Black-crowned Antshrike

How to find it

Listen first. A visiting birder's list notes it was heard, not seen, at La Selva, which suggests the song is the easiest way to locate it in forest. Because it is shy, move slowly and wait near thick low growth when you hear a duet. Pairs keep in touch by singing, so when you find one bird, look for its partner. Check forest edges, open woodland and regrowth in the lowlands, and try in the morning, when it sings most.

How to recognise it

The male is mostly grey, with darker upperparts and a black crown. His wings are dark with white bars and edges, and his tail is black with white tips. Apart from the cap he is plain grey, with none of the barring or bold patterns of other Costa Rican antshrikes.

The female looks similar in wing and tail pattern but is dull brown overall, paler below.

Beginners should not expect a grey bird every time. A brown antshrike in lowland forest may be the female of this species.

What it sounds like

Recording: anasacuta, CC BY 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

This antshrike is usually found in pairs that keep in touch by singing. Pairs call back and forth in a duet from the low layers of the forest while they move slowly through dense growth, hunting insects and spiders. It feeds low and at middle levels, though it sometimes goes up to the canopy.

Where it lives

It lives in both mature and regrowing forest, from semi-deciduous to evergreen. It prefers the forest interior but also uses edges, and it mostly stays in the understorey and mid-storey. Across its range it is common in humid tropical and subtropical forest, mainly below about 1,100 m elevation.

In Costa Rica that means the Caribbean slope and the northwest of the Pacific slope. It is described as fairly uncommon in the tropical lowlands, mostly at forest edges, in open woodland and in regrowth.

Similar birds

The Barred Antshrike is easy to separate: the male is boldly barred black and white and the female is rufous. Costa Rica also has Black-hooded, Great, Fasciated and Russet Antshrikes, but the Black-crowned male is plain grey with a black crown. It was once treated as part of the Slaty Antshrike, and some authors still do, so you may see it listed as Western Slaty-Antshrike.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The Costa Rican Spanish name is Batará Plomizo. The same bird is called Batará Coroninegro in Panama and Ecuador, and some Spanish books use Batará Pizarroso Occidental. Elsewhere it is hormiguero plomizo in Nicaragua, tiojorita pintada in Venezuela and batará de corona negra in Peru.

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as a resident (R), and the IUCN Red List rates it Least Concern.