Great Antshrike

The great antshrike is a large and distinctive bird, 19 to 20 cm (7.5 to 7.9 in) long and weighing 47.5 to 70 g (1.7 to 2.5 oz). The species exhibits significant sexual dimorphism, though both sexes of all subspecies have a large crest, a red iris, and a heavy black bill with a hook at the end like true shrikes. Adult males of the nominate subspecies T. m. major have a black head with the color extending to below the eye. Their upperparts are mostly black with a usually hidden white patch between the scapulars. Their wings are black with large white spots on the coverts that appear as bars when perched and white edges on the primaries. Their tail is black with white spots on the outer feathers. Their throat, chin, and the rest of their underparts are white with a gray tinge on the flanks. Adult females have a rufous crown and browner lores and ear coverts. Their upperparts are reddish yellow-brown, their wings reddish yellow-brown with paler feather edges, and their tail is rufous. Their chin, throat, and center of their breast are white; their crissum is light cinnamon, and the rest of their underparts are white with a cinnamon tinge. Juveniles have cinnamon or buff barring on their upper- and underparts that remains faintly in subadults. The other subspecies of the great antshrike differ from the nominate and each other thus:

T. m. …

The subspecies of the great antshrike are distributed thus:

T. m. melanocrissus: from northern Oaxaca and southern Veracruz in Mexico south on the Caribbean slope through Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica into western Panama T. m. obscurus: on Pacific slope from western Costa Rica south through Panama into Colombia's Cauca River valley and along most of Colombia's Pacific slope T. m. transandeanus: from Nariño Department in far southwestern Colombia south through western Ecuador into far northwestern Peru's Department of Tumbes T. m. granadensis: northern and central Colombia from Córdoba Department south to Meta Department and east into northwestern Venezuela as far as Miranda state T. m. semifasciatus: Trinidad, Vichada Department in far eastern Colombia, northern and central Venezuela, the Guianas, and Brazil east of the Negro River to the Atlantic and south to northern Mato Grosso and northwestern Goiás T. m. duidae: Venezuela's Cerro de la Neblina in Amazonas and Cerro Jaua in Bolívar T. m. melanurus: southeastern Colombia south through eastern Ecuador into eastern Peru and east into Brazil south of the Amazon to the middle reaches of the Purus River T. m. borbae: Brazil in eastern Amazonas and far northern Rondônia states T. m. …

The great antshrike feeds on a wide variety of largish insects and other arthropods, small molluscs, small vertebrates including mammals, lizards, and minnows, and a small amount of vegetable matter. Its diet appears to vary considerably across its range. It forages singly or in pairs, almost always within about 5 m (15 ft) of the ground in heavy cover. It hops sluggishly from branch to branch, gleaning prey from leaves, stems, and branches by reaching and sometimes jumping from a perch. It often drops to the ground to seize prey. In the Brazilian Pantanal it has been observed feeding on aquatic prey while standing on water hyacinths. It sometimes joins mixed-species feeding flocks (though almost never does so in Venezuela) and occasionally follows army ant swarms./