Russet Antshrike

The russet antshrike is 13 to 15 cm (5.1 to 5.9 in) long and weighs about 19 to 24 g (0.67 to 0.85 oz). The species has a rather stocky body and a heavy bill with a hooked tip. The sexes have almost identical plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies T. a. anabatinus have an olive-yellow supercilium, a dusky line through the eye, and pale olive-brown ear coverts. Their forehead, crown, and upperparts are olive-brown. Their tail is rufous and their wings cinnamon-rufous. Their throat, breast, and belly are pale yellowish olive and their flanks and undertail coverts olive. Males have a patch of cinnamon or orange-rufous between their shoulders that is very hard to see in the field; females lack it. In both sexes their iris is red-brown to brown, their bill dark gray to blackish or dark brown, and their legs and feet blue-gray to pale gray. Subspecies T. a. saturatus is slightly darker than the nominate. Its iris is red-brown, its maxilla greenish black, its mandible horn, and its legs and feet greenish slate. T. a. coronatus has a rufescent crown and yellower underparts than the nominate. Its iris is red or auburn, its maxilla slate or gray with some fuscous-black, its mandible bluish gray or light gray, and its legs and feet light green to gray.T. a. intermedius is slightly darker than coronatus and the male's shoulder patch has some blackish spots. T. a. …

The subspecies of the russet antshrike are found thus:

T. a. anabatinus: on the Caribbean slope from Chiapas, Tabasco, and Oaxaca in Mexico south through northern Guatemala and southern Belize into northern Honduras T. a. saturatus: Caribbean slope of Nicaragua, Caribbean and Pacific slopes of Costa Rica (except the far northwest), and slightly into western Panama's Chiriquí Province T. a. coronatus: from central Panama to and possibly into northwestern Colombia T. a. intermedius: Pacific slope of Colombia's Western Andes south from Antioquia Department and the western slope of the Andes in Ecuador south almost to Peru T. a. gularis: Venezuela's Táchira state and possibly adjacent northeastern Colombia T. a. aequatorialis: eastern slope of Colombia's Eastern Andes from Meta Department south through eastern Ecuador just into far northern Peru's Amazonas Department (However, the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society does not recognize any records in Peru.) In much of its range the russet antshrike inhabits evergreen forest both lowland and montane and adjacent secondary forest. In northern Central America it also occurs in semideciduous forest. It usually remains in the forest subcanopy and canopy. In elevation it ranges from near sea level to about 1,300 m (4,300 ft) in northern Central America and to 1,500 m (4,900 ft) in Costa Rica. …

The russet antshrike feeds mostly on arthropods and has also been seen eating fruit. It forages singly or in pairs and almost always as part of a mixed-species feeding flock. It forages almost entirely in the forest's subcanopy and canopy, flying from tree to tree and there energetically hopping along trunks, branches, and vines. It gleans prey from foliage both live and dead, stems, vines, and clusters of moss. It has been observed attending an army ant swarm, descending to near the ground to capture prey fleeing the ants.