Thamnophilus atrinucha
The Black-crowned Antshrike (Thamnophilus atrinucha) is a medium-sized passerine, typically measuring 14-15 cm (5.5-6 inches) in length and weighing approximately 20-25 grams. Males are easily identified by their solid black crown and nape, contrasting with an olive-green back, gray underparts, and black wings barred with white. Females exhibit a striking chestnut crown, olive-brown back, and paler buffy-olive underparts, often with faint dusky barring on the flanks, making sexual dimorphism ...
This species primarily inhabits the understory and mid-story of humid evergreen forests, secondary growth, and dense woodland edges, typically found from lowlands up to 1,500 meters (occasionally higher) in elevation.
Predominantly insectivorous, their diet consists mainly of various arthropods, including beetles, grasshoppers, spiders, and caterpillars, occasionally supplemented by small fruits. They forage by gleaning from foliage and branches.
Black-crowned Antshrikes are diurnal and highly active, typically observed as monogamous pairs, though occasionally solitary or joining mixed-species foraging flocks outside the breeding season. They forage mainly by meticulously gleaning insects from foliage, branches, and vines, employing a del...
The Black-crowned Antshrike has a wide distribution across Central and South America, extending from southeastern Honduras, through Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, and south into northern and western Colombia, western Venezuela, and western Ecuador. Its primary distribution lies on the Caribbe...
Least Concern
- The Black-crowned Antshrike is known for its distinctive accelerating territorial song, often described as a "chug-a-lug" or sputtering series of notes that increase in tempo. - Despite their common name "antshrike," they do not typically follow army ant swarms like some other antbirds, preferr...