The Rondonia bushbird is a Near Threatened species of bird in subfamily Thamnophilinae of family Thamnophilidae, the "typical antbirds". It is endemic to Brazil.
Region
Southwestern Amazonia
Typical Environment
Endemic to Brazil, occurring mainly in Rondônia with records in adjacent southwestern Amazonian lowlands. It favors dense bamboo (especially Guadua) and tangled understory in terra firme and secondary forests. The species keeps to low to mid understory layers, often near river edges, clearings, and along old trails. It tolerates some disturbance where bamboo thickets persist, but extensive clearing reduces suitable habitat. Local presence can be patchy, tracking bamboo stands.
Altitude Range
100–500 m
Climate Zone
Tropical
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
The Rondônia bushbird is a bamboo-thicket specialist in the antbird family and was only described to science in 1990. It has a distinctive hatchet-shaped bill used to pry into bamboo and vine tangles for hidden insects. Males are mostly dark with a black throat, while females are warm rufous-brown, making pairs strikingly dimorphic. Rapid deforestation in southwestern Amazonia threatens its specialized habitat.
Temperament
secretive and skulking
Flight Pattern
short rapid wingbeats, low and direct through understory
Social Behavior
Typically found singly or in pairs, sometimes with dependent young. It forages quietly within dense bamboo, often prying or hammering at stems to extract prey. Nests are presumed to be low in dense vegetation, with breeding likely tied to the rainy season, though details remain poorly known.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
Song is a simple series of clear, sharp notes or thin whistles delivered from concealed perches. Calls include dry ticks and short trills, with pairs sometimes giving antiphonal duets in close bamboo thickets.
Plumage
Males are mostly sooty to blackish with a contrasting black throat and small pale markings on the wing coverts; females are rich rufous-brown with paler underparts. Both sexes show a stout, laterally compressed bill and relatively plain, dark tail and wings. The overall look is of a compact, understory antbird with minimal barring or spotting.
Diet
Primarily insects and other arthropods, including beetles, orthopterans, and spiders. It uses its specialized bill to pry into dead bamboo culms and dense vine tangles to flush hidden prey. Prey is gleaned or snapped from surfaces and crevices rather than sallying. It may occasionally take small larvae and pupae within bamboo.
Preferred Environment
Dense bamboo stands within terra firme and secondary forests, especially along forest edges, old roads, and riverbanks. Foraging is concentrated in the lower to mid understory where bamboo is abundant.
