Russet Antshrike

Identification

The russet antshrike is 13 to 15 cm (5.1 to 5.9 in) long and weighs about 19 to 24 g (0.67 to 0.85 oz). The species has a rather stocky body and a heavy bill with a hooked tip. The sexes have almost identical plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies T. a. anabatinus have an olive-yellow supercilium, a dusky line through the eye, and pale olive-brown ear coverts. Their forehead, crown, and upperparts are olive-brown. Their tail is rufous and their wings cinnamon-rufous. Their throat, breast, and belly are pale yellowish olive and their flanks and undertail coverts olive. Males have a patch of cinnamon or orange-rufous between their shoulders that is very hard to see in the field; females lack it. In both sexes their iris is red-brown to brown, their bill dark gray to blackish or dark brown, and their legs and feet blue-gray to pale gray.<p>Subspecies T. a. saturatus is slightly darker than the nominate. Its iris is red-brown, its maxilla greenish black, its mandible horn, and its legs and feet greenish slate. T. a. coronatus has a rufescent crown and yellower underparts than the nominate. Its iris is red or auburn, its maxilla slate or gray with some fuscous-black, its mandible bluish gray or light gray, and its legs and feet light green to gray.T. a. intermedius is slightly darker than coronatus and the male's shoulder patch has some blackish spots. T. a. gularis has a more ochre throat than the nominate. T. a. aequatorialis has a very dark olive-brown crown, olive-brown upperparts, an olive-yellow throat, and olive underparts. Its shoulder patch is orange-rufous with black spots.

Taxonomy

The russet antshrike was described by the English ornithologists Philip Sclater and Osbert Salvin in 1860. They erected the genus Thamnistes to accommodate the species and coined the binomial name Thamnistes anabatinus. The specific epithet is from the Ancient Greek anabatēs meaning "climber" or "mounter".<p>The taxonomy of the russet antshrike is unsettled. The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) and the Clements taxonomy assign it these six subspecies:<p>However, BirdLife International's Handbook of the Birds of the World (HBW) treats T. a. gularis and T. a. aequatorialis as the "eastern russet antshrike" (T. aequatorialis) and the other four subspecies as the "western russet antshrike" (T. anabatinus). In addition, it includes T. a. rufescens as a third subspecies of the "eastern" species; since 2018 IOC and Clements have treated it as a separate species, the rufescent antshrike (T. rufescens). Clements does group T. a. gularis and T. a. aequatorialis as the "russet antshrike (Andean)" and the other four subspecies as the "russet antshrike (tawny)" within the single species.<p>This article follows the six-subspecies model.

Scientific name

Thamnistes anabatinus

Authority

Sclater, PL & Salvin, 1860

Order

Passeriformes

Family

Thamnophilidae

Genus

Thamnistes

Range and habitat

The subspecies of the russet antshrike are found thus:<p>In much of its range the russet antshrike inhabits evergreen forest both lowland and montane and adjacent secondary forest. In northern Central America it also occurs in semideciduous forest. It usually remains in the forest subcanopy and canopy. In elevation it ranges from near sea level to about 1,300 m (4,300 ft) in northern Central America and to 1,500 m (4,900 ft) in Costa Rica. In Colombia it reaches 1,500 m (4,900 ft). In Ecuador it mostly occurs between 400 and 1,300 m (1,300 and 4,300 ft) though in the far northwest it is found lower. It Venezuela it occurs at around 1,250 m (4,100 ft).

Migration

Resident species

Behavior

Migration pattern: Resident species.

Conservation

Population trend: declining.

Population trend

declining