Rio Branco Antbird

Overview

The Rio Branco antbird (Cercomacra carbonaria) is a Vulnerable bird species belonging to the family Thamnophilidae. It is a monotypic species found in the subfamily Thamnophilinae, commonly known as the typical antbirds.

Identification

• Males are almost entirely black with white edges on the outer scapulars, a white patch between them, and white tips on wing coverts and tail feathers.
• Females have brownish-gray heads and upperparts with a white interscapular patch, dark gray wings and tails with greenish-gray edges, and buff-gray sides.
• The body length is 14 to 15.5 cm, with one recorded individual weighing 14.5 g.
• Males sing a couplet of a short buzzy note and a longer, clearer note, repeated 4–10 times, while females interject a loud buzzy note.

Habitat

Found in Brazil and Guyana, the species inhabits the understorey to mid-storey of gallery forest and forested river islands. It is restricted to the Rio Branco region from the Ireng River downstream to the middle Rio Branco in Roraima, specifically within dense, vine-laden thickets at elevations between 800 and 900 m.

Diet

The diet consists of insects and probably includes spiders, though it has not been fully detailed. Foraging occurs between 1 and 7 m above the ground, occasionally up to 10 m, by gleaning and lunging from perches or making short fluttering flights among vine tangles.

Did you know?

Despite being a bird associated with ants, the Rio Branco antbird is not known to join mixed-species feeding flocks nor to follow army ants. Its only known nest was a small cup suspended in a branch fork of a leafy shrub just 1.5 m above the ground.