Blackish-grey Antshrike

Overview

The blackish-grey antshrike (Thamnophilus nigrocinereus) is a species of bird in the subfamily Thamnophilinae, classified as a 'typical antbird'. It is currently assessed as Least Concern by the IUCN, though it has a large range and a population believed to be decreasing.

Identification

• Size: 15 to 17 cm in length, weighing 28 to 32 g.
• Plumage: Adults exhibit sexual dimorphism; males are generally blackish gray with a black crown and a hidden white patch on the back, while females have dark gray upperparts and reddish brown underparts that are darkest across the breast.
• Bill: Stout with a hook, resembling those of true shrikes.
• Song: The nominate subspecies produces a strongly accelerating, slowly delivered series of low-pitched, mellow, punchy notes that slightly descend.

Habitat

This species inhabits the northern Amazon Basin in Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, and Venezuela, preferring forested landscapes closely tied to rivers, such as seasonally flooded savanna woodland, gallery forest, mangroves, and várzea forest. It favours the understorey to mid-storey and occurs below elevations of 200 to 400 m depending on the region.

Diet

Feeds primarily on insects and other arthropods. It usually forages singly or in pairs, hopping among branches and making short flights, often dropping onto prey on the ground or foraging within 0.3 m of the ground, though it can reach heights of up to 10 m in mangroves.

Did you know?

Nests in French Guiana are constructed as deep cups woven from fibers and bound with spider silk, suspended in the branch forks of gray mangroves.