Pectoral Antwren
Herpsilochmus pectoralis
Attractive small antwren. Males are gray with a black crown and a diagnostic black patch on the chest; females have a cinnamon head and underparts and brownish upperparts. Inhabits deciduous forest, gallery forest, and caatinga woodland, where it forages from the understory to the canopy, often accompanying mixed-species flocks. The song is a rapid rising series of slightly harsh “caa” notes.
Identification
The pectoral antwren is 11 to 12 cm (4.3 to 4.7 in) long. Adult males have a black crown and nape with white spots around the former, a long whitish supercilium, a narrow black streak through the eye, and grayish ear coverts. Their back and rump are gray with a black and white patch between the scapulars and white-tipped uppertail coverts. Their wings are black with white-tipped coverts and flight feathers with white edges towards the end. Their innermost tail feathers are black with white edges, the outermost entirely white, and those in between black with white tips. Their throat and underparts are mostly white with a black patch on the breast and gray sides and flanks. Adult females have a rufous crown, brownish olive upperparts, buffish edges on their flight feathers, and buff sides of their neck and their underparts. Their tail is like the male's.
Taxonomy
The pectoral antwren was originally described by the English zoologist Philip Sclater in 1857 and given its current binomial name Herpsilochmus pectoralis. Its relationship to others of its genus is unclear but it apparently is most closely related to the large-billed antwren (H. longirostris), and at least one author has considered them to form a superspecies.<p>The pectoral antwren is monotypic.
- Scientific name
- Herpsilochmus pectoralis
- Authority
- Sclater, PL, 1857
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Thamnophilidae
- Genus
- Herpsilochmus
Range and habitat
The pectoral antwren has a disjunct distribution. One population is found in far northeastern Brazil from Rio Grande do Norte south to Sergipe and northeastern Bahia. The other is somewhat west in Maranhão. In both areas the species occurs only locally. The Maranhão population inhabits deciduous and gallery forest. In Rio Grande do Norte it inhabits restinga woodlands, and further south inhabits tall caatinga woodlands and mature secondary forest. It does not favor any particular stratum of the forest. In elevation it ranges from sea level to 850 m (2,800 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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