Phaenostictus mcleannani

One of my favorite birds from our October Costa Rica trip was this Ocellated Antbird. The colors and patterns are striking, making it a great photographic subject. On top of that, this antbird spends its time in dark areas under the canopy making it a challenge to photograph. Like other antbirds this species feeds at army ant swarms, snatching up insects fleeing the army ants. It is my understanding that this species forages exclusively around ant swarms. It is my guess that this particular individual was in search of an ant swarm since when we saw it there was no evidence of army ants in the area. This bird hopped from branch to branch calling when in our area giving us some excellent looks before it moved off away from the trail.

www.texastargetbirds.com


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