Lanceolated Monklet
Micromonacha lanceolata
Small puffbird, always rare in the middle levels of lowland and foothill forest. Typical puffbird shape: rotund with a large flat head and thick hooked bill. Brown above and white below with heavy blackish streaking. Unlikely to be mistaken. Easy to overlook as it perches quietly, often around a clearing or edge within forest. Usually single or in pairs, occasionally associating with a mixed-species flock. Listen for rising whistled calls.
Identification
The lanceolated monklet is 13 to 15 cm (5.1 to 5.9 in) long and weighs 19 to 22 g (0.67 to 0.78 oz). It is entirely warm brown with scale-like buffy markings above. It has white bristles around the base of the large bill, and white "whiskers", which are actually tufts of feathers. Its lores and a half ring behind the eye are white. The wings and the top side of the tail are dark brown and the tail's underside is gray. Most of its underparts are white with heavy black streaks; the center of the belly is unstreaked and the vent area has an ochre tinge.
Taxonomy
The lanceolated monklet is the only member of its genus, and the only bird called a "monklet". It has no subspecies, though the population in Costa Rica and western Panama has been discussed as possibly being one.
- Scientific name
- Micromonacha lanceolata
- Authority
- (Deville, 1849)
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Bucconidae
- Genus
- Micromonacha
Range and habitat
The lanceolated monklet is found in several disjunct areas. One is the Caribbean slope in Costa Rica and into west central Panama. Another extends from west central Colombia south to west central Ecuador. The largest area includes eastern Ecuador, southern Colombia, western Brazil, and eastern Peru. It is also found in a few locations in Bolovia. It inhabits a variety of landscapes including the edges and natural clearings of primary and mature secondary forest, small forest patches, shade coffee plantations, and lowland and montane evergreen forest. It tends to occur in the mid- and upper vegetation levels. In elevation it mostly occurs between 300 and 1,500 m (980 and 4,900 ft) but can be found as high as 2,100 m (6,900 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The lanceolated monklet hunts from a perch, typically 4 to 8 m (13 to 26 ft) above the ground, and sallies from it for its insect prey. Its diet also includes berries. It sometimes follows mixed-species foraging flocks.<p>One lanceolated monklet nest was in a chamber at the end of a 40 cm (16 in) long tunnel in an earthen bank. The clutch of two white eggs was laid on dry leaves.<p>The lanceolated monklet's song is "1–5 high, thin, plaintive rising whistles, 'sewee ... sewee sewee-sewee-sewee’swee’swee', each slightly higher than preceding one". Its contact call is a "thin, high-pitched 'tsip tsip'".
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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