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Rufous-fronted Antthrush | Formicarius rufifrons
Roodvoorhoofdmierlijster | Formicario frentirrufo | Pinto-do-mato-de-fronte-ruiva
The Rufous-fronted Antthrush has one of the smallest ranges of all antthrushes: the floodplain forest along the rivers of the southwestern Amazon basin. It was described only in 1957, from the Río Madre de Dios in Peru. It is closely tied to dense undergrowth of heliconias and bamboo along rivers.
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Voice
A series of piping notes that rises in pitch in the middle and then falls again, ending slightly below the first note. The call is a loud, ringing chew!.
Recording: Fabian Schneider — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
18 cm, dumpy, with a short, cocked tail and long, dull pink legs. The forehead is bright orange-rufous, reaching the bill and eye. Rear crown and upper back olive-brown, lower back and wings brown, the tail blackish. Face and throat sooty grey, grading into a grey breast; the belly is paler grey, the flanks olive-brown and the undertail coverts rufous. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
Black-faced Antthrush Formicarius analis, which occurs in the same area, has an olive-brown forehead, a black throat and a rufous patch on the side of the neck. Rufous-capped Antthrush Formicarius colma has the whole crown and nape rufous and a black face, and lives mainly in terra firme forest.
Habitat
Floodplain forest along rivers, at the edge as well as inside, with dense undergrowth mainly of heliconias and also bamboo, also younger regrowth on river banks; in the lowlands, below 500 m. It searches for insects and other invertebrates on the forest floor. Little is known about the nest.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
Peru: only in the southeast, in the Madre de Dios drainage and locally in those of the Urubamba and the Juruá. Bolivia: in the far northwest. Absent from Colombia, Ecuador and the Galápagos. Outside the guide area only in a small part of western Brazil (Acre).
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search along the banks of the Madre de Dios and its tributaries for dense heliconia thickets in floodplain forest, and listen in the early morning for the rising and falling series.
Conservation status
Least Concern; formerly assessed as Near Threatened or Vulnerable. The species has a small range and highly specialised habitat requirements; clearance of riverine forest for settlements and agriculture is the main threat, although small-scale clearing may create the mosaic of open and wooded riverbank it favours.
Scientific name
Formicarius rufifrons | Blake, 1957
Blake described the species in 1957 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Formicarius was introduced in 1783 by Boddaert. The genus name comes from Latin formicarius, 'of the ants', from formica, 'ant'. The species name comes from Latin rufus, 'rufous', and frons, 'forehead': 'rufous-fronted'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Madre de Dios, Peru.