Malacoptila Fusca

The white-chested puffbird (''Malacoptila fusca'') is a species of near-passerine bird in the family Bucconidae, the puffbirds, nunlets, and nunbirds. It is one of seven species in the genus ''Malacoptila''. It is found in Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela.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 24 August 2021. Species Lists of Birds for South American Countries and Territories. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCCountryLists.htm retrieved August 24, 2021

Taxonomy and systematics

The white-chested puffbird and the semicollared puffbird (''M. semicincta'') were for a time considered conspecific but are now treated as 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 24 August 2021. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved August 24, 2021 It is monotypic, though a subspecies ''M. s. venezuelae'' was proposed in the mid 1900s.Schulenberg, T. S. and H. Batcheller (2020). White-chested Puffbird (''Malacoptila fusca''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.whcpuf1.01 retrieved November 3, 2021

Description

The white-chested puffbird is about long and weighs about . The head, upperparts, and wing coverts are dark brown, with the crown being blackish brown. Pale shafts to the feathers give a streaked appearance. The tail is warm brown. It has a whitish "whisker" and chin and a thin white crescent across the upper breast. The underparts are dirty white or buff with brown streaks and mottling. The bill is yellow-orange with a black tip, the eye reddish brown, yellow, or red, and the legs and feet yellow olive to pale olive.

Distribution and habitat

The white-chested puffbird is found in two large disjunct areas. One is from eastern Colombia and southwestern Venezuela south through eastern Ecuador and central Peru as far as the valley of the Apurímac River. The other is in the lower Amazon Basin from the Guianas east and south into Brazil's Amazonas and Pará states. It inhabits the understory of tropical evergreen forest, both ''terra firme'' and '' várzea''. It is a bird of the lowlands. In elevation it ranges up to in Venezuela, in Colombia, in Ecuador (though locally to ), and in Peru.

Behavior

Feeding

The white-chested puffbird hunts from a perch several meters above the ground, remaining motionless for long periods before sallying to capture prey on the ground or from vegetation. It then usually flies to a different perch. It sometimes follows army ant swarms. Its diet has not been described in detail, but it is probably mostly insects with some small invertebrates.

Breeding

Essentially nothing is known about the white-chested puffbird's breeding phenology. It is thought to nest in a burrow in the ground as does its close relative the white-whiskered puffbird (''M. panamensis'').

Vocalization

The white-chested puffbird's song is "a long, descending musical trill: ''tree'e'e'e'e'e'e'e'e'ew''." Its calls include "a descending, high, mewing whistle ''peeww''."

Status

The IUCN has assessed the white-chested puffbird as being of Least Concern. It has a large range, and though its population size has not been determined it is believed to be stable. No specific threats have been identified.

References

External links

Photo


VIREO

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1265106

Malacoptila
Birds of South America
Birds of the Guianas
Birds of the Amazon Basin
Birds described in 1788
Taxa named by Johann Friedrich Gmelin
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot