Xingu Scale-backed Antbird

Overview

The Xingu scale-backed antbird (Willisornis vidua) is a species of bird in the family Thamnophilidae, the typical antbirds. It is endemic to Brazil and considered of Least Concern by the IUCN.

Identification

• Length of 12 to 13 cm with a weight of 14 to 19.5 g.
• Males are mostly gray with darker upperparts and a white patch between the scapulars; their lower back features white-edged black patches.
• Females have a warm brown crown, gray face, and warm brown upperparts, with a white throat.
• Song consists of a series of long upslurred notes that are frequency-modulated in an even pattern.

Habitat

The species inhabits south-central and eastern Amazonian Brazil south of the Amazon River, primarily in the understorey of humid terra firme evergreen forest and várzea forest. It ranges in elevation from sea level to 800 m.

Diet

It feeds mostly on a wide variety of arthropods, foraging individually, in pairs, or in family groups usually within 1 m of the ground. The bird often follows swarms of army ants to capture fleeing prey but also forages away from ant swarms by short sallies from perches or by probing leaf litter on the ground.

Did you know?

The bird was described and illustrated by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis in 1847, initially under the binomial name Hypocnemis poecilinotus before being moved to the genus Willisornis.