The black-breasted puffbird (''Notharchus pectoralis'') 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

Bucconidae The puffbirds and their relatives in the near passerine family Bucconidae are tropical tree-dwelling insectivorous birds that are found from South America up to Mexico. Together with their closest relatives, the jacamars, they form a divergent li ...

, the puffbirds, nunlets, and nunbirds. It is found in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

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 ...

, and

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The black-breasted puffbird 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 "unispec ...

. It is closely related to the

brown-banded puffbird The brown-banded puffbird (''Notharchus ordii'') is a species of bird in the family Bucconidae, the puffbirds, nunlets, and nunbirds. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Peru, and Venezuela.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso ...

(''N. ordii'') and some authors have proposed that they 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 24 August 2021. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved 24 August 2021Rasmussen, P. C. and N. Collar (2020). Black-breasted Puffbird (''Notharchus pectoralis''), 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.blbpuf1.01 retrieved 29 October 2021

Description

The black-breasted puffbird is long and weighs between . The plumage is mostly glossy blue-black, with a white collar, cheeks, throat, and belly, a blue-black breast band, and a black tail with white tips on the feathers. The closed wing and rump show narrow white scallops. The flanks are dark gray with buffy marks. The heavy bill is black, as are the feet, and the iris of the eye is dark brown or red. The two sexes are the same, and the plumage of juvenile birds has not been described.

Distribution and habitat

The black-breasted puffbird is found from the

Canal Zone The Panama Canal Zone ( es, Zona del Canal de Panamá), also simply known as the Canal Zone, was an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the Isthmus of Panama, that existed from 1903 to 1979. It was located within the terri ...

of Panama east into central Colombia and south through western Colombia into northwestern Ecuador. It inhabits humid lowland

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

and

secondary forest A secondary forest (or second-growth forest) is a forest or woodland area which has re-grown after a timber harvest or clearing for agriculture, until a long enough period has passed so that the effects of the disturbance are no longer evident. ...

from sea level to . It is seldom found near forest edges, and is more restricted to forests than its close relatives, but is often found near running water. It is usually found in the canopy, but will descend to the forest floor to pursue prey flushed by

army ant The name army ant (or legionary ant or ''marabunta'') is applied to over 200 ant species in different lineages. Because of their aggressive predatory foraging groups, known as "raids", a huge number of ants forage simultaneously over a limit ...

swarms.

Behavior

Feeding

The black-breasted puffbird hunts from a perch by diving on its prey and will also follow army ant swarms. It beats its catch on the perch before eating it. It takes a range of prey species, including centipedes and millipedes, scorpions, spiders, cockroaches, mantises, grasshoppers, beetles, and lizards.

Breeding

The black-breasted puffbird's breeding season spans from March to May in Colombia and March to July in Panama. Both parents excavate the nesting burrow in an arboreal

termitarium Termites are small insects that live in colonies and have distinct castes (eusocial) and feed on wood or other dead plant matter. Termites comprise the infraorder Isoptera, or alternatively the epifamily Termitoidae, within the order Blattod ...

, typically from high. The clutch size is three eggs, but no more than two fledged young from a brood have been observed. Both parents incubate the eggs.

Vocalization

The black-breasted puffbird's song is "10–30 loud 'kwee' whistles followed by 3 or so lower, slower 'whew' whistles ending with a few fading 'wheet-whew' wolf-whistles". It also makes a "rasping 'chah-chah-chah call when disputing territory.

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 black-breasted puffbird 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 has a large range and a population of at least 50,000 mature individuals, though the latter is believed to be decreasing. The species is generally uncommon, but may be overlooked frequently due to its habit of remaining motionless for hours. Habitat disturbance is a threat.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1265418

black-breasted puffbird The black-breasted puffbird (''Notharchus pectoralis'') is a species of bird in the family Bucconidae, the puffbirds, nunlets, and nunbirds. It is found in Colombia, Ecuador, and Panama. Taxonomy and systematics The black-breasted puffbird ...

Birds of Panama Birds of Colombia Birds of the Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena

Taxonomy articles created by Polbot