The Slaty Antwren, Myrmotherula schisticolor, is a small passerine

Passerine

A passerine is a bird of the order Passeriformes, which includes more than half of all bird species. Sometimes known as perching birds or, less accurately, as songbirds, the passerines form one of the most diverse terrestrial vertebrate orders: with over 5,000 identified species, it has roughly...

 bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

 in the antbird

Antbird

The antbirds are a large family, Thamnophilidae, of passerine birds found across subtropical and tropical Central and South America, from Mexico to Argentina. There are more than 200 species, known variously as antshrikes, antwrens, antvireos, fire-eyes, bare-eyes and bushbirds...

 family. It is a resident breeder in tropical Central

Central America

Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...

 and South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

 from southern Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 to western Ecuador

Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

 and eastern Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

.

This is a common bird in the understory of wet forest and in adjacent tall second growth in foothills typically from 700 m to 1700 m altitude, although locally it may be found down to sea level or up to 2000 m. The female lays two red-brown spotted white eggs, which are incubated by both sexes, in a deep pouch nest constructed from plant fibres. The nest is suspended from the fork of a thin twig less than 2 m up. The male and female parents both feed the chicks.

The Slaty Antwren is typically 10 cm long, and weighs 9.5 g. The adult male is mainly dark slate with a black throat and breast, black wings with white spots, and a concealed white shoulder patch. The white on the wings is less extensive than in related species. The adult female is olive-brown above and buff-brown below, paler on the throat. Young males are darker, duller and greyer than the adult female. This species has a thin cheeur call, and the infrequent song is a soft t’week t’week t’week t’week weet weet weet weet .

The Slaty Antwren is normally found as pairs, and often joins a mixed-species feeding flock

Mixed-species feeding flock

A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species, that join each other and move together while foraging...

 with woodcreeper

Woodcreeper

The woodcreepers comprise a subfamily of sub-oscine passerine birds endemic to the Neotropics. They have traditionally been considered a distinct family Dendrocolaptidae, but most authorities now place them as a subfamily of the ovenbirds...

s, Red-crowned Ant-Tanager

Red-crowned Ant-Tanager

The Red-crowned Ant-Tanager, Habia rubica, is a medium-sized passerine bird from tropical America. The genus Habia was long placed with the tanagers , but it is actually closer to the cardinals...

s, ovenbird

Ovenbird

The Ovenbird is a small songbird of the New World warbler family . This migratory bird breeds in eastern North America and moves south in winter.-Taxonomy:...

s and Basileuterus

Basileuterus

Basileuterus is a genus of New World warblers, best represented in Central and South America. This is one of only two warbler genera that are well represented in the latter continent...

warblers

New World warbler

The New World warblers or wood-warblers are a group of small, often colorful, passerine birds restricted to the New World. They are not related to the Old World warblers or the Australian warblers....

. It feeds on insect

Insect

Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...

s and spider

Spider

Spiders are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, and chelicerae with fangs that inject venom. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species diversity among all other groups of organisms...

s, taken from foliage.