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Dusky-throated Antshrike | Thamnomanes ardesiacus
Grijskeelmierklauwier | Batará gorjioscuro | Uirapuru-de-garganta-preta
The Dusky-throated Antshrike is a compact, grey antshrike of the undergrowth of Amazonian lowland rainforest. Together with related Thamnomanes species it forms the core of mixed understorey flocks: it perches upright on an open perch, catches insects in short sallies and gives loud alarm calls to which other species respond.
Voice
The song is an accelerating, rising series of harsh, nasal notes. Calls are harsh, rattling and whistled notes, especially when the flock is moving or a raptor approaches.
Recording: Juan Freile — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
13–14 cm, with a fairly short tail and a broad, hook-tipped bill. The male is plain dark slate-grey, with a black throat patch that varies in size and is almost absent in some birds. The female is olive-brown above, with a whitish to grey throat, a buff breast and an ochre to orange-brown belly.
Confusion species
Cinereous Antshrike Thamnomanes caesius is slightly larger and longer-tailed; the male lacks a black throat and the female has a rufous belly and rump. Bluish-slate Antshrike Thamnomanes schistogynus lives in southern Peru and Bolivia; the male is bluer grey without a black throat and the female has a grey breast and a rufous belly. Plain Antvireo Dysithamnus mentalis is smaller, with a grey cap and pale wing bars.
Habitat
Undergrowth and lower midstorey of humid lowland terra firme and foothill forest, locally also in old várzea forest, mostly below 1000 m. It catches insects in short sallies from a perch, often insects flushed by other birds in the flock. The nest is a deep cup in a shrub fork.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
Colombia: in the south-east, in Caquetá, Putumayo, Amazonas, Guaviare and Vaupés. Ecuador: widespread in the eastern lowlands. Peru: widespread in the Amazonian lowlands east of the Andes. Bolivia: in the north, in Pando, Beni and northern La Paz. Absent from the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in southern Venezuela, the Guianas and northern and western Brazilian Amazonia.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search for mixed understorey flocks in terra firme forest, for example in Yasuní, Tambopata or around Leticia. The loud calls of this antshrike often reveal where the flock is.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species is common in undisturbed lowland forest, but is sensitive to fragmentation, because mixed flocks need large continuous forests.
Scientific name
Thamnomanes ardesiacus | (Sclater & Salvin, 1868)
Sclater & Salvin described the species in 1868 as Dysithamnus ardesiacus; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Thamnomanes was introduced in 1847 by Cabanis. The genus name comes from Greek thamnos, 'bush', and -manēs, 'passionately fond of'. The species name comes from New Latin ardesiacus, 'slate-coloured', from French ardoisé. The specimen the first description was based on came from Río Napo, Ecuador.