ML617567935

Age and sex

Adult Male - 1

Tags

Habitat

Media notes

Same individual as recordings. Found in a decently sized understory flock and did some playback of M. sunensis. Immediately got a response. Followed the flock across the rolling terra firme and got a few good recordings. Jiovany thought the flock was on the small side for what this species was traditionally found in elsewhere in Ecuador. Male aggressively responded to playback, flaring it's rump and dropping it's wings as in the video. (Time - 0827)

Observation details

**rare. The highlight of the morning was a male Rio Suno Antwren (Myrmotherula sunensis). Historically a difficult species to find, it seems to exclusively keep company with large, diverse understory mixed-species flocks in terra firme. It has become even rarer with only four documented records in eBird in the past decade. When I first met Jiovany at Tiputini during the November 2023 scouting trip, it was the first species he asked about. His hypothesis is that the increased rarity of this species is connected to the declines in the size and abundance of flocks in the region. Ever the optimist, Jiovany always tries a bit of playback when he encounters an understory flock in terra firme. I picked up the habitat as well. In a particularly hilly section I played the Merlin cut to a flock that had just crossed the trail and immediately got a response! The flock was moving away quickly so Jiovany and I bushwhacked after it.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS R7

Lens

RF100-400mm F5.6-8 IS USM

ISO

6400

Focal length

200 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/8.0

Shutter speed

1/60 sec

Dimensions

6960 pixels x 4640 pixels

Original file size

7.42 MB