White-chinned Woodcreeper Dendrocincla merula Scientific name definitions

Seven subspecies of the exclusively Amazonian White-chinned Woodcreeper are generally recognized, but it seems plausible that the nominate subspecies and D. m. obidensis, which are both restricted to areas north of the Amazon and east of the Rio Negro, are better treated as a species apart, based on differences in their songs, size, and eye color. Over its wide range, from southern Venezuela south to northeastern Bolivia, this woodcreeper inhabits a variety of forest types, but it is principally found in terra firme and floodplain regions, and is only usually observed at the fringes of seasonally flooded forests. This obligate follower of army ant swarms, which takes most of its vertebrate and invertebrate prey on or close to the ground, appears to be uncommon over the vast majority of Amazonia, perhaps as a result of it being out-competed by many of the larger ‘professional’ antbirds at many localities over western and southern localities; where these species are absent, the White-chinned Woodcreeper seems more numerous.