Silvered antbird

Sclateria naevia

Photo by Lou Hegedus (Mango Verde)

Common name:
silvered antbird (en); papa-formigas-do-igarapé (pt); alapi paludicole (fr); hormiguero plateado (es); mangroveameisenvogel (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Thamnophilidae

Range:
This species is found in northern South America, east of the Andes, from central Colombia east to Suriname and south to Bolivia, and to Mato Grosso and Maranhão, in Brazil.

Size:
These birds are 14-16 cm long and weigh 20-27 g.

Habitat:
The silvered antbird is mostly found in the understorey and floor of swamp forests and flooded rainforests, also using mangroves, moist scrublands and the margins of fresh water lakes. they are present from sea level up to an altitude of 700 m.

Diet:
They usually forage in pairs, taking insects such as bugs, beetles and leafhoppers, and spiders, from the leaf litter, from the ground, or from the water surface.

Breeding:
Silvered antbirds possibly breed in August-December. The nest is a deep cup made of thick rootlets and green moss, and lined with finer rootlets. It is woven to a fork in a small tree, about 0,8 m above a small stream. There the female lays 2 dull white, bluish-white or buffy grey with reddish-brown spots and blotches. There is no available information regarding the length of the incubation and fledging periods, but both parents feed the chicks.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and is described as fairly common. The silvered antbird is suspected to lose 12-14% of suitable habitat within its range over the next 15 years based on a model of Amazonian deforestation. Given the susceptibility of the species to fragmentation and edge effects, it is suspected to suffer a small decline in the near future.