The fire-eyes, Pyriglena, are a genus of bird

Bird

Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...

s in the antbird

Antbird

The antbirds are a large family, Thamnophilidae, of passerine birds found across subtropical and tropical Central and South America, from Mexico to Argentina. There are more than 200 species, known variously as antshrikes, antwrens, antvireos, fire-eyes, bare-eyes and bushbirds...

 family Thamnophilidae.The genus contains three species, all found in South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

. The fire-eyes are 16–18 cm in length, weigh 25-36 g and have characteristic red eyes that give them their name. They have sexually dimorphic

Sexual dimorphism

Sexual dimorphism is a phenotypic difference between males and females of the same species. Examples of such differences include differences in morphology, ornamentation, and behavior.-Examples:-Ornamentation / coloration:...

 plumage

Plumage

Plumage refers both to the layer of feathers that cover a bird and the pattern, colour, and arrangement of those feathers. The pattern and colours of plumage vary between species and subspecies and can also vary between different age classes, sexes, and season. Within species there can also be a...

, with the females possessing brown to buff coloured bodies with black tails, and the males being black with small patches of white on the back or wings. The fire-eyes eat a variety of insects, and will regularly follow army ants

Ant-follower

Ant-followers are birds that feed by following swarms of army ants and take prey flushed by those ants. The best known ant-followers are 18 species of antbird in the family Thamnophilidae, but other families of birds may follow ants including thrushes, chats, ant-tanagers, cuckoos, and...

 in order to catch prey flushed by them. Two of the fire-eyes are widespread and safe, but one species, the Fringe-backed Fire-eye

Fringe-backed Fire-eye

Pyriglena atra is a rare species of bird in the antbird family known by the common names Fringe-backed Fire-eye and Swainson's Fire-eye. It is endemic to Brazil, where it is known from a strech of coastal forest habitat in Sergipe and Bahia....

, is threatened with extinction.

Species

• Fringe-backed Fire-eye
  Fringe-backed Fire-eye
  Pyriglena atra is a rare species of bird in the antbird family known by the common names Fringe-backed Fire-eye and Swainson's Fire-eye. It is endemic to Brazil, where it is known from a strech of coastal forest habitat in Sergipe and Bahia....
  
   (Pyriglena atra)
• White-backed Fire-eye
  White-backed Fire-eye
  The White-backed Fire-eye is a species of bird in the Thamnophilidae family.It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Peru....
  
   (Pyriglena leuconota)
• White-shouldered Fire-eye
  White-shouldered Fire-eye
  The White-shouldered Fire-eye is a species of bird in the Thamnophilidae family. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay....
  
  (Pyriglena leucoptera)