Black-fronted Nunbird
Monasa nigrifrons
Fairly large, dark bird in lowland forest and forest edge. Bold red bill is striking. Similar to White-fronted Nunbird, but has a black face and is typically found in younger forest and forest edge rather than mature forest. Perches on open branches in the middle and upper levels of forest, sometimes remaining still for long periods. Often travels in pairs or groups, which frequently erupt into a cacophony of noisy, parrotlike warbles.
Identification
The black-fronted nunbird is 26 to 29 cm (10 to 11 in) long and weighs 68 to 98 g (2.4 to 3.5 oz). The adult of the nominate subspecies is mostly sooty black that is darkest around the bill (the "front"). The rear part of the body is blue-gray and the tail blue-black. The bill is red, the eye dark, and the legs black. M. n. canescens is slightly paler and grayer than the nominate. The juvenile of both is a dirty slate gray with irregular reddish marks.
Taxonomy
The black-fronted nunbird has two subspecies, the nominate M. n. nigrifrons and M. n. canescens. Some authors treat it, the black nunbird (M. atra) and the white-fronted nunbird (M. morphoeus) as a superspecies.
- Scientific name
- Monasa nigrifrons
- Authority
- (Spix, 1824)
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Bucconidae
- Genus
- Monasa
Range and habitat
The nominate subspecies of black-fronted nunbird is widespread in the Amazon Basin. It is found in southeastern Colombia, eastern Ecuador, eastern Peru, and much of Brazil. In Brazil it occurs north of the Amazon as far east as the Rio Negro and south of the Amazon as far east as Pará and Alagoas states and south to eastern Mato Grosso do Sul and western São Paulo states. M. n. canescens is found only in eastern Bolivia.<p>The black-fronted nunbird inhabits a variety of landscapes, but favors trees and bamboo along the margins of rivers and lakes. Principal forest types include várzea, igapó and gallery. It is also found in secondary forest, swampy river islands, transitional forest, and mid-succession to mature floodplain forest. Unlike many other nunbirds, it shuns terra firme forest. In elevation it is found from sea level to 1,000 m (3,300 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The black-fronted nunbird takes most of its prey in flight, though it also picks it from the ground and foliage up to about 6 m (20 ft) above it. Its diet is mostly insects and also includes other arthropods and small lizards and amphibians. It follows troops of primates and army ant swarms to capture prey dislodged by them, and sometimes also joins mixed-species foraging flocks.<p>The black-fronted nunbird's breeding season varies geographically but generally spans from April to October. It nests in a hole excavated in a bank or gently sloping or flat ground. The clutch size is three eggs.<p>The black-fronted nunbird's song is " a rapid series of melodious upslurred 'clerry' or 'curry' whistles, broken by [an] occasional downslurred 'turra turra' trill". It is often sung as a chorus by several birds.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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Drab, medium-sized flycatcher with a long slender bill. Endemic to the central and southern Philippines, from the eastern Visayas south to Mindanao and Basilan. Look for a warm rufous tail, white throat, and diffusely brown-washed chest. Inhabits lowland and foothill forests, where it forays from a low perch in the understory or forest edge. Generally unobtrusive and difficult to spot in dark understory, but listen for its song, a jumbled series of high and squeaky notes often interspersed with short buzzes. Formerly grouped with Crocker Jungle Flycatcher and Sulu Jungle Flycatcher under “Chestnut-tailed Jungle Flycatcher.”
Slaty-backed Gull
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Thickset, short-winged, pot-bellied gull. Adult has dark gray back and wings, intense pink legs, and an especially large white “crescent” (white tertial edges) near the wingtips when perched. Breeding adult white-headed; nonbreeding birds have variably heavy brown streaking on the head and upper breast. Takes four years for immatures to progress from mostly brown to fully white and gray adult plumage; intermediate plumages are often mottled and messy. Often looks rather frosty by the first winter; starts to develop a gray back and whitish eye in its second year. Primarily an Asian species, found in coastal regions from Japan and South Korea to Russia. Regularly occurs in western Alaska, but very rare elsewhere in North America.
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