Pale-headed Jacamar
Brachygalba goeringi
Small jacamar with a pale brown head and bluish-black wings and tail. Smaller than other jacamars in range, with a shorter tail. Note the brown breast and chestnut band on the upper belly that contrast with the white throat, belly, and undertail. Sexes similar. No overlap with the superficially similar Brown Jacamar. Locally common, found in pairs or groups in the top of trees or exposed branches in dry forest and edges, gallery forest, and savanna woodlands. Song is a series of high pitched notes that accelerate to end in shorter trills “weet, weeet, weeet, t’weet-t’ t’weet’ t’weet’ weet’ ti’ti’ti’t’t’t.”
Identification
The pale-headed jacamar is 16.5 to 18 cm (6.5 to 7.1 in) long and weighs 16 to 18 g (0.56 to 0.63 oz). The male's crown, nape, and shoulders are ashy brown. The rest of the upper parts are dark brown glossed with greenish; they look blue-black when worn. It has a pale supercilium and a buffy-white throat. It has a chestnut band on the upper belly and dark brown flanks; the rest of the underparts are white. The female is almost identical. The juvenile has a gray crown and nape, and the upper parts are brighter and the green gloss stronger.
Taxonomy
The pale-headed jacamar is monotypic. It and the dusky-backed (B. salmoni), brown (B. lugubris), and white-throated jacamars (B. albogularis) form a superspecies.
- Scientific name
- Brachygalba goeringi
- Authority
- Sclater, PL & Salvin, 1869
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Galbulidae
- Genus
- Brachygalba
Range and habitat
The pale-headed jacamar is found from Arauca and Casanare Departments in Colombia north through northwestern Venezuela at least to Lara. It primarily inhabits the edges of gallery and secondary forest in llanos grasslands. In elevation it ranges as high as 1,100 m (3,600 ft) but is usually found much lower.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The pale-headed jacamar's diet is insects, mostly Lepidoptera and Odonata. It often perches on emergent branches in pairs or small family groups and sallies from there to catch its flying prey.<p>The pale-headed jacamar nests in burrows in earth banks. Nesting has been noted in Venezuela during April and May.<p>The pale-headed jacamar's song is a series of high "weet" notes that increase in speed and pitch and ends with a trill [1].
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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