Red-crowned Ant-Tanager

How to find it

Expect quick glimpses rather than long, steady looks. The birds are always moving and stay in dark, tangled understory, so the light is poor. Patience helps, and you may see one flitting among ferns and shrubs. Listen for the rattle and the high 'pee' notes. Watch for a mixed group of understory birds, since family groups often travel with them. Monteverde and Las Cruces Biological Station are places where it is listed or heard.

How to recognise it

The bird is about 18 cm long and weighs about 38 g.

Adult males are dull brownish red with a blackish bill and dark eyes. The underparts are paler dull red, brightest on the throat. The crown patch is pinkish scarlet, edged in reddish black. It is often hidden and is raised when the bird is excited, and in males it forms a conspicuous split crest. That raisable crown patch sets it apart from other ant-tanagers.

Females are dull yellowish olive-green with a dark eye and blackish bill. The female has a golden-yellow centre to the crown and olive upperparts, and her legs are brownish gray.

Young males look like females but show varying amounts of red.

What it sounds like

Recording: Aline Fernanda Antunes, CC BY-SA 4.0, source, read 4 Nov 2026.

Behaviour and diet

These are restless birds that keep moving, searching foliage and branches for insects, mainly beetles. They also eat many fruits. Pairs or family groups forage in the shady mid-level understory. Despite the name, they only rarely follow army ants to catch fleeing prey.

Family groups often travel with other understory birds: Tawny-crowned Greenlet, Buff-throated Foliage-gleaner and Checker-throated Antwren. One visiting photographer called the male a mischievous little character after watching one eat a caterpillar and raise his red crown.

Where it lives

It lives in the understory of humid and subhumid evergreen forest and nearby tall second growth.

In Costa Rica it is common in the Nicoya Peninsula hills, along the base of the northern ranges and on the western edge of the Central Valley. It is rare and local in the dry lowlands.

In the southern Pacific it is common in forest remnants of the General, Terraba and Coto Brus river regions, where it climbs to about 1200 m or slightly higher. It is absent from the Golfo Dulce lowlands. Overall the species ranges from Mexico south to Bolivia, Argentina and Brazil.

When to see it

Breeding in Costa Rica runs from February to June. The nest is a deep cup of rootlets and fibres bound with spider web, set low on a thin shrub, usually about 1.6 m up, with two eggs typical.

Similar birds

The male Red-throated Ant-Tanager looks very similar, with a red crown patch. It is found only on the Caribbean slope, is duller overall, and has a brighter, more contrasting red throat. A bird on the Pacific slope is the Red-crowned.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

Costa Rican sources use the name Tangara hormiguera coronirroja. Other Spanish names in use elsewhere include Habia coronirroja and Fueguero morado.

Status and conservation

The official Costa Rican bird list gives it resident status.

Photography tips

Poor light and constant movement make it a challenge. Look for a family group in the shady understory and be ready for the moment the male raises his red crown.