Myrmeciza longipes
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~30% in a week ~50%
The white-bellied antbird (Myrmeciza longipes), is a passerine bird in subfamily Thamnophilinae of family Thamnophilidae, the "typical antbirds". It is found in Panama, on Trinidad, and across northern South America. It is also called Swainson's antcatcher (usually in historical sources) after William Swainson, who first described it scientifically.
The white-bellied antbird was described by the English naturalist William Swainson in 1825 and given the binomial name Drymophila longipes. It was moved to genus Myrmeciza in 1841 by the English zoologist George Robert Gray with it as the type species. The genus formerly included more than 20 species. A molecular phylogenetic study published in 2013 found that Myrmeciza, as then defined, was polyphyletic. In the resulting rearrangement to create monophyletic genera, most of the species then in Myrmeciza were moved to 12 other genera leaving the white-bellied antbird as only the only member of the genus.
The name Myrmeciza derives from the Greek "myrmeco-" (ant) and "-izo" (ambush). The specific epithet also comes from Greek, "longi-" (long) and "-pes" (foot). Both are somewhat inaccurate, as the species is... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tayrona National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 2 | Soberanía National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 3 | Henri Pittier National Park | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | |
| 4 | Parque Natural Metropolitano | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 5 | Chagres National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Caracas | 🇻🇪 Venezuela |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a White-bellied Antbird sighting in Soberanía National Park on a given day, based on 990 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 176th most-seen of the 449 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 30%, and over a week to about 50%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October
In that month about 20% of wildlife watchers report a White-bellied Antbird in Soberanía National Park on a given day, against about 10% in November to September, the lowest months. That is one of Soberanía National Park's wettest months, with about 330 mm of rain against 25 mm in February.
Between 8 and 11 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most White-bellied Antbird sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 5 parks where we can rate White-bellied Antbird sightings, Soberanía National Park ranks 2nd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Tayrona National Natural Park (Colombia, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the White-bellied Antbird is recorded against all the birds logged in Soberanía National Park (990 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
