Black-crested Antshrike

I finally managed to 'shoot' the Black-crested Antshrike; both male and female.

When you spot a Black-crested Antshrike (Sakesphorus canadensis) it means that it is the beginning of a little research. As you have to be certain which of the subspecies you had just 'discovered'. There are 8 known subspecies of the Black-crested Antshrike. After comparing several plates with the pictures I took and after reading some explanations I finally knew that this Black-crested Antshrike is a member of the subspecies fumosus.

These pictures were taken at the River cabin and our meeting only lasted a couple of minutes.

This is the female Black-crested Antshrike (subsp fumosus). She was accompanied by a male. I was just trying to shoot a hummingbird right at the edge of the forest when I noticed something hopping between the leaves. The first thing that caught my attention was the rufous brown crest of these birds. Ones that antshrikes always sport. 

She was continuously hopping from branch to branch so I took a lot of lucky shots just to be on the safe side. Antshrikes are either spotted in pairs or in a mixed flock, so I was looking for the guy and seconds later I spotted him too.

Compared with his significant other, the male was not in the mood to pose voluntarily in front of my camera. This is the best shot he gave me, his back. Notice on both male and female visible barred wings. They were probably foraging as it was quite early too. It is known that antshrikes like to eat insects, berries and small lizards. 

Even though I had to wait to take some clear shots of this birds, in general they are quite common. It is only that they can't sit still for a couple of minutes.

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