Hairy-crested Antbird - BirdForum Opus

Photo © by Thibaud
Parque Nacional Yanachaga-Chemillén, Pasco, Peru, 15 August 2020

Rhegmatorhina melanosticta

Identification

14–15 cm (5½-6 in)

• Blue skin around eye
  

Male

• Pale grey bushy crest
• Black face

Distribution

South America: found in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil

Taxonomy

Subspecies

There are 3 subspecies^[1]:

• R. m. melanosticta:

• Base of Andes of south-eastern Colombia to eastern Ecuador and north-eastern Peru

• R. m. brunneiceps:

• Central Peru south of River Marañón (San Martín to northern Ayacucho)

• R. m. purusiana (badia):

• Eastern Peru to south-western Amazonian Brazil and north-western Bolivia (Pando, La Paz)

A fourth subspecies R. m. purusiana is recognised by some authorities^[2]

Habitat

Generally seen below 900 m in the understorey of humid evergreen forests.

Behaviour

Diet

They follow army ant swarms eating a variety of insects which have been flushed out.

Breeding

Both adults care for the young.

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. Lepage D. (2020) - Avibase. Retrieved 7 September 2020
3. Zimmer, K. and M.L. Isler (2020). Hairy-crested Antbird (Rhegmatorhina melanosticta), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.hacant1.01

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Hairy-crested Antbird. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 24 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Hairy-crested_Antbird

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