Blue-lored Antbird

The blue-lored antbird is 18 to 19 cm (7.1 to 7.5 in) long and weighs about 39 to 44 g (1.4 to 1.6 oz). Both sexes have pale blue lores, a ring of bare pale blue skin around their eye, and a deep red iris. Adult males of the nominate subspecies are mostly very dark gray with a hidden white line at the bend of the wing. Adult females have a dark reddish brown crown, upperparts, and wings. Their tail is blackish. Their forehead, face, and upper throat are blackish. Their underparts are a paler and grayer reddish brown than their upperparts. Subadult males resemble adult females. Subspecies H. i. concepcion has few differences from the nominate. Males appear to have a larger area of blue skin on their lores and forehead. Females are less rufous and their flanks and undertail coverts are paler.

The blue-lored antbird has a disjunct distribution. The nominate subspecies is found in Colombia's Serranía del Perijá, Colombia's Eastern Andes, and in Venezuela's Lara, Mérida, and Táchira states. Subspecies H. i. concepcion is found further west in Colombia, in Bolívar Department's Serranía de San Lucas and in the Central Andes as far south as eastern Valle de Cauca and northwestern Tolima departments. The species inhabits the understorey and edges of humid evergreen forest and mature secondary forest. It mostly occurs in regenerating landslides and tree-falls on steep hillsides and ravines. In elevation it ranges between about 500 and 2,100 m (1,600 and 6,900 ft) in Colombia and 900 and 1,700 m (3,000 and 5,600 ft) in Venezuela.

The blue-lored antbird feeds on a variety of insects, other arthropods, and probably also small vertebrates. It typically forages singly, in pairs, or in family groups in dense vegetation, mostly on the ground and within about 1 m (3 ft) above it. It hops between short feeding stops, pumping its tail. It regularly follows army ant swarms to capture prey fleeing the ants and only occasionally joins mixed-species feeding flocks.