Ocellated Antbird

When we are able to sufficiently detach from our busy, modern lives, it is possible to tune back into a flow of perception that either lies dormant and unused, or is drowned out by technological noise. As I descended a gentle slope toward a small creek burbling in the humid rainforest darkness, subconscious cues whispered “something is about to happen.” My intuition was confirmed a second later by the excited tone of our guide’s hushed exclamation: “ocellated antbird!” There is really only one way to see this elusive species. You must cross paths with an army ant swarm, and we had. Suddenly there were five species of antbird, including this one—named for the dark eye-like spots, called ocelli, on its back. The ocellated antbird does not eat the army ants; it lives symbiotically with them, following them everywhere, eating insects and other prey that they flush from their hiding spots as the arthropod army marches through the forest. The birds moved in lock-step with the ants, oblivious to our clicking shutters, flitting to perches close enough to touch. After a few minutes of intense action, the ant swarm disappeared, and the birds vanished with them.