Banded Antbird (Dichrozona cincta)

Banded Antbird (Dichrozona cincta)
Brazilian name: tovaquinha

Cristalino, Mato Grosso, Brazil
December 2006

The Banded Antbird is distributed in the Amazon Basin mainly south of the Solimões - Amazon but with a population on the upper Rio Negro.

It is found on the ground in the rainforest, mainly on terra firme, with lots of leaf litter on which it finds its food of insects, etc., by probing and turning the dead leaves.

One curious habit is to hold its wing coverts up to expose the white patch on its back as you can see in photo 3. I would guess that this forms part of a display because it certainly makes this tiny bird much more visible to a predator (or photographer).

At 10cm (4") it is very small with a long, thin bill and a very short tail. It has a chestnut-brown crown and grey sides to the head. The wings are mainly black and the wing coverts are tipped with white and buff. Underparts are whitish with a band of black spots across its chest.

Its song is a long series of drawn out notes rising in pitch. Excellent examples can be found at xeno-canto.

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