Ash-winged Antwren
Euchrepomis spodioptila
Tiny bird of rainforest canopy. Key field marks are white wing bars, clear pale gray underparts, thin black line through eye, and (especially) contrasting rufous back. Occurs in tall rainforest, where it follows canopy mixed-species flocks and is almost never found away from them. Feeds actively on insects, gleaning from foliage and often hanging upside-down, thereby offering a dorsal view that should facilitate identification. Song, which carries surprisingly far, is a thin, staccato trill, fast and accelerating. Smaller and more active than most other species in canopy flocks; habit of hanging upside-down recalls a greenlet, but face pattern, wing bars and contrasting back color are distinctive.
Identification
The ash-winged antwren is 9.5 to 11 cm (3.7 to 4.3 in) long and weighs about 6.5 to 7.5 g (0.23 to 0.26 oz). The sexes have different plumage. Adult males of the nominate subspecies have a whitish supercilium and a thin dark line through the eye on an otherwise gray face. Their crown and nape are black, their back, rump, and uppertail coverts rufous-chestnut, and their tail gray-brown. Their wing coverts are black with white tips that form two bars on the closed wing and their flight feathers black with pale gray edges. Their entire underparts are pale gray that is lightest on the throat and belly. Adult females have a yellowish brown crown, nape, and upper back; their supercilium, throat, breast, and flanks have a buffy-brown tinge. Subadults of both sexes have olive-green edges on their flight feathers. Subspecies E. s. signata males have chestnut lesser wing coverts. Subspecies E. s. meridionalis has olive edges on its flight feathers and a greenish yellow tinge on the tips of the wing coverts and the belly.
Taxonomy
The ash-winged antwren was described and illustrated by the English ornithologists Philip Sclater and Osbert Salvin in 1881 and given the binomial name Terenura spodioptila. There it remained until the current genus Euchrepomis was created in 2012 following phylogenetic analysis.<p>The ash-winged antwren has three subspecies, the nominate E. s. spodioptila (Sclater, PL & Salvin, 1881), E. s. signata (Zimmer, JT, 1932), and E. s. meridionalis (Snethlage, E, 1925).
- Scientific name
- Euchrepomis spodioptila
- Authority
- (Sclater, PL & Salvin, 1881)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Thraupidae
- Genus
- Euchrepomis
Range and habitat
The ash-winged antwren has a disjunct distribution. Its subspecies are found thus:<p>The South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society has no documented records from Peru and so treats the ash-winged antwren as hypothetical in that country.<p>The ash-winged antwren inhabits lowland evergreen forest, primarily terra firme. It almost exclusively stays in the forest subcanopy and canopy. In elevation it mostly occurs below 600 m (2,000 ft) but is found as high as 1,100 m (3,600 ft) in the tepuis of Venezuela and Brazil.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The ash-winged antwren is thought to be a year-round resident throughout its range.<p>The ash-winged antwren feeds on arthropods but details of its diet are lacking. It typically forages in pairs though single birds and small family groups have been observed, and it almost always is seen as a member of a mixed-species feeding flock. It forages high in the canopy, moving quickly and acrobatically through dense foliage.<p>The ash-winged antwren's breeding season appears to include November and December but nothing else is known about its breeding biology.<p>The song of the nominate subspecies and the Brazilian population of E. s. signata is a "very high, thin, bouncing, descending, trilled rattle ending in 3 well-separated notes, like 'tsee-tsee-tsee-tsititrtrtr-tuut-tuut-tuut' ". The song of E. s. meridionalis and the Peruvian population of E. s. signata lacks the three terminal notes. The species' call is "short and abrupt, sometimes in short series in which notes change pitch".
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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