Black-capped Antthrush

The black-headed antthrush is about 18 cm (7.1 in) long; four individuals weighed 58 to 68 g (2.0 to 2.4 oz). The sexes have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a dark dusky brown to blackish crown. Their face and throat are black with a ring of bluish white bare skin around the eye. Their back, rump, and wings are dark chestnut-brown, their uppertail coverts dark rufescent brown, and their tail black. Their flight feathers have dusky inner edges and a wide cinnamon band at the base. Their upper breast is blackish gray, their belly gray, and their undertail coverts rufous. They have a brown iris, a black bill, and dusky brown legs and feet. Subspecies F. n. destructus has darker and less reddish-tinged upperparts than the nominate.

The black-headed antthrush has a disjunct distribution. The nominate subspecies is found on the Caribbean slope of Costa Rica and the Caribbean and Pacific slopes of Panama to western Guna Yala (San Blas). Subspecies F. n. destructus is found from central Chocó Department in Colombia south on the Pacific slope into Ecuador as far as eastern Guayas and northwestern Azuay provinces. The species inhabits humid to wet primary forest and mature secondary forest. It favors ravines and other areas that have dense undergrowth. In elevation it occurs between 400 and 1,200 m (1,300 and 3,900 ft) in Costa Rica, between 400 and 1,500 m (1,300 and 4,900 ft) in Panama, from near sea level to 1,400 m (4,600 ft) in Colombia, and from near sea level to 900 m (3,000 ft) in Ecuador.

The black-headed antthrush feeds primarily on a variety of arthropods, mostly insects but including spiders, and also tiny reptiles and amphibians. It is almost entirely terrestrial. It walks slowly and deliberately with its tail cocked like a little rail. It probes crevices and tangles and flicks aside leaf litter to find prey. It sometimes follows army ant swarms to capture prey fleeing the ants.