Spotted Puffbird

The spotted puffbird (''Bucco tamatia'') is a species of puffbird in the family Bucconidae, the puffbirds, nunlets, and nunbirds. It is found in Bolivia, 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

Some authors placed the spotted puffbird in genus ''Nystactes'' during the first half of the 20th century, but it was returned to ''Bucco'' by most classifications after that. The International Ornithological Committee (IOC) and the Clements taxonomy retain it there. However, BirdLife International's ''Handbook of the Birds of the World'' placed it back into ''Nystactes''. To further complicate matters, a 2020 publication proposed that genus ''Tamatia'' has precedence over ''Nystactes''.Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, S. M. Billerman, T. A. Fredericks, J. A. Gerbracht, D. Lepage, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2021. The eBird/Clements checklist of Birds of the World: v2021. Downloaded from https://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/ Retrieved August 25, 2021 The spotted puffbird and the sooty-capped puffbird (''B. noanamae'') are closely related and may form a superspecies.Rasmussen, P. C., N. Collar, G. M. Kirwan, and A. Bonan (2020). Spotted Puffbird (''Bucco tamatia''), 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.spopuf1.01 retrieved October 31, 2021Remsen, 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

All three taxonomic systems assign three subspecies to the spotted puffbird, here using the IOC/Clements genus: the nominate ''B. t. tamatia'', ''B. t. pulmentum'', and ''B. t. hypnaleus''. Several other subspecies have been proposed but have not been adopted because they appear to be variations within the existing three.

Description

The spotted puffbird is about long and weighs . The nominate has a pale rufous forehead that becomes rufous spots on a dark brown background on the crown. Below that is a blackish band through the eye, below that a white stripe, and below that a black patch. The white stripe continues around the nape. The upperparts and wings are dark brown with some buffy scallops and the tail is dark brown with some buffy edges to the feathers. The chin is white, the throat rufous, the breast and flanks whitish with black spots and scales, and the belly and vent white with small black spots. The bill is black, the eye bright red, and the feet dark gray or greenish. ''B. t. pulmentum''s throat is much paler than the nominate's, the forehead brighter, and the spotting heavier. ''B. t. hypnaleus'' is larger than the nominate but with a smaller bill, and the spotting on its underside is heavier especially on the breast.

Distribution and habitat

The nominate subspecies of spotted puffbird is found from eastern Colombia east through Venezuela and the Guianas into Brazil and south in Brazil to the left (north) bank of the Amazon River. ''B. t. pulmentum'' is found from southeastern Colombia south through eastern Ecuador, northeastern Peru, and western Brazil into northeastern Bolivia. ''B. t. hypnaleus'' is found in Amazonian Brazil east of the Tapajós River. The species inhabits a variety of somewhat open landscapes such as '' várzea'' and ''igapó'' forests, mature secondary forest, savanna woodland, and gallery forest. It seldom occurs in the interior of dense forest. In elevation it generally ranges from sea level to but in Venezuela it usually occurs below .

Behavior

Feeding

The spotted puffbird usually forages from a low perch, sallying out to pluck prey from foliage or bark. It sometimes follows army ant swarms. Its diet includes many types of insects, other invertebrates such as spiders and scorpions, small lizards, and mistletoe berries.

Breeding

The spotted puffbird's breeding season varies in different parts of its range, but in general is between March to September. It lays its clutch of two eggs in a chamber excavated in arboreal termitaria.

Vocalization

The spotted puffbird's song is "a series of 10–20 soft, whistled 'chyoi' or 'puwéep' notes (c. 2 per second), weak and hesitant at first, then a few at lower pitch and slower, ending with c. 4 inflected 'pchooii, pchooii, pchooii, peejowee' whistles". It is usually sung at dawn and sometimes sung as a duet. It also makes "faint wheezy whistles" in a dispute.

Status

The IUCN has assessed the spotted puffbird as being of Least Concern. However, though it has a very large range, its population has not been quantified and is believed to be decreasing. It is thought to be uncommon in most of its range but is easily overlooked and so might be more abundant. It occurs in several protected areas.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1276054

spotted puffbird
Birds of the Amazon Basin
Birds of the Guianas
spotted puffbird
spotted puffbird
Birds of Brazil
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN