Collared Puffbird
Bucco capensis
Distinctive medium-sized rainforest bird, easily recognized by large, mostly bright cinnamon head and orange bill, whitish underparts, and clean black band completely encircling nape and breast. Inhabits lower and middle levels of tall rainforest, sometimes up to the canopy, where it sits motionless before making sudden flights to bark, foliage, or ground for large insects and small vertebrates. Encountered singly or in pairs, but rather seldom seen due to lethargic behavior. Typically silent during the day; song—given well before first light—is a wild-sounding series of quavering notes that is unlike that of any other bird.
Identification
The collared puffbird is about 19 cm (7.5 in) long and weighs 46 to 62 g (1.6 to 2.2 oz). Its head and back are dark rufous, the rump a lighter rufous, and the tail orange-chestnut with narrow black bars. The folded wing shows fine black barring on a brown background. The chin and throat are white to buffy white that extend around the nape as a thin buffy line. Below them are a wide black collar that encircles the chest and upper back. The lower breast and the center of the belly are buffy white that darkens to dull orange on the flanks and vent. The eye is surrounded by bare orange-yellow skin; the eye color can be whitish, orange, or vermilion. The bill is mostly orange with some dusky on the maxilla. The feet can be light green, orange, or brown.
Taxonomy
In 1760 the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson included a description of the collared puffbird in his Ornithologie that was based on a specimen collected in French Guiana. He used the French name Le barbu and the Latin name Bucco. Although Brisson coined Latin names, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. When in 1766 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition he added 240 species that had been previously described by Brisson. One of these was the collared puffbird. Linnaeus included a terse description, coined the binomial name Bucco capensis, and cited Brisson's work. The specific epithet capensis denotes the Cape of Good Hope where Linnaeus mistakenly believed the birds occurred.<p>The collared puffbird is currently (2021) treated as monotypic. The population in the western part of its range has been suggested as a subspecies, Bucco capensis dugandi, but most authorities do not accept it.
- Scientific name
- Bucco capensis
- Authority
- Linnaeus, 1766
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Bucconidae
- Genus
- Bucco
Range and habitat
The collared puffbird is found in most of the Amazon Basin, from southeastern Colombia south through eastern Ecuador and Peru to northern Bolivia and east through southern Venezuela, the Guianas, and northern Brazil. In Brazil it is found as far east as Belém and south into Mato Grosso. It inhabits humid primary terra firme forest, drier hilly country, and also várzea forest in the lower Amazon. In elevation it ranges from sea level to 1,700 m (5,600 ft) but is usually found below 1,000 m (3,300 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The collared puffbird hunts by sallying from a shaded perch to pluck prey from foliage, bark, or the forest floor. Its prey includes lizards, snakes, frogs, and several types of large insects. It sometimes joins mixed-species foraging flocks and less often follows army ant swarms.<p>The collared puffbird's breeding season spans at least May to September. It lays its two glossy white eggs in a cavity excavated in an arboreal termitarium or rotted tree trunk.<p>The collared puffbird's song is "a repeated, brisk, mewing 'cua-will, cua-will…' or 'awww awwAWW-chaw awwAWW-chaw awwAWW-chaw'", and is mainly given at or just before dawn. It is frequently sung as a duet.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Principe White-eye
Zosterops ficedulinus
A small, active, mostly dull olive-green and gray warbler-like bird with a white eye-ring that is obvious with a good view. An uncommon resident in the forest canopy of interior Príncipe, where small groups join mixed-species flocks. A dry, reedy chittering contact call is often the first sign of their presence. Principe White-eye may join the same flocks as Principe Speirops, which is slightly larger and has a much whiter head.
Creamy-bellied Gnatcatcher
Polioptila lactea
Distinctive gnatcatcher. Males have a glossy black cap and are gray above with a white face and yellow-washed underparts. Females have a gray cap. Forages acrobatically in the canopy and at the edges of humid forests and woodlands. May be seen alone or with mixed-species flocks. The song is a fast, thin “weet-weet-weet-weet.”
Eastern Red-rumped Swallow
Cecropis daurica
Brightly-colored swallow with a deeply forked tail, pale orangish rump, black squared-off undertail coverts, and an incomplete orange collar. The underparts are always streaked, though there is geographical variation, with streaks ranging from fine and sparse to thick and heavy. Juveniles average paler and lack extensive orangish tones; may resemble house-martins but note deeply forked tail. Builds mud nests on mountains, cliffs, and on human structures. Forages over open areas. Frequently gives a short, sparrow-like “twi’wit.” Usually separated from European Red-rumped Swallow by range, but in case of any overlap, should be separated by evenly cinnamon rump (vs. bicolored), dark lores, dark stripe on nape, and bolder streaking on underparts.
Start Your Bird Watching Journey
Identify a bird outdoors and keep the field guide close for your next observation.