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Northern Chestnut-tailed Antbird

Sciaphylax castanea

Least Concern · IUCN Red List

LCLeast ConcernInvertebratesForestSmall · 16 g
Northern Chestnut-tailed Antbird (Sciaphylax castanea), photo 1
Photo: David F. Belmonte · CC BY 4.0
Northern Chestnut-tailed Antbird (Sciaphylax castanea), photo 2
Photo: (c) David F. Belmonte, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY

What the Northern Chestnut-tailed Antbird sounds like

Sonogram of the Northern Chestnut-tailed Antbird: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Song · Zamora-Chinchipe: above 'Cabañas Yankuam' 2 km S Las Orchideas, Nangaritza Valley, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto
Sonogram of the Northern Chestnut-tailed Antbird: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Song · Pastaza: Kapawi area, left bank Río Pastaza, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto
Sonogram of the Northern Chestnut-tailed Antbird: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Call · Zamora-Chinchipe: above 'Cabañas Yankuam' 2 km S Las Orchideas, Nangaritza Valley, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

ID tip

The northern chestnut-tailed antbird is 11 to 12 cm (4.3 to 4.7 in) long and weighs 16 to 17 g (0.56 to 0.60 oz). Males of the nominate subspecies have a mostly gray head with black centers to the feathers. Their hindcrown, nape, and upper mantle are a browner gray. The rest of their upperparts, their tail, and their flight feathers are dark yellowish red-brown. They have a white patch between the scapulars with black spots near the tips of the feathers. Their wing coverts are black with large white to buff-white tips. Voice: The northern chestnut-tailed antbird's song is "a slow but accelerating, rising series of loud whistled notes TEW TEW-tew-tu'ti'ti'ti'ter'tu" whose last note or two are occasionally at a lower pitch. Its calls are "a quiet, descending, throaty churred rattle" and "a dry tchit or tchit-it, often in a short series".

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Northern Chestnut-tailed Antbird

One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 11 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is October, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Northern Chestnut-tailed Antbird

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 2 countries with regular records, and 1 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

Peru Ecuador

Recorded as a rare visitor in Colombia.

About the Northern Chestnut-tailed Antbird

The northern chestnut-tailed antbird, or Zimmer's antbird, is a species of bird in subfamily Thamnophilinae of family Thamnophilidae, the "typical antbirds". It is found in Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Southern Chestnut-tailed Antbird (Sciaphylax hemimelaena) Southern Chestnut-tailed AntbirdSciaphylax hemimelaenaThe southern chestnut-tailed antbird is 11 to 12 cm (4.3 to 4.7 in) long and weighs 14.5 to 16.5 g (0.51 to 0.58 oz).

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