Paradise Jacamar
Galbula dea
Unmistakable. Fairly common and widespread across much of Amazonia. Very long pointed tail and long straight bill lend to its distinctive silhouette. Overall dark glossy-black with a white throat. Wings are iridescent blue-green in good light. Sexes similar. Unlike most other jacamars, tends to perch conspicuously on open branches in the canopy, often in pairs. Typically found around clearings or at the edge of mature lowland forest, even along roadsides.
Identification
The paradise jacamar is 25.5 to 34 cm (10.0 to 13.4 in) long and weighs 25 to 32.5 g (0.88 to 1.15 oz). Both sexes of the nominate have a dark brown crown and are glossy black on the rest of the upper parts. They have a white throat and upper breast; the rest of the underparts are blackish. The other subspecies differ in a few ways. G. d. amazonum's crown is lighter and the white throat more extensive, and G. d. phainopepla is similar to it. G. d. brunneiceps's crown is lighter and its upper parts have a bronzy greenish sheen.
Taxonomy
Early in the 20th century the paradise jacamar was placed in the monotypic genus Urogalba, but it has been in Galbula since the middle of the century. It has four subspecies, the nominate Galbula dea dea, G. d. amazonum, G. d. brunneiceps, and G. d. phainopepla. It is possible that they are actually clinal variations of one species.
- Scientific name
- Galbula dea
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Order
- Galbuliformes
- Family
- Galbulidae
- Genus
- Galbula
Range and habitat
The paradise jacamar is found throughout most of the Amazon Basin. The subspecies are distributed thus:<p>The paradise jacamar mostly inhabits terra firme, várzea, and savanna forests, both primary and secondary. It is also found in dry forest and gallery forest. It is most often found along edges or in open areas such as clearings and treefalls, and rarely in the forest interior. Unusually for a jacamar, it is mostly seen in the canopy rather than the mid level. It is most often found below 500 m (1,600 ft) of elevation but locally occurs up to 1,100 m (3,600 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The paradise jacamar's diet is primarily Lepidoptera, Odonata, Diptera, and Hymenoptera, but it also takes other flying insects. It perches on exposed branches by itself, in pairs, or in small groups and sallies out to catch its prey. It sometimes joins mixed-species foraging flocks in the canopy.<p>A pair of paradise jacamars was seen excavating a burrow in an arboreal termite nest, and pairs have often been seen near such nests. No other information about the species' breeding phenology has been recorded.<p>The paradise jacamar's song is "a well-spaced “peep peep peep peep peep peep pee pee pe pe”, usually descending, becoming slightly faster and weaker towards [the] end" [1]. Its calls are variously "a single 'pip', 'peeap' or 'glewweh'" [2].
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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