1) Female 2) Male


Antshrike,_Collared  Thamnophilus bernardi  Found: Ecuador, Peru
The male Collared Antshrike has brown back with some white; black head, throat, upper-breast; broad whitish collar that connects to whitish underparts. Female has deep buff collar, underparts.
Image by: 1, 3) Nick_Athanas - Ecuador  2) David_Cook - Peru  4) Jorge_Montejo


Antshrike,_Lined  Thamnophilus tenuepunctatus  Found: Columbia, Ecuador, Peru
The male Lined Antshrike has mainly black plumage barred white; black crown. Female has chestnut upperparts, crown.
Similar to: Barred Antshrike. Male Lined Antshrike has darker underparts than male Barred Antshrike. Female Barred Antshrike has rufous underparts; female Lined Antshrike has barred underparts.
Similar to: Chestnut-backed Antshrike. Female Chestnut-backed Antshrike and Lined Antshrike virtually identical; differentiated via voice. Males easily differentiated by their backs.
Image by: 1) Gary Clark - Ecuador  2) Francesco_Veronesi - Ecuador  3) Nick_Athanas - Ecuador  4) Andres_Cuervo - Columbia
1, 2) Female 3, 4) male


Antshrike,_Mouse-colored  Thamnophilus murinus  Found: northern South America
Similar to: Plain-winged Antshrike. Plain-winged Antshrike has red eyes; Mouse-colored Antshrike has gray or dull eyes.
Image by: 1) Nick_Athanas  2) Philip_Stouffer  Cornell_Univ's_Neotropical_Birds_Online - Margi_Moss in Brazil


Antshrike,_Natterer's_Slaty-  Thamnophilus stictocephalus  Found: Bolivia, Brazil
Image by: 1) Nick_Athanas - Brazil  2) Claudio_Timm


Antshrike,_Northern_Slaty-  Thamnophilus punctatus  Found: northeast Brazil; Guianas, Venezuela
The male Northern Slaty-Antshrike has mainly gray plumage; black wings, tail; white spots on wings. Female mixture of brown and rufous with some white spots.
Image by: 1, 2, 3, 4)  Cornell_Univ's_Neotropical_Birds_Online - Daniel_Lane, Daniel_Lane, Daniel_Lane, Anselmo_d'Affonseca
1) Female T. p. huallagae   2) Female T. p. leucogaster  3) Male T. p. huallagae  4) Male T. p. punctatus


Antshrike,_Plain-winged  Thamnophilus schistaceus  Found: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru
The male Plain-winged Antshrike has mainly gray plumage; paler underparts; red eyes.
Similar to: Mouse-colored Antshrike. Plain-winged Antshrike has red eyes; Mouse-colored Antshrike has gray or dull eyes.
Image by: 1, 2) Cornell_Univ's_Neotropical_Birds_Online - Glenn_Bartley, Adrian_Eisen_Rupp  3) Hector_Bottai - Brazil 
1) Female   2, 3) Male


Antshrike,_Planalto_Slaty-  Thamnophilus pelzelni  Found: Brazil
The Planalto Slaty-Antshrike and the Sooretama Slaty-Antshrike are both endemic to Brazil and they only differ subtly in plumage.
Image by: 1) Hector_Bottai  2) Cornell_Univ's_Neotropical_Birds_Online - Luiz_Carlos_Ramassotti 3) Nick_Athanas
1, 2) Female 3) Male


Antshrike,_Rufous-capped  Thamnophilus ruficapillus  Found: South America
The Rufous-capped Antshrike has rufous crown. Male has narrowly barred black and white breast; reddish-brown wings. Female has unbarred whitish or buff underparts
Image by: 1) Dario_Sanches  2) Claudio Timm  3) Nick_Athanas  4) Darren_Bellerby - Brazil
1, 2) Male


Antshrike,_Rufous-winged  Thamnophilus torquatus  Found: Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay
The male Rufous-winged Antshrike has gray mantle; gray head with black cap;  rufous wings; pale gray breast with black barring; black tail with white spots. Female similar to male with rufous crown and tail; buffy underparts.
Image by: 1) Nick_Athanas  2) Claudio Timm  3) Hector_Bottai
1, 2, 3) Male


Antshrike,_Sooretama_Slaty-   Thamnophilus ambiguus  Found: east coast Brazil
The Planalto Slaty-Antshrike and the Sooretama Slaty-Antshrike are both endemic to Brazil and they only differ subtly in plumage.
Image by: 1, 2) Cornell_Univ's_Neotropical_Birds_Online - Leonardo_Mercon, Jason_Leifester
1) Female 2) Male


Antshrike,_Streak-backed  Thamnophilus insignis  Found: northern Brazil, western Guyana, southern Venezuela
The male Streak-backed Antshrike has black upperparts, wings, crown, tail; white spots on wings, crown, tail; some white streaks on back. Female similar with dark red-brown rear-crown.
Image by: 1) Joseph_Smit  2) Nick_Athanas


Antshrike,_Uniform  Thamnophilus unicolor  Found: Columbia, Ecuador, Peru
Image by: 1, 3) Nick_Athanas  2, 4) Jose_Loaiza - Ecuador
1, 2) Female 3, 4) Male


Antshrike,_Upland   Thamnophilus aroyae  Found: Bolivia, Peru
The male Upland Antshrike has mainly gray plumage; blackish crown, wings, tail; white spots of shoulders.. Female has mainly olive-brown plumage; paler and buffier underparts; rufous crown; grayish ear coverts.
Image by: 1) Cornell_Univ's_Neotropical_Birds_Online - Joe_Tobias
1) Male


Antshrike,_Variable  Thamnophilus caerulescens  Found: South America
Image by:  1, 2) Cláudio Timm - Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil  3, 4, 5) Dario Sanches - Brazil
1, 2, 3) Female  4, 5, 6) Male



Antshrike,_Western_Slaty- also Black-crowned Antshirke Thamnophilus atrinucha  Found: Central and South America
The male Black-crowned Antshrike has mainly slate-gray plumage; black crown. Female has mainly brown plumage; chestnut crown. It is found in Belize and south in Central America, Columbia, Ecuador, Venezuela
Image by: 1) Sergey_Pisarevskiy - Costa Rica  2, 6) Nick_Athanas - Panama  3) Francesco Veronesi - Ecuador    4) Patty McGann - Panama   5) Dick Daniels - Soberania National Park, Panama
1, 2) Female 3, 4, 5, 6) Male



Antshrike,_White-shouldered  Thamnophilus aethiops  Found: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela
The White-shouldered Antshirke has small white dots on shoulders. Male has otherwise gray to black plumage. Female has otherwise rufous-brown plumage. There are many subspecies and some may become separate species.
Image by: 1, 3) Nick_Athanas  2, 4) Cornell_Univ's_Neotropical_Birds_Online - Markus_Lagerqvist in Brazil, Kurazo_Okada in Brazil 



Genus Xenornis - 1 species

Antshrike,_Spiny-faced  also  Speckled Antshrike   Xenornis setifrons  Found: Columbia, Panama
The male Spiny-faced Antshrike has brown upperparts; dark gray underparts. Female has mainly brown plumage. Both have  streaking on head and mantle.
Image by: 1) Josh_Beck  2) Nick Athanas - Panama
1) Female 2) Male







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