Antbirds | Thamnophilidae

Mierklauwieren | Hormigueros

With 30 species in 22 genera this is one of the larger songbird families in the guide, centred on the humid forest of Costa Rica and Panama, with a smaller number of species reaching Mexico. It includes antshrikes with a heavy bill hooked at the tip, small, active antwrens in the foliage and antbirds of the undergrowth. The colours are sober: males are often black or grey with small white spots on the wing, females brown or rufous, and many species have a hidden white patch on the back that shows when the bird is excited. They eat insects and spiders. A number of species follow swarms of army ants almost exclusively and catch the insects and other small animals that flee ahead of the ants; the ants themselves they do not eat. Dozens of birds of several species may gather around a single swarm. Pairs stay together for years in a fixed territory, which they defend with simple but distinctive songs, often as a duet. The nest is an open cup, often slung in a horizontal fork, and both parents incubate the clutch of usually two eggs.