Black-headed Antbird Percnostola rufifrons minor Amazonas Antbird Percnostola minor

Black-faced Antbird Percnostola rufifrons minor
(aka Amazonas Antbird Percnostola minor)

São Gabriel da Cachoeira, Amazonas, Brazil
August 2004

The Black-headed Antbird is distributed in the Guianas and adjacent areas of north Brazil with disjunct populations in north-west Amazonian Brazil and adjacent areas of Venezuela, Colombia and Peru. See the distribution map at Birdlife International. It is found in humid forest and secondary woodland often on sandy-soil.

Amazonas Antbird P. minor was described as a separate species by A. P. Capparella, Gary H. Rosenberg & Steven W. Cardiff in Ornithological Monographs 48, Studies in Neotropical Ornithology honoring Ted Parker, 1997, p. 165-170 but most authorities including the HBW and Birdlife International checklist maintain it as a sub-species of Black-headed Antbird P. rufifrons on the grounds that the voices and plumage are practically identical.

Male Amazonas Antbird, São Gabriel da Cachoeira, Amazonas, Brazil, August 2004 - click on image for a larger view

The main difference between Amazonas sub-species and nominate Black-headed Antbird lies with the female, shown here in photos 1 and 2, where the crown is rufous-brown rather than black. The Amazonas Antbird also has a grey rather than a red iris.

They usually forage for their insect prey in pairs or small family groups and are rarely in mixed flocks except at army ant swarms. Photos 2 and 4 were taken at an army ant swarm.

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