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Yellow-browed Antbird | Hypocnemis hypoxantha
Geelbrauwmierkruiper | Hormiguero cejiamarillo | Cantador-amarelo
The Yellow-browed Antbird is a bright yellow relative of the warbling antbirds from Amazonian forest north of the Amazon and the Marañón. Unlike the warbling antbirds, it forages higher in the forest, mostly in the midstorey, and often joins mixed flocks. Pairs stay in their territory all year round.
Voice
A short series of four to six hoarse, slightly descending whistles, often with a duet from the female. Calls are a hoarse cher and a short, rasping rattle.
Recording: JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
12 cm, small and compact. The crown is black, with a broad yellow supercilium and a black eyestripe. The upperparts are olive-green to olive-brown, without distinct streaks on the mantle. The wings are black with two white or yellowish-white wingbars. The underparts are bright yellow, with black streaks on the sides of the breast; the flanks are olive. The female closely resembles the male, with paler spots on the crown.
Confusion species
Peruvian Warbling Antbird Hypocnemis peruviana has a white supercilium, a white throat and breast, rufous flanks and a streaked mantle, and lives lower in the understorey. Imeri Warbling Antbird Hypocnemis flavescens is a duller yellowish below, with a white supercilium. Spot-backed Antbird Hylophylax naevius has a spotted back and white or buff underparts.
Habitat
Midstorey and lower canopy of terra firme lowland forest, locally also in várzea and in the lower foothills, up to about 600 m, in Ecuador sometimes higher. It searches for insects and spiders among leaves and vines, mostly between 3 and 15 m up, often in mixed flocks. 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 south-east, in Caquetá, Putumayo, Vaupés and Amazonas. Ecuador: in the eastern lowlands. Peru: in the north-east, mainly north of the Amazon and the Marañón in Loreto. Bolivia: absent. Absent from the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in western Amazonian Brazil; a separate subspecies lives south of the Amazon in Brazil.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Follow mixed flocks in the midstorey of lowland forest in eastern Ecuador or around Iquitos. The song often comes from vine tangles above the understorey, where the yellow underparts and supercilium show among the leaves.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species lives in a large area with much undisturbed forest, but depends on tall forest and avoids heavily degraded areas.
Scientific name
Hypocnemis hypoxantha | Sclater, 1869
Sclater described the species in 1869 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. The genus Hypocnemis was introduced in 1847 by Cabanis. The genus name combines Greek hupo, 'somewhat like', and knēmis, 'leggings'. The species name comes from Greek hupo, 'below', and xanthos, 'yellow', after the yellow underparts. The specimen the first description was based on came from Upper Amazon.