Chestnut-headed Nunlet
Nonnula amaurocephala
Small puffbird with a large head and bill. Uncommon and rarely encountered, restricted to a small area along the Amazon river in central-western Amazonia. Typically found in the understory of dense, shaded flooded forests. Plumage is mostly a uniform rufous-brownish, with darker brown wings and upperparts.
Identification
The chestnut-headed nunlet is 14 to 15 cm (5.5 to 5.9 in) long and weighs 15 to 16 g (0.53 to 0.56 oz). Its entire head, upper mantle, breast, and upper belly are bright rufous. Its back, wings, and tail are plain dull brown; the rump has an olive wash. The rufous upper belly grades to whitish on the lower belly. The bill is mostly black, the eye red, and the feet lead gray.
Taxonomy
The chestnut-headed nunlet is monotypic. It, the rufous-capped nunlet (N. ruficapilla), and the grey-cheeked nunlet (N. frontalis) form a superspecies.
- Scientific name
- Nonnula amaurocephala
- Authority
- Chapman, 1921
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Bucconidae
- Genus
- Nonnula
Range and habitat
The chestnut-headed nunlet is found only in a small part of Brazil's Amazonas state, north of the Amazon River and west of the Negro River. It almost exclusively inhabits the understory of seasonally flooded igapó forest, usually up to about 3 m (10 ft) above the ground but sometimes as high as 8 m (26 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The chestnut-headed nunlet has been observed sallying from a perch, presumably to catch invertebrate prey, but no details of its feeding behavior or diet have been published.<p>No details of the chestnut-headed nunlet's breeding phenology have been published.<p>No recordings or description of the chestnut-headed nunlet's vocalizations are available as of late 2021.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Other Birds
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