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The anteater chat or northern anteater-chat (Myrmecocichla aethiops) is a species of bird in the family Muscicapidae.It is found in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Gambia, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, and Tanzania. Its natural habitats are dry savanna, subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland, and subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland.

17–19 cm; 47–66 g. Plumage is blackish-brown throughout, with bases of flight-feathers extensively white (showing strongly in flight); bill and legs black. Sexes similar, female marginally paler. Juvenile is like adult, but throat and breast buff-edged. Race sudanensis is smaller and paler than nominate; cryptoleuca is longer-winged and darker.

Habitat : Short-grass terrain, usually with bushes and almost always with termitaria, such as savannas in W & C of range, open acacia woodland and montane grassland in E; at 1500–3000 m, mainly above 1700 m in Kenya. Also farmland and near villages; uses termitaria and broken ground such as earth holes (aardvark dens), banks and quarries, including unlined wells, for nesting and roosting. Sedentary in Kenya.

Diet and Foraging : mainly insects, such as moths, termites, beetles, ants, grasshoppers and caterpillars; also spiders, small vertebrates; occasionally fruits of Withania somnifera. Forages on ground; also from perch such as fence post, dropping to ground to take prey. Generally upright stance.

Source : https://birdsoftheworld.org/