Chapman's Antshrike
Thamnophilus zarumae
Attractive antbird restricted to arid Andean slopes in southwestern Ecuador and northwestern Peru. Male is gray and white with a barred breast, back, and tail, streaked face and throat, black crest, and buffy belly. Female is brown and buff with a darker crest, black-and-white streaked face, and very faint barring on the breast. No overlap with the similar Barred Antshrike. Inhabits dry forest and scrub. Jaunty song starts with a fast series of clucks and ends with a few higher-pitched notes followed by lower-pitched notes.
Identification
Chapman's antshrike is 14 to 15.5 cm (5.5 to 6.1 in) long and weighs about 22 g (0.78 oz). Members of genus Thamnophilus are largish members of the antbird family; all have stout bills with a hook like those of true shrikes. This species exhibits marked sexual dimorphism though both sexes have a bushy crest. Adult males of the nominate subspecies T. d. zarumae have a black and white streaked forehead and a black crown and crest. Their face and the sides of their neck are streaked with black and white. They have a medium gray "collar". Their back, scapulars, rump, tail, and wings are black with white bars. Their throat is white with black streaks. Their breast and sides are white lightly barred with black, their belly center unmarked white, and their flanks and undertail coverts cinnamon buff. Adult females have a rufous crest. The sides of their head and neck are whitish buff with black streaks. Their collar is olive brown. Their upperparts, wings, and tail are cinnamon rufous. Their throat is pale buff with thin black streaks. Their breast, belly, and sides are buff with faint gray marks on the breast. Adults of both sexes have a pale but variably colored iris, a black maxilla, a blue-gray mandible, and blue-gray legs and feet. Immature males are barred with black and cinnamon buff and their flight feathers are dusky rather than black. Males of subspecies T. d. palamblae have fainter white bars on their upperparts than the nominate, with a buffier belly and deeper ochraceous flanks and undertail coverts. Females have darker upperparts than the nominate, with a darker rufous crown and deeper ochraceous flanks.
Taxonomy
Chapman's antshrike was originally described as a species but was soon transferred to be a subspecies of the barred antshrike (Thamnophilus doliatus). At the same time a new taxon was described as another subspecies of the barred antshrike (T. d. palamblae). In the late twentieth century Chapman's antshrike again began to be recognized as a separate species with palambae as a subspecies, and a few years later a phylogenetic study showed that it was not closely related to the barred antshrike.<p>The two subspecies of Chapman's antshrike are therefore T. d. zarumae and T. d. palamblae.
- Scientific name
- Thamnophilus zarumae
- Authority
- Chapman, 1921
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Thamnophilidae
- Genus
- Thamnophilus
Range and habitat
Chapman's antshrike has a disjunct distribution. The nominate subspecies is found from southwestern Ecuador's El Oro and Loja provinces south into Peru's Department of Tumbes and northeastern Piura. Subspecies T. d. palamblae is found in Peru in southeastern Piura and eastern Department of Lambayeque. The species inhabits the interior and edges of deciduous and semi-deciduous forest and secondary woodland. It favors dense vegetation, including areas heavy with vines, in the forest understorey to mid-storey. In Ecuador it ranges mostly between elevations of 800 and 2,000 m (2,600 and 6,600 ft). In Peru it occurs mostly between 600 and 2,100 m (2,000 and 6,900 ft) and locally as high as 2,600 m (8,500 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Chapman's antshrike is a year-round resident throughout its range.<p>The diet of Chapman's antshrike is not known in detail but includes larval caterpillars, Orthoptera such as grasshoppers, and spiders. It has been recorded eating the berries of a Meliaceae tree. The species usually forages singly or in pairs and sometimes joins mixed-species feeding flocks. It forages in dense vegetation from near the ground to about 15 m (50 ft) above it. It hops between branches and also climbs branches and vines to glean prey from leaves, stems, branches, and trunks. It has been noted probing small bromeliads.<p>Nothing is known about the breeding biology of Chapman's antshrike.<p>The song of Chapman's antshrike is "an accelerating series of 12-14 nasal notes, followed by three higher pitched, broad amplitude notes and then ending in a short rattle or trill". Schulenberg et al. write it as "pew pew-pew-pwe'pu'puPEWpee pew-trr'eh". Its calls include "a nasal 'nah' ", "a high, descending, mewing whistle: peew", and "an abrupt chup".
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Rock Pipit
Anthus petrosus
Plumage relatively dull and dark: grayish brown to grayish above with weak darker streaking; dingy whitish below with heavy and rather blurry dark streaking. Also note the dark legs (pink on smaller and buffier Meadow Pipit, which often occurs in coastal grassland adjacent to Rock Pipits). Song is a bland, repetitive, high-pitched series, often accelerating towards the end. Call a high, lisping, slightly harsh "ssiip", very similar to that of Water Pipit. Like other pipits, walks strongly and often pumps its tail a little. Found along rocky coasts; infrequent inland. Often seen on rocks and adjacent areas with short grass.
Mottled Piculet
Picumnus nebulosus
Tiny woodpecker with a warm buffy-brown back and collar, and buffy belly with dark streaks. Males have a red forehead. Occurs in lowland humid forest and Araucaria forests with dense understory, including bamboo forests. There it forages at middle levels, singly or with mixed-species flocks.
Wattled Curassow
Crax globulosa
Very large black gamebird with a red bill. Males have a white ventral region which is chestnut in females. Strongly associated with riparian environments, especially seasonally flooded forest and river islands, where it is quite arboreal. Now very rare over much of its range because of overhunting.
Start Your Bird Watching Journey
Identify a bird outdoors and keep the field guide close for your next observation.