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The ant-following antbirds are themselves followed by three species of butterfly in the family Ithomiinae which feed on their droppings. [34] Bird droppings are usually an unpredictable resource in a rainforest, but the regular behaviour of ant followers makes the exploitation of this resource possible.
The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) recognizes these 238 species distributed among 63 genera in the family, 24 of which have only one species. [1] Confusingly, only 96 of the species are called "antbirds"; the others are variously named antwren, antshrike, antvireo, bushbird, bare-eye, fire-eye, and stipplethroat.
The bicoloured antbird is an obligate ant-follower.. Ant followers are birds that feed by following swarms of army ants and take prey flushed by those ants. [1] The best-known ant-followers are 18 species of antbird in the family Thamnophilidae, but other families of birds may follow ants, including thrushes, chats, ant-tanagers, cuckoos, motmots, and woodcreepers.
These are forest birds that tend to feed at or near the ground since many are specialist ant eaters. Most are drab in appearance with shades of (rusty) brown, black, and white being their dominant tones. Compared to other birds that specialize in following ants, this family is the most tied to the ground.
The common scale-backed antbird is 12 to 13 cm (4.7 to 5.1 in) long and weighs 15 to 22 g (0.53 to 0.78 oz). Adult males of the nominate subspecies W. p. poecilinotus are mostly gray; their upperparts are darker than their underparts. They have a white patch between the scapulars. Their lower back has white-edged black patches that give it its ...
It is a facultative army ant follower, catching about half of its prey as it flees the swarms. At swarms they sometimes loosely associate with mixed-species feeding flocks. They take the other half of their away from swarms, including an observation of a bird following an agouti to take prey it flushed. They forage as individuals or pairs, and ...
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The chestnut-backed antbird is 14 to 15 centimetres (5.5 to 5.9 in) long and weighs about 29 grams (1.0 oz). Both sexes of all subspecies have a pale blue patch of bare skin around each eye. Adult males of the nominate subspecies P. e. exsul have a slate-black head and neck. Their upperparts are deep chestnut.