Guianan Warbling-Antbird
Hypocnemis cantator
Small antbird; most easily identified by conspicuously striped head, contrasting tawny flanks, and sluggish behavior. Most common in disturbed and secondary forests, at forest edges, and near treefall gaps. Almost always found in pairs and within a few meters of the ground; sometimes follows army ants and understory mixed-species flocks. Very vocal and not shy but can be hard to see well; often scolds observers while darting from perch to perch.
Taxonomy
The French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon described the Guianan warbling antbird in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux in 1779. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Buffon did not include a scientific name with his description but in 1783 the Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Formicarius cantatar in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. The specific name is from the Latin cantator "a singer". The present genus Hypocnemis was introduced by the German ornithologist Jean Cabanis in 1847.<p>The Imeri, Peruvian, yellow-breasted, Rondonia and Spix's warbling antbird were all formerly treated as subspecies of the Guianan warbling antbird. A study published in 2007 found that there were significant vocal differences as well a small plumage differences between the taxa and they are now all treated as separate species. As presently defined, the Guianan warbling antbird is monotypic, although the subspecies notaea sometimes has been recognized.<p>Its conservation status has been assessed as near threatened.
- Scientific name
- Hypocnemis cantator
- Authority
- (Boddaert, 1783)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Thamnophilidae
- Genus
- Hypocnemis
Range and habitat
- Migration
- Resident species
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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