The paradise jacamar (''Galbula dea'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

in the family

Galbulidae The jacamars are a family, Galbulidae, of near passerine birds from tropical South and Central America, extending up to Mexico. The family contains five genera and 18 species. The family is closely related to the puffbirds, another Neotropical ...

. It is found in

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic ...

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

, and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

.Tobias, J., T. Züchner, T.A. de Melo Júnior, G. M. Kirwan, and A. Bonan (2020). Paradise Jacamar (''Galbula dea''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.parjac1.01 retrieved May 11, 2021

Taxonomy and systematics

Early in the 20th century the paradise jacamar was placed in the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

genus ''Urogalba'', but it has been in ''Galbula'' since the middle of the century.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 19 January 2021. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved January 19, 2021 It has four subspecies, the nominate ''Galbula dea dea'', ''G. d. amazonum'', ''G. d. brunneiceps'', and ''G. d. phainopepla''. It is possible that they are actually clinal variations of one species. Galbula dea Keulemans

Description

The paradise jacamar is long and weighs . Both sexes of the nominate have a dark brown crown and are glossy black on the rest of the upper parts. They have a white throat and upper breast; the rest of the underparts are blackish. The other subspecies differ in a few ways. ''G. d. amazonum''s crown is lighter and the white throat more extensive, and ''G. d. phainopepla'' is similar to it. ''G. d. brunneiceps''s crown is lighter and its upper parts have a bronzy greenish sheen.

Distribution and habitat

The paradise jacamar is found throughout most of the

Amazon Basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Bolivi ...

. The subspecies are distributed thus: *''G. d. dea'': from the upper Orinoco River in southern Venezuela east through

the Guianas The Guianas, sometimes called by the Spanish loan-word ''Guayanas'' (''Las Guayanas''), is a region in north-eastern South America which includes the following three territories: * French Guiana, an overseas department and region of France * ...

and in Brazil north of the

Amazon River The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river system in the world in comparison to the Nile. The headwaters of t ...

. *''G. d. amazonum'': north central Brazil south to northern

Mato Grosso Mato Grosso ( – lit. "Thick Bush") is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest by area, located in the Central-West region. The state has 1.66% of the Brazilian population and is responsible for 1.9% of the Brazilian GDP. Neighboring ...

state and northern Bolivia. *''G. d. brunneiceps'': southeastern Colombia, eastern Ecuador and Peru, and western Brazil south of the Amazon and west of the

Negro River Río Negro (Spanish and Portuguese, 'Black River') may refer to: Rivers Brazil * Rio Negro (Amazon), tributary of the Amazon River * Rio Negro (Mato Grosso do Sul) * Rio Negro (Paraná) * Rio Negro (Rio de Janeiro) * Rio Negro (Rondônia) * ...

. *''G. d. phainopepla'': western Brazil south of the Amazon and west of the

Madeira River The Madeira River ( pt, Rio Madeira, link=no ) is a major waterway in South America. It is estimated to be in length, while the Madeira-Mamoré is estimated near or in length depending on the measuring party and their methods. The Madeira is ...

. The paradise jacamar mostly inhabits ''

terra firme Terra may often refer to: * Terra (mythology), primeval Roman goddess * An alternate name for planet Earth, as well as the Latin name for the planet Terra may also refer to: Geography Astronomy * Terra (satellite), a multi-national NASA scienti ...

'', '' várzea'', and

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...

forests, both

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

and

secondary Secondary may refer to: Science and nature * Secondary emission, of particles ** Secondary electrons, electrons generated as ionization products * The secondary winding, or the electrical or electronic circuit connected to the secondary winding i ...

. It is also found in dry forest and gallery forest. It is most often found along edges or in open areas such as clearings and treefalls, and rarely in the forest interior. Unusually for a jacamar, it is mostly seen in the canopy rather than the mid level. It is most often found below of elevation but locally occurs up to .

Behavior

Feeding

The paradise jacamar's diet is primarily

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...

, Odonata,

Diptera Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced ...

, and

Hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order (biology), order of insects, comprising the sawfly, sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are Par ...

, but it also takes other flying insects. It perches on exposed branches by itself, in pairs, or in small groups and sallies out to catch its prey. It sometimes joins mixed-species foraging flocks in the canopy.

Breeding

A pair of paradise jacamars was seen excavating a burrow in an arboreal termite nest, and pairs have often been seen near such nests. No other information about the species' breeding

phenology Phenology is the study of periodic events in biological life cycles and how these are influenced by seasonality, seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as environmental factor, habitat factors (such as elevation). Examples includ ...

has been recorded.

Vocalization

The paradise jacamar's song is "a well-spaced “peep peep peep peep peep peep pee pee pe pe”, usually descending, becoming slightly faster and weaker towards heend

Its calls are variously "a single 'pip', 'peeap' or 'glewwe

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

has assessed the paradise jacamar as being of

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as evaluated as not being a focus of species conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. T ...

. It varies from rare to common throughout its range and has been recorded in many protected areas. "No immediate threats are known, but general habitat destruction presumably continues to reduce populations."

References

External links

Paradise jacamar videos
in the Internet Bird Collection

* ttp://www.bird-stamps.org/cspecies/9901700.htm Stamps(for

) with range map (not accurate)
Paradise jacamar photo gallery
VIRE
Photo-High Res
{{Taxonbar, from=Q942459 paradise jacamar Birds of the Amazon rainforest Birds of the Guianas paradise jacamar paradise jacamar Birds of Brazil