All species › Passerines › Antbirds › Hairy-crested Antbird
Hairy-crested Antbird | Rhegmatorhina melanosticta
Haarkuifmiervogel | Hormiguero canoso | Mãe-de-taoca-cabeçuda
The Hairy-crested Antbird is an ant-follower of the western Amazonian lowlands and the foot of the Andes, named for its bushy, pale grey crest. It forages almost only at army-ant swarms, where it perches low on vertical stems. Its range is divided among several subspecies, separated by large rivers.
Voice
The song is a slow series that starts with a few high, sharp notes and descends to drawn-out, grating, nasal whistles. Calls are a harsh, vibrant chirr and a short chip.
Recording: JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
15 cm, with a short tail. The crest is grey with an olive tinge; the forehead, lores, face and throat are black, and around the eye lies a broad ring of bare, bluish-white skin. The upperparts and underparts are dark olive-brown, and the wing feathers have rufous edges. The female resembles the male, but has short black, cinnamon-edged bars on the upper back and wing coverts. Young males lack the crest.
Confusion species
Chestnut-crested Antbird Rhegmatorhina cristata has a rufous crest and breast and occurs in the guide area only in south-eastern Colombia. White-cheeked Antbird Gymnopithys leucaspis has a white throat and underparts. White-throated Antbird Oneillornis salvini and Lunulated Antbird Oneillornis lunulatus have a white throat and a white supercilium and no crest.
Habitat
Understorey of humid terra firme forest and of transitional forest near seasonally flooded forest, from the lowlands up to about 1000 m in Colombia, 750 m in Ecuador and 1350 m in Peru. It follows army-ant swarms and catches flushed insects and other arthropods. Usually in pairs or family groups. Little is known about its breeding.
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 eastern lowlands and at the foot of the Andes, from Meta southwards. Ecuador: in the eastern lowlands and foothills. Peru: in the east, with different subspecies north of the Amazon, between the Marañón and the Ucayali, east of the Ucayali and in the south-east. Bolivia: in the north-west. Absent from the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in western Amazonian Brazil, east to the Madeira.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
In terra firme forest, for example in Yasuní, at the foot of the Andes near Manu or at Tambopata, look for army-ant swarms; the Hairy-crested Antbird often keeps a little apart from the other ant-followers.
Conservation status
Least Concern. Fairly common in undisturbed forest; as an obligate ant-follower the species is sensitive to forest fragmentation and logging.
Scientific name
Rhegmatorhina melanosticta | (Sclater & Salvin, 1880)
Sclater & Salvin described the species in 1880 as Pithys melanosticta; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Rhegmatorhina was introduced in 1888 by Ridgway. The genus name comes from Greek rhēgma, 'cleft', and rhis, 'nose', meaning with slit-like nostrils. The species name comes from Greek melas, 'black', and stiktos, 'spotted'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Sarayacu, Pastaza, Ecuador.