Black-faced Antthrush

How to find it

Listen for the whistle first, then scan the forest floor. Ant swarms are a good way to see it: birders at Carara found one by following ant columns across the trail and scanning the ground ahead, and two antthrushes were working the front of the swarm. Standing very still helps, as one tour group did near Carara while an antthrush walked a full loop around them. Expect some luck to be involved, because one birder only glimpsed a very shy bird racing away, while another group heard none calling but still saw three well. The Sendero La Meandrica at Carara is where one tour met both the bird and its first ant swarm.

How to recognise it

Think of a rail-like bird of the forest floor, about 18 cm long.

Body: dumpy, with a short tail usually held cocked.

Upperparts: rufous brown or dark brown, with paler brown underparts.

Face: black face and throat, with black cheeks and lores and a black bill.

Around the eye: a small white spot between bill and eye, and a bluish-white crescent of bare skin behind and below it.

Male and female look alike. Young birds look like adults, but the throat is usually whitish or buff with dark mottling or dusky feather tips, so a juvenile can look different from an adult. One guide at Carara compared the cocked-tail bird to a tiny bantam chicken with bare blue skin around the eyes.

What it sounds like

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

Behaviour and diet

It walks on the forest floor with a jerky, wary stride and the tail held nearly upright. A guide at Carara watched one kicking leaves aside as it searched the litter. It is usually alone, sometimes in pairs, and it sometimes joins mixed flocks at army ant swarms.

It feeds mainly on the ground and follows columns of army ants. At one Carara swarm, two antthrushes ran back and forth in front of the ants, together with Bicolored Antbirds. In Costa Rica, pairs hold territories all year. The nest is in a hollow trunk, stump or root.

Where it lives

It lives in mature forest and in older, advanced secondary growth. In Costa Rica it is a common resident of the Caribbean lowlands and foothills, up to 500 m in the north and 1,200 m in the southeast.

It is also found on the southern Pacific slope, north as far as Carara, up to 1,500 m. It reaches the northern Pacific side only locally, through low gaps in the mountains. In eastern Costa Rica it reaches about 500 m, and in western Costa Rica about 1,500 m.

When to see it

Breeding is known to run from March to October in Costa Rica, and pairs hold territories all year. On a short Carara morning walk in January, one tour saw it on the ground even as bird activity dropped with the warmth.

Similar birds

Costa Rica has two other antthrushes in the same genus. Black-headed Antthrush looks much alike, but its whole head, neck and breast are grayish black, while in the Black-faced the black stays on the face and throat. The Black-headed's song is a long, rising series of ringing notes. Rufous-breasted Antthrush replaces its relatives at higher elevations, and its song is a two-note whistle.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Rican names include Gallito de selva, meaning jungle little rooster, and Gallito Hormiguero Carinegro, which is the name on the AOCR list.

Status and conservation

It is a resident (R) on the AOCR list, it is considered common in Costa Rica, and the IUCN lists it as Least Concern.

Photography tips

Early light can help. On the Osa Peninsula, one tour saw one very close, stepping out onto the trail in low light before breakfast. Stay still and let it come, since it is wary and may race away.