The Sooty Antbird is distributed in western Amazonia. See the distribution map at Birdlife International.

It is found in the interior of humid forest mainly in terra firme. It is usually seen accompanying antswarms but I think this female-plumaged bird (possibly a sub-adult male) was close to a nest by the way it seemed to circle round its territory.

The bare blue skin around the eye is very distinctive in both sexes. The species gets its English name from the male which is uniformly sooty grey. The female has a rufous-chestnut crown, rufous wings and a rufous-chestnut tail. The sub-adult male resembles the female but is generally darker and greyer.