Yellow-breasted Antwren
Herpsilochmus axillaris
Small, warbler-like antbird that usually stays high in the trees. Inhabits cloud forest along the east slope of the Andes; also in the western and central Andes of Colombia. Note yellow underparts, dark wings with white wingbars, and streaky face. Male has a black cap, and female has a chestnut cap. Typically seen with mixed-species flocks in the forest canopy. Frequently given song is a rising and then falling trill.
Identification
The yellow-breasted antwren is 11 to 12 cm (4.3 to 4.7 in) long and weighs 10 to 13 g (0.35 to 0.46 oz). Adult males of the nominate subspecies H. a. axillaris have a black crown and nape with white spots on the crown and a broken whitish supercilium on an otherwise mottled blackish and yellow-olive face. Their upperparts are olive-gray. Their wings coverts are black with yellow-tinged white edges and tips; their flight feathers are very dark gray. Their tail is mostly dark gray, with white tips and part of the edges of the inner feathers and mostly white outer feathers. Their throat and underparts are mostly pale yellowish olive with a yellow center to the belly. Adult females have a cinnamon-rufous crown, olive-buff upperparts, and darker olive underparts except for the yellow belly center. Their wings and tail are like the male's.<p>Males of subspecies H. a. senex are paler than the nominate, with spots only on the center of their crown and a grayish white throat and breast. Males of subspecies H. a. puncticeps have olive-tinged and grayer upperparts than the nominate and less white on their tail feathers. Females have a dark olive-gray crown with a cinnamon-rufous tinge. Males of subspecies H. a. aequatorialis also have olive-tinged and grayer upperparts than the nominate. Their crown spots are only in the center; they have mostly pale yellow underparts with an olive wash on the sides.
Taxonomy
The yellow-breasted antwren has these four subspecies:
- Scientific name
- Herpsilochmus axillaris
- Authority
- (Tschudi, 1844)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Thamnophilidae
- Genus
- Herpsilochmus
Range and habitat
The subspecies of the yellow-breasted antwren are found thus:<p>The ranges of puncticeps and axillaris have a gap between them.<p>The yellow-breasted antwren inhabits the interior and edges of humid evergreen forest, where it tends to favor the canopy. In elevation it ranges between 800 and 2,000 m (2,600 and 6,600 ft) in Colombia, between 800 and 1,700 m (2,600 and 5,600 ft) in Ecuador, and between 750 and 1,900 m (2,500 and 6,200 ft) in Peru.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The yellow-breasted antwren is thought to be a year-round resident throughout its range.<p>The yellow-breasted antwren's diet has not been detailed but includes insects and probably spiders. It usually forages in pairs, sometimes in family groups, but seldom by itself, and almost always as a member of a mixed-species feeding flock. It typically feeds from the forest's mid-level to its canopy; in the mid-level it favors vine tangles. It forages actively and methodically, and usually captures prey by gleaning from leaves, stems, and vines by reaching and sometimes lunging from a perch. It occasionally makes short sallies to hover-glean. It is not known to follow army ants.<p>One female yellow-breasted antwren was "ready to lay [an] egg" in March in Peru. Nothing else is known about the species' breeding biology.<p>The yellow-breasted antwren's song is "a rattle-like trill of dry notes". It has been written as "tree-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-ew" in Ecuador. In northern Peru it is "tee-tee-TI-TI-titi'ti'tititititititer" and in Cuzco "chew tew-tew-TEE-TEE-ti-ti'ti'ti'tititi". The species' call is "a short...downslurred whistle" written as "tew" or "tchew".
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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