Zeledon's Antbird

How to find it

Listening for the song is the first step, because it sings from dense cover and is not always easy to see. Birders have found it at small army ant swarms in Caribbean slope foothill forest, together with Ocellated Antbird and Spotted Barbtail, so an active swarm is worth checking. Steep slopes, ravines and tree-fall gaps suit it, since it favours regrowth there. Roadside plants are worth scanning too, as an excited pair once hopped through them calling loudly. Expect it to stay hidden even when very near.

How to recognise it

Look for these marks:

Males are mostly black.

Females are mostly dark brown.

Both sexes have a wide pale blue ring around the eye and a deep red iris, the best mark if you get a clear view.

Any white on the male's wing is almost always hidden, so do not count on it.

It is a medium-sized antbird, about 17 to 20 cm long, weighing roughly 40 to 56 g. It also has a habit of lowering its tail and then slowly raising it back to horizontal or slightly higher.

Behaviour and diet

Zeledon's Antbird forages on the ground and in low forest growth, mostly within 1 to 2 m of the ground. It usually forages in pairs and regularly follows army ant swarms when they are available.

It eats many kinds of arthropods and also small lizards and frogs. Prey records from Costa Rica and Panama include grasshoppers. It tends to sing from dense cover, so it is not always easy to see.

Where it lives

It lives in the understorey and edges of humid evergreen forest and mature secondary forest in the foothills. It favours regrowth at landslides and tree-falls on steep slopes and ravines.

In Costa Rica it lives mostly on the Caribbean slope and much less often on the Pacific slope. It is mostly found above about 500 m on the Caribbean side and above about 900 m on the Pacific side. Across Central America the range is about 250 to 1,750 m.

Similar birds

It looks very much like the Blue-lored Antbird, which does not occur in Costa Rica, so confusion with it is not a worry here. Zeledon's has a slightly longer bill, and females are darker on the crown than that species.

Names and lore in Costa Rica

The Spanish name used in Costa Rica is Hormiguero de Zeledón. The name honours the Costa Rican naturalist José Castulo Zeledón (1846 to 1923).

Status and conservation

The AOCR list marks it as a resident (R), fairly uncommon on the Caribbean slope and rare on the Pacific slope.

Photography tips

Patience matters more than gear. One group heard it at close range along the Tapantí road and saw no movement at all, so it can stay hidden when very near. Another year a roadside bird there was very cooperative. Stay still, listen for the song, and watch low roadside plants and any army ant swarm.