Buff-bellied Puffbird
Notharchus swainsoni
Uncommon chunky pied species, usually noticed perched motionless in the canopy of humid and lower montane forests. Note its sturdy bill, narrow white forehead, white breast with a narrow black collar, and buffy belly. Song is a descending series of whistles. No similar species in its range.
Identification
The buff-bellied puffbird is about 23.5 cm (9.3 in) long and weighs 72 to 75.6 g (2.5 to 2.7 oz). The crown and upperparts are black with a green gloss and buffy edges to the feathers. It has a narrow white forehead, throat, and upper breast. The sides of the face and a thin band around the nape are grayish white. A wide black band separates the upper breast from the buffy to pale rufous belly. The flanks are gray. Its eye color can be straw, brown, or red.
Taxonomy
During the second half of the twentieth century, the buff-bellied puffbird and what are now the white-necked puffbird (N. hyperrhynchus) and Guianan puffbird (N. macrorhynchus) were treated as conspecific. It is now treated as its own monotypic species.
- Scientific name
- Notharchus swainsoni
- Authority
- (Gray, GR, 1846)
- Order
- Piciformes
- Family
- Bucconidae
- Genus
- Notharchus
Range and habitat
The buff-bellied puffbird is found in eastern Paraguay, far northeastern Argentina's Misiones Province, and in southeastern Brazil from southern Bahia and Espírito Santo south to Santa Catarina. It is resident in Argentina but possibly moves from other parts of its range into São Paulo state in the austral summer. It inhabits lowland humid primary and secondary forest.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The buff-bellied puffbird hunts by sallies from a high bare perch to capture insects and sometimes small vertebrates; it also eats some fruits. It investigates army ant swarms.<p>The buff-bellied puffbird breeds in September and October in the southern part of its range; the season elsewhere is not known. It excavates a nest cavity in an arboreal termitarium, and all other known breeding phenology at least for the Paraguayan subspecies is limited to one research paper.<p>The buff-bellied puffbird's song is a "descending sequence of whistles, varying in rhythm, 'ui-ui---dibule-dibule...'."
Conservation
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
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A small brown owl with indistinct ear tufts (often not visible) and yellow irises. Largely brown, mottled with dark streaks and markings over much of the body, with pale and white markings on the wings. Inhabits forest and trees within swamps, mainly in the lowlands, but sometimes into the hills too. Distinctive: restricted to the Sula Islands, where it is the only small brown owl. Song is a tremulous, trill-like whistle repeated in quick succession (“brew-ooo”). Also gives a high shrill screech note.
Great Argus
Argusianus argus
The great tail- and wing-fanning courtship display of the male Great Argus is among the most remarkable on Earth. At rest, the long feathers and tail feathers give the blue-headed male an excessively lengthy, freight-train-like appearance. Female more warmly colored than male but lacks long plumes and has paler blue head. Inhabits lowland to foothill forests with a relatively thin understory and mature trees, from which the male’s lovelorn-sounding courtship call “kow-WOW” resonates loudly, even as it remains frustratingly hidden.
Rinjani Scops-Owl
Otus jolandae
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