Spot-backed Antwren
Herpsilochmus dorsimaculatus
Small canopy antwren with a long, graduated tail. Males are largely gray with a black crown and a bold white eyebrow; the black spots on the back can be difficult to see. Females have a buff forehead and breast sides, with the black crown spotted white. Inhabits humid lowland forest and seasonally flooded forest in some regions. Almost invariably seen accompanying canopy mixed-species flocks. The song is a somewhat deep trill that slightly ascends and then descends: “wiwiwurrrrr.”
Identification
The spot-backed antwren is 11 to 12 cm (4.3 to 4.7 in) long and weighs 9.5 to 10.5 g (0.34 to 0.37 oz). Adult males have a black crown and nape, a long white supercilium, a black streak through the eye, and grayish ear coverts. Their back and rump are dark gray with white edges on most back feathers and blackish patches. They have white-edged black scapulars and a hidden white patch between them. Their flight feathers are gray and black with white edges towards the end; their wing coverts are black with white tips. Their tail is black with white feather tips and white outermost feathers. Their throat and underparts are mostly white with a pale gray tinge on the sides and rear. Adult females have a buff forehead, some buff on their face, white spots on their crown, and a buff breast; they are otherwise like males.
Taxonomy
The spot-backed antwren was described by the Austrian ornithologist August von Pelzeln in 1868 and given its current binomial name Herpsilochmus dorsimaculatus. The spot-backed antwren is monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Herpsilochmus dorsimaculatus
- Authority
- Pelzeln, 1868
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Thamnophilidae
- Genus
- Herpsilochmus
Range and habitat
The spot-backed antwren is found in eastern Colombia and east across southern Venezuela and northwestern Brazil to the Rio Trombetas. It inhabits the subcanopy and canopy of humid evergreen forest. In Venezuela it favors igapó, in Colombia and much of Brazil terra firme forest, and some parts of Brazil campina woodlands on white-sand soils. In elevation it reaches 600 m (2,000 ft) in much of its range but only 500 m (1,600 ft) in Colombia.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The spot-backed antwren is thought to be a year-round resident throughout its range.<p>The spot-backed antwren's diet has not been detailed but includes insects and probably spiders. It forages singly, in pairs, and in family groups, and often as a member of a mixed-species feeding flock. It typically feeds between 15 and 30 m (50 and 100 ft) above the ground though sometimes as low as 5 m (15 ft). It forages mostly at the ends of leafy branches and in the crown of trees, often concentrating on vine tangles. It forages actively and usually captures prey by gleaning leaves, stems, and vines by reaching or lunging from a perch. It sometimes makes short salllies to hover-glean. It is not known to follow army ants.<p>Nothing is known about the spot-backed antwren's breeding biology.<p>The spot-backed antwren's song is a "very high, fast, slightly rising, then descending and fading, trilling 'wiwiwurrrrrrr' series" that lasts about two seconds. Its call is "a short...downslurred plaintive note, repeated often but irregularly".
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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