Santa Marta Antbird

About the Santa Marta Antbird

The Santa Marta antbird (Drymophila hellmayri) is a Near Threatened species of bird in subfamily Thamnophilinae of family Thamnophilidae, the "typical antbirds". It is endemic to the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia.

The Santa Marta antbird and two other antbird species were previously considered subspecies of what was then called the long-tailed antbird (D. caudata); the reduced D. caudata is now called the East Andean antbird. The Santa Marta antbird is monotypic.

The Santa Marta antbird is 14.5 to 15.5 cm (5.7 to 6.1 in) long. Adult males have a black crown and back with thin white streaks except in the center of the crown. Their rump is gray with a reddish tinge. Their flight feathers are black with buff edges and their wing coverts black with two white bars. Their tail is dusky olive with white tips to the feathers and dark band above them. Their face, throat, and breast are white with bold black streaks. Their flanks and crissum are bright rufous. Females have the same pattern but different colors than males. Their upperparts have cinnamon-buff rather than white streaks and their underparts are pale buff. Wikipedia →