Russet Antshrike

Identification

The russet antshrike is a small passerine, 13 to 15 cm long and weighing 19 to 24 g, with a rather stocky body and a heavy bill featuring a distinctive hooked tip. The sexes are almost identical in plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies display an olive-yellow supercilium, a dusky line through the eye, and pale olive-brown ear coverts. The forehead, crown, and upperparts are olive-brown, while the tail is rufous and the wings cinnamon-rufous. The throat, breast, and belly are pale yellowish olive, with olive flanks and undertail coverts. The iris ranges from red-brown to brown, the bill is dark gray to blackish or dark brown, and the legs and feet are blue-gray to pale gray. Males possess a patch of cinnamon or orange-rufous between their shoulders that is extremely difficult to see in the field; females lack this feature.

Six subspecies are recognized, each with subtle plumage variations. T. a. saturatus is slightly darker with a red-brown iris. T. a. coronatus has a rufescent crown and yellower underparts. T. a. aequatorialis displays a very dark olive-brown crown and olive-yellow throat with an orange-rufous shoulder patch marked with black spots.