The green-tailed jacamar (''Galbula galbula'') 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 lightweig ...

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 native to

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 ...

, Colombia,

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

, Guyana, Suriname, 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, and T.A. de Melo Júnior (2020). Green-tailed Jacamar (''Galbula galbula''), 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.grtjac1.01 retrieved May 10, 2021

Taxonomy and systematics

The green-tailed jacamar is

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 "unispe ...

. It and the rufous-tailed (''Galbula ruficauda''), white-chinned (''G. tombacea''), bluish-fronted (''G. cyanescens''), and coppery-chested jacamars (''G. pastazae'') are considered to form a superspecies.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 Galbula galbula - Keulemans

Description

The green-tailed jacamar is long ands weighs . The male's head, upperparts, and a band across the chest are metallic coppery green, somewhat bluer on the face. The tail is bluish green. The throat is white and the belly and vent area reddish chestnut. The female is similar but the throat is buff and the underparts are duller and paler.

Distribution and habitat

The green-tailed jacamar is found from eastern Colombia's Vichada and

Meta Department Meta () is a department of Colombia. It is close to the geographic center of the country, to the east of the Andean mountains. A large portion of the department, which is also crossed by the Meta River, is covered by a grassland plain known a ...

s east through southern and eastern Venezuela south of the

Orinoco River The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...

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 south in Brazil to the lower Madeira and

Tapajós River The Tapajós ( pt, Rio Tapajós ) is a river in Brazil. It runs through the Amazon Rainforest and is a major tributary of the Amazon River. When combined with the Juruena River, the Tapajós is approximately long. It is one of the largest cle ...

s. It inhabits the borders, but not the interior, of several humid forest types including '' terra firme'', '' várzea'',

gallery Gallery or The Gallery may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Art gallery ** Contemporary art gallery Music * Gallery (band), an American soft rock band of the 1970s Albums * ''Gallery'' (Elaiza album), 2014 album * ''Gallery'' (Gr ...

, and

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in severa ...

. It prefers open woodland,

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 ...

, and shrublands, especially along watercourses. In elevation it ranges from sea level to .

Behavior

Feeding

The green-tailed jacamar's diet is a large variety of insects though Hymenoptera predominate. It perches on exposed branches, often in pairs, and sallies from there to catch its flying prey.

Breeding

The green-tailed jacamar excavates burrows in earth banks or arboreal termite nests. It has been documented breeding February to March in Venezuela, in May, June, and August in Suriname, and in April and September in Brazil.

Vocalization

The green-tailed jacamar's song is an "accelerating 'peeo peeo peea pee-pee-pee-pee-pe-pe-pe-e-e-e-e’e’e’e' that ends in a tril

Its call is a repeated "peep" or "peer", sometimes in a serie

Status

The IUCN has assessed the green-tailed jacamar as being of Least Concern. It appears to be common in most of its range and occurs in several protected areas.

References

External links

Green-tailed jacamar videos
on the Internet Bird Collection

(for Suriname) with RangeMap
Green-tailed jacamar photo gallery
VIRE
Photo-High ResPhoto-High ResArticle
pdubois {{Taxonbar, from=Q1262221 green-tailed jacamar Birds of the Venezuelan Amazon Birds of the Guianas green-tailed jacamar green-tailed jacamar Taxonomy articles created by Polbot