The white-fronted nunbird (''Monasa morphoeus'') is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

near-passerine Near passerines and higher land-bird assemblage are terms of traditional, pre-cladistic taxonomy that have often been given to tree-dwelling birds or those most often believed to be related to the true passerines (order Passeriformes) owing to mor ...

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

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 ...

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 ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

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 ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

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 ...

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 ...

, 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 ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The white-fronted nunbird is assigned these seven subspecies: *''M. m. grandior'' Pl Sclater & Salvin (1868) *''M. m. fidelis''

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

(1912) *''M. m. pallescens'' Cassin (1860) *''M. m. sclateri'' Ridgway (1912) *''M. m. peruana'' PL Sclater (1856) *''M. m. rikeri'' Ridgway (1912) *''M. m. morphoeus'' Hahn &

Küster Küster may refer to: * Ernst Georg Ferdinand Küster (1839–1930), German surgeon * Ernst Küster (1874–1953), German botanist * Heinrich Carl Küster (1807–1876), malacologist Malacology is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals ...

(1823) The first four subspecies were at one time treated as individual species. Other authors included ''rikeri'' in the nominate ''morpheous''. Birds in northeastern Bolivia were suggested as a separate subspecies but remain included in ''peruana''. The white-fronted nunbird,

black-fronted nunbird The black-fronted nunbird (''Monasa nigrifrons'') is a species of near-passerine bird in the family Bucconidae, the puffbirds, nunlets, and nunbirds. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, ...

(''M. nigrifrons''), and

black nunbird The black nunbird (''Monasa atra'') is a species of near-passerine bird in the family Bucconidae, the puffbirds, nunlets, and nunbirds. It is found in Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bo ...

(''M. morphoeus'') are generally 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, 2021Rasmussen, P. C. and N. Collar (2020). White-fronted Nunbird (''Monasa morphoeus''), 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.whfnun1.01 retrieved November 11, 2021 White-fronted Nunbird JCB

Description

The white-fronted nunbird is long. Birds in Central America weigh , those in the eastern Amazon , those in Venezuela , and those in Bolivia . The adult of the nominate subspecies is mostly dark grayish black, somewhat grayer on the underparts. Its forehead ("front") and chin are white. Its bill is orange-red, the eye brown, and the legs black. Immatures have a buffy-rufous face and their body feathers have a brownish tinge and edges. The other subspecies of white-fronted nunbird differ in size, the darkness of their plumage, and the extent of white on the face. Northern birds are larger than southern ones. ''M. m. sclateri'' has a black chin, little contrast between the upper- and underparts, and paler wing

coverts A covert feather or tectrix on a bird is one of a set of feathers, called coverts (or ''tectrices''), which, as the name implies, cover other feathers. The coverts help to smooth airflow over the wings and tail. Ear coverts The ear coverts are sm ...

than the nominate. ''M. m. pallescens'' is similar to ''sclateri'' but paler overall with more contrast, and the white patch on the forehead is the largest of all subspecies. ''M. m. fidelis'' is like ''pallescens'' but slightly darker and with a whitish chin. ''M. m. grandior'' is slightly darker than ''fidelis'' and with little contrast. ''M. m. rikeri'' is slightly paler than the nominate and ''M. m. peruana'' even paler.

Distribution and habitat

The subspecies of white-fronted nunbird are distributed thus: *''M. m. grandior'', eastern Honduras and eastern Nicaragua through eastern Costa Rica into western Panama *''M. m. fidelis'', the Caribbean slope of eastern Panama and northwestern Colombia as far east as

Córdoba Department Córdoba most commonly refers to: * Córdoba, Spain, a major city in southern Spain and formerly the imperial capital of Islamic Spain * Córdoba, Argentina, 2nd largest city in the country and capital of Córdoba Province Córdoba or Cordoba may ...

*''M. m. pallescens'', southeastern Panama into western Colombia as far south as the upper San Juan River *''M. m. sclateri'', Colombia's

Magdalena Valley The Magdalena River Valley ( es, Valle del Río Magdalena) is a valley in Colombia located within the Colombian Andes. The valley is specifically situated between the Central and Eastern Ranges and crossed by the river of the same name, the Magda ...

including the

Serranía de las Quinchas The Serranía de las Quinchas is an 860 km2 area of tropical rainforest and cloud forest in Colombia. It lies in the mid Magdalena River Valley in the foothills of the Cordillera Oriental of the Colombian Andes. It ranges in altitude from ...

Laverde-R., Oscar; Stiles, F. Gary & Múnera-R., Claudia (2005): Nuevos registros e inventario de la avifauna de la Serranía de las Quinchas, un área importante para la conservación de las aves (AICA) en Colombia ew records and updated inventory of the avifauna of the Serranía de las Quinchas, an important bird area (IBA) in Colombia ''Caldasia'' 27(2): 247-265 panish with English abstractbr>PDF fulltext
/ref> south to northern Tolima Department *''M. m. peruana'', eastern Ecuador, southeastern Colombia, and southern Venezuela south through eastern Peru into northeastern Bolivia and east into Amazonian Brazil as far as the

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 ...

*''M. m. rikeri'', Amazonian Brazil from the Tapajós east to

Maranhão Maranhão () is a state in Brazil. Located in the country's Northeast Region, it has a population of about 7 million and an area of . Clockwise from north, it borders on the Atlantic Ocean for 2,243 km and the states of Piauí, Tocantins and ...

state *''M. m. morphoeus'', coastal eastern Brazil from

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...

south to

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

state The white-fronted nunbird inhabits a variety of wooded landscapes including lowland ''

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 ...

'',

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

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

transitional forest Forest transition refers to a geographic theory describing a reversal or turnaround in land-use trends for a given territory from a period of net forest area loss (i.e., deforestation) to a period of net forest area gain. The term "landscape turn ...

. It also occurs in more open environments like partly deforested areas, shaded cacao plantations, and abandoned clearings with scattered trees. In most of its range it is found below but reaches in Panama, in Peru, and locally in Ecuador.

Behavior

Feeding

The white-fronted nunbird's diet is mostly insects and also includes other

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a Segmentation (biology), segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and Arth ...

s, small lizards and amphibians, and some fruits. It follows troops of primates,

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, and flocks of

caciques A ''cacique'' (Latin American ; ; feminine form: ''cacica'') was a tribal chieftain of the Taíno people, the indigenous inhabitants at European contact of the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles. The term is a Spa ...

and

oropendola Oropendolas are a genus of passerine birds, ''Psarocolius'', in the New World blackbird family Icteridae. They were formerly split among two or three different genera and are found in Central and South America. All the oropendolas are large bir ...

s to capture prey dislodged by them.

Breeding

The white-fronted nunbird breeds between December and May in Costa Rica and February to May in Colombia; its nesting season in other parts of its range has not been defined. It nests in a leaf-lined chamber at the end of a tunnel excavated in level or sloping ground. The clutch of two or three eggs and the young are attended by up to six adults.

Vocalization

The white-fronted nunbird has a variety of vocalizations. Examples are "a blurred descending whistle with short rippling trill, 'peeeur-r-r-r-r'; also a loud, mournful 'how how how' and various rippling trills, churrs and rattles" and "group choruses of loud gobbling, barking notes".

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 white-fronted nunbird as being of Least Concern. It has a very large range and a population of at least five million mature individuals, though the latter is decreasing. Its density varies from uncommon to abundant in various parts of its range.

Gallery

Image:White-fronted Nunbird RWD.jpg

References

External links

White-fronted nunbird photo gallery
VIREO
Photo-Highest Res-(not a close-up)
moonbeampublishing {{Taxonbar, from=Q1260133 Monasa Birds of Brazil Birds of the Amazon Basin Birds of Colombia Birds of Venezuela Birds of Ecuador Birds of Peru Birds of South America Birds of Honduras Birds of Nicaragua Birds of Costa Rica Birds of Panama Birds of Central America Birds described in 1823 Taxa named by Carl Wilhelm Hahn Taxonomy articles created by Polbot