24 January 2010, Semaphore Hill Road, Gamboa, Panama

A small Army Ant trail attracted a number of species including this Western
Slaty-Antshrike. The last time I saw this species, decades ago, it was
called just "Slaty Antshrike" and it had a different scientific name
(Thamnophilus punctatus) now reserved for the Northern Slaty-Antshrike.
Recent research based on vocal differences and genetics has split this bird
into six different Slaty-Antshrikes, five restricted to South America and
this one ranging from Guatemala to Ecuador.

This is a male. Females are similar but brown in color. Following current
taxonomy, this is the nominate race, with one other race confined to an
island off Columbia.

Reference: Isler, M.L., P.R. Isler and B.M. Whitney. 1997. Biogeography and
systematics of the Thamnophilus punctatus (Thamnophilidae) complex. In:
Studies in Neotropical Ornithology Honoring Ted Parker. J.V. Remsen, Jr.
(ed.). Ornithological Monographs No. 48. The American Ornithologists'
Union, Washington, D.C. 1997. (This 900+ page monograph can be downloaded
for free at: http://elibrary.unm.edu/sora/om/om048.pdf)

Digiscoped with Panasonic DMC-LZ5 | Nikon FieldScope 3 | 30X WA | hand-held (no adapter)