Barred Puffbird
Nystalus radiatus
An unobtrusive bird with an oversized head and bill. Look for tiger-striped pattern—warm cinnamon-brown overall with uneven black barring. Also note slightly darker cap and staring pale eye. Uncommon; found around forest edge and secondary woodland in the lowlands from Panama to western Ecuador. Perches still for long periods of time, often on an exposed perch. Frequently detected by distinctive wolf-whistling calls.
Identification
The barred puffbird is about 22 cm (8.7 in) long and weighs about 63 g (2.2 oz). Its crown is blackish with dark rufous bars. The upper nape is black, the lower nape yellowish red, and the upper mantle black. The rest of the upperparts and the wings are dark chestnut with narrow black bands. The tail is long, narrow, and chestnut with narrow black bands. The chin is whitish. The face and underparts are pale rufous with fine blackish bars except in the center of the belly. The bill is grayish yellow to blackish, the eye creamy yellow, and the feet greenish gray. The "fulvidus" morph is a deeper rufous overall.
Taxonomy
In the first half of the twentieth century the barred puffbird was treated by some authors as belonging to genus Ecchaunornis, but since then was returned to genus Nystalus. It is monotypic. A proposed subspecies, "N. r. fulvidus" is probably a color morph.
- Scientific name
- Nystalus radiatus
- Authority
- (Sclater, PL, 1854)
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Bucconidae
- Genus
- Nystalus
Range and habitat
The barred puffbird is resident from central Panama into northern Colombia and through western Colombia into western Ecuador. It inhabits the lower levels of several semi-open landscapes including the borders of humid and wet forest, streamside vegetation, clearings with scattered trees, and the edges of forest trails. In Ecuador it has regularly been recorded perched on wires in agricultural areas. In elevation it is usually found up to 900 m (3,000 ft) but has been recorded locally in the Mindo, Ecuador region as high as 1,675 m (5,500 ft) and once at 1,550 m (5,100 ft) in Colombia.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The barred puffbird's foraging behavior has not been documented; other puffbirds typically hunt by sallying from a perch. Its diet includes large insects of several orders and small lizards.<p>The only described nest of a barred puffbird was a cup of dead leaves. It was in a spherical chamber at the end of a narrow tunnel excavated in a clay bank and partially shaded by vegetation. It contained two well-grown nestlings.<p>The barred puffbird's song is "a long, slow, ventriloquial and very human-like wolf-whistle, 'phweeeeeet-weeeeeeuuuu'". Near the nest it made low-pitched "werr" and "werr werr woo" calls.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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