Hunting Strategies of Birds in Panamanian Jungle

An antbird from the humid lowland jungles of extreme eastern Panama, near the border of Colombia. Studies show the evolution of strategies that antbirds, woodcreepers and ovenbirds use to find their insect prey. Researchers discovered that one of the more interesting tactics used by antbirds and woodcreepers to find food is to follow army ants--numbering in the millions--as they march through the leaf litter, consuming every insect, spider and lizard in their path. The insects that escape the path of the ants by flight, like grasshoppers, katydids and crickets, are quickly devoured by the birds, trailing behind the swarm.

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Image credit: Robb Brumfield, Louisiana State University