Antswarms at Calle Maipo, Cerro Azul, a report by Bill Adsett
The were antswarms - quite possibly the same one twice - on Calle Maipo on October 21 and again today. Apart from the usual trio of antbirds (Spotted, Bicolored and Ocellated) both were accompanied by a bit of a strange - but at times exciting - mixture of birds. The one last week had 4 species of woodcreeper - Barred, Spotted, Plain Brown and Ruddy. I have noticed before that whenever the latter two species are together, the Ruddies bully the Plain Browns, diving on them and taking over their tree trunk (possibly also their prey). Also, the Ruddies always keep their head feathers raised in such situations. The swarm was also attended by Swainson's Thrushes, a Nightingale Wren and a Kentucky Warbler. There was an immature Barred Forest-Falcon. It bore all the standard fieldmarks, and the collar was plain to see, but the underparts were quite different to those described in any book (though I have still to check Wetmore) being virtually immaculate pale creamy white except for some d...