Bird Guide

Dot-backed Antbird vs Spotted Antbird

Dot-backed Antbird (Hylophylax punctulatus)

Dot-backed Antbird

Hylophylax punctulatus

Tiny12 gForest

The dot-backed antbird is 10 to 11.5 cm (3.9 to 4.5 in) long and weighs 11 to 13 g (0.39 to 0.46 oz). Adult males have a dark rufous-brown crown, nape, and mantle with a white patch between their scapulars. Their back and rump are black with large white feather tips. Their flight feathers are dark brown with wide rufous-brown edges and their wing coverts black with wide white to pale buff tips. Their tail is black with white feather tips. Their face is mostly white; their throat and the lower sides of their neck are black. Voice: The male dot-backed antbird's song is "a series of doublets each about 0·5 seconds long of 2 somewhat similar sharp whistles, the first emphasizing an upslur and the second a downslur, sounding like "free beer", delivered at rate of c. 1 every 2 seconds, sometimes for minutes at a time, doublet often given singly". Its note has also been written as "whee-beéyur" and "wee-HEEew".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Dot-backed Antbird
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Song · Sucumbíos: 'La Selva Jungle Lodge', n bank Río Napo, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Vincent A. Vos · CC BY 4.0
Spotted Antbird (Hylophylax naevioides)

Spotted Antbird

Hylophylax naevioides

Small18 gForest

The spotted antbird is 10 to 12 cm (3.9 to 4.7 in) long and weighs 15 to 19.5 g (0.53 to 0.69 oz). The two subspecies have essentially the same plumage. Adult males have a gray forehead and a grayish brown to olive-brown crown and nape. Their back is chestnut with a white and chestnut patch between their scapulars; the white is usually not visible. Their uppertail coverts are dull cinnamon. Their wings are black with cinnamon-rufous tips on the coverts. Their tail is grayish brown with cinnamon tips on most of the feathers (pale brown to white on the outermost) and a black band above the tips. Voice: The spotted antbird's most common song is a variable number of repeated syllables each composed of a peeee whistle followed by a short ti note, giving a full sequence peeeeeti-peeeti-peeeti-peeeti-peeeti-peeeti-peeeti-peeeti of variable length. Both sexes sing, with the male's song longer than female's.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the Spotted Antbird
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Call · Esmeraldas: Canandé ridge trail, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: gailhampshire from Cradley, Malvern, U.K · CC BY 2.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Dot-backed Antbird and Spotted Antbird.