The blackish antbird is a species of passerine bird in subfamily Thamnophilinae of family Thamnophilidae, the "typical antbirds". It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, and Suriname.
Region
Amazon Basin and the Guianas
Typical Environment
Occurs widely east of the Andes in northern and western Amazonia and across the Guianas, including lowland forests of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. It inhabits dense understory of terra firme and seasonally flooded (várzea) forests, forest edges, and second-growth thickets. The species favors tangled vegetation near streams and along forest margins. It is generally sedentary within territories throughout the year.
Altitude Range
Sea level to 1200 m
Climate Zone
Tropical
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
This understory antbird often travels in pairs and performs distinctive male–female duets to maintain territory and pair bonds. It frequently attends army-ant swarms to catch flushed arthropods but is not an obligate follower. Males are mostly sooty-black, while females are warm rufous-brown, making the species strongly sexually dimorphic.
Temperament
solitary and territorial
Flight Pattern
short rapid wingbeats
Social Behavior
Usually found as paired birds defending small territories in dense understory. Pairs remain together year-round and communicate with coordinated duets. Nests are typically low in shrubs or vine tangles, and both sexes participate in care.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
A series of clear, whistled notes often delivered as antiphonal duets between the pair; phrases accelerate slightly and may descend in pitch. Calls include sharp chips and soft contact notes used while moving through cover.
Plumage
Male is uniform sooty to blackish with a smooth, matte appearance; female is warm rufous-brown with paler underparts and subtle, sometimes indistinct, wing edging. Both sexes show compact, sleek plumage suited to moving through dense understory.
Diet
Primarily small arthropods such as ants, beetles, spiders, and other insects. Forages by gleaning from leaves, twigs, and vine tangles, and by sallying to the ground for prey flushed by movement. Frequently attends army-ant swarms opportunistically to capture prey driven into the open, but also forages independently away from swarms.
Preferred Environment
Dense understory of mature and secondary rainforest, especially along edges, streambanks, and in vine-rich thickets. Often stays within 1–3 meters of the ground where cover is thickest.
