Riparian Antbird

The riparian antbird is 14 to 15 cm (5.5 to 5.9 in) long. Males are almost entirely dark gray, though a slightly lighter gray on their underparts. They have a mostly concealed white patch between their scapulars, a small white patch on the scapulars, and narrow white tips on their wing coverts. Females have a rufous-tinged tawny crown; their upperparts and wings are brownish olive with a small white interscapular patch. Their forehead and face are orange-tawny. Their tail is gray with an olivaceous tinge on the feather edges. Their throat and underparts are orange-rufous with a gray tinge to their flanks.

The riparian antbird is found from southern Amazonas Department in extreme southeastern Colombia south through far eastern Ecuador, eastern Peru, and southwestern Amazonian Brazil into northeastern Bolivia as far as Cochabamba Department. It almost exclusively inhabits riverside várzea forest and thickets on river islands; in southeastern Peru it also occurs in stands of bamboo. In elevation it mostly ranges between 100 and 600 m (300 and 2,000 ft), though in Ecuador it occurs below 500 m (1,600 ft) and elsewhere locally reaches 850 m (2,800 ft).

The riparian antbird's diet and foraging behavior have not been studied. They are probably similar to those of its former "parent" blackish antbird, which see here.