Great jacamar | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Piciformes |
Family: | Galbulidae |
Genus: | Jacamerops Lesson, 1830 |
Species: | J. aureus |
Binomial name | |
Jacamerops aureus (Statius Müller, 1776) | |
The great jacamar (Jacamerops aureus) is a species of bird in the family Galbulidae. It is placed in the monotypic genus Jacamerops. [2] It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Panama, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela, where its natural habitat is subtropical and tropical moist lowland forests. [1]
German zoologist Philipp Ludwig Statius Müller described the species in 1776. The species name is the Latin adjective aureus "golden". In 2000, the binomial name was changed from J. aurea to J. aureus so the species name agreed in gender with the genus name. [3]
It measures 25 to 30 cm (9.8 to 11.8 in) in length and weighs between 57 and 70 g (2.0 and 2.5 oz). As indicated by its name, this is the largest species of jacamar and much bulkier than any other species in the family. [4] The adult male chin, cheeks and upper region are all bright metallic green with gold overtones, with a blueish tinge on the chin, forehead and tail and purple copper on the back. The lower part of the throat is white and the rest of the lower region is deep rufous. The primaries are black, the tail is blue-black, below the beak is black, and the legs are dark horn-colored. The female resembles the male, but has no white spot on the throat. Like all members of the order Piciformes, jacamars and their relatives have zygodactyl feet, with two toes pointing forward and two facing back. Jacamars evolved with this toe arrangement, which helps them grasp branches while hunting in trees. [5] Because 13 of the 17 Galbulidae species belong to super-species complexes, researcher J. Haffer concludes that jacamars had a relatively recent Pleistocene radiation of the family. Jacamars are believed to have originated in the Amazon region where they are most common, and spread to other parts of Central and South America. Unique anatomical features of this family include a long appendix, no gall bladder, a bare preen gland, and a long, thin tongue. [6]
Its natural habitat is the natural tropical forest to 500 m (1,640 ft) altitude. It lives in the middle levels of the canopy and inside the shaded edges of the rainforest, [7] usually on the banks of streams. It can be difficult to spot because it is noted for sitting in one spot for a long period of time.
It feeds on insects caught in flight, and on spiders on vegetation. [8] While sitting in its canopy, they prey by following after them, and then by beating them against a branch before they consume it. Some of the jacamars will also eat small vertebrates like lizards. [9]
It breeds from March to May or June. Its nest is a chamber made of a termite nest, at a height between 3 and 15 m (10 and 49 ft). [7] These birds will bore holes in arboreal termitaria 3-15 m above ground. [9] The incubation time for the great jacamar is about 20–23 days. The chicks come out from their nest around 21–26 days; When they emerge they are covered in white down. Both male and female jacamars incubate and will care for their chicks. [9] Jacamars lay one to four round, glossy, white eggs. Both parents incubate the eggs during the day for one to three hours at a time. At night, the female incubates alone while the male stays nearby to defend the nest. Jacamars rarely leave eggs unattended. [6]
This species has an extremely large range, and does not approach the requirements for classification as a Vulnerable species under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). [10] Even though the population appears to be decreasing, the decline is not presumed to approach Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). [9] The population size has not been calculated, but it is not believed to reach the definition of Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). [11] For the reasons listed above the species is labeled as Least Concern.
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 family, and the two families are often separated into their own order, Galbuliformes, separate from the Piciformes. They are principally birds of low-altitude woodlands and forests, and particularly of forest edge and canopy.
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The killdeer is a large plover found in the Americas. It gets its name from its shrill, two-syllable call, which is often heard. It was described and given its current scientific name in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae. Three subspecies are described. Its upperparts are mostly brown with rufous fringes, the head has patches of white and black, and two black bands cross the breast. The belly and the rest of the breast are white. The nominate subspecies breeds from southeastern Alaska and southern Canada to Mexico. It is seen year-round in the southern half of its breeding range; the subspecies C. v. ternominatus is resident in the West Indies, and C. v. peruvianus inhabits Peru and surrounding South American countries throughout the year. North American breeders winter from their resident range south to Central America, the West Indies, and the northernmost portions of South America.
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The wood thrush is a North American passerine bird in the family Turdidae and is the only species placed in the genus Hylocichla. It is closely related to other thrushes such as the American robin and is widely distributed across North America, wintering in Central America and southern Mexico. The wood thrush is the official bird of the District of Columbia.
The king rail is a waterbird, the largest North American rail.
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The spectacled eider is a large sea duck that breeds on the coasts of Alaska and northeastern Siberia.
The mountain plover is a medium-sized ground bird in the plover family (Charadriidae). It is misnamed, as it lives on level land. Unlike most plovers, it is usually not found near bodies of water or even on wet soil; it prefers dry habitat with short grass and bare ground. Its height is in the range of 5-9 inches, and length in the range of 8-10 inches ; and it weighs around 102 grams.
The Puerto Rican nightjar or Puerto Rican whip-poor-will is a bird in the nightjar family found in the coastal dry scrub forests in localized areas of southwestern Puerto Rico. It was described in 1916 from bones found in a cave in north central Puerto Rico and a single skin specimen from 1888, and was considered extinct until observed in the wild in 1961. The current population is estimated as 1,400-2,000 mature birds. The species is currently classified as Endangered due to pressures from habitat loss.
The little buttonquail is a species of buttonquail, part of a small family of birds which resemble, but are unrelated to, the true quails. This species is resident in Australia, where it is one of the more common buttonquails.
Abbott's booby is an endangered seabird of the sulid family, which includes gannets and boobies. It is a large booby and is placed within its own monotypic genus. It was first identified from a specimen collected by William Louis Abbott, who discovered it on Assumption Island in 1892.
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The Madagascar plover, also known as the black-banded plover, is a small monogamous shorebird in the family Charadriidae, native to western Madagascar. It inhabits shores of lagoons, coastal grasslands, and breeds in salt marshes. These plovers mainly nest in open grassland and dry mudflats surrounding alkaline lakes. The species is classified as vulnerable by the IUCN because of its low breeding success, slow reproductive rate, and weak adaptation to increasing habitat loss, leading to declining population numbers.
The black-and-white owl is a species of owl in the family Strigidae.
The great-billed seed finch is a species of bird in the family Thraupidae. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, swamps, and heavily degraded former forest. They are found in two separate general populations, one in the northern Amazon rainforest and the other in the Cerrado. They live in flooded areas with nests low to the ground. The adults express strong sexual dimorphism. Males are black with white under wing-coverts and ivory white bills, and the females are generally light brown with white under wing-coverts and black bills. Both the male and female have very large, thick bills. The great-billed seed finch has a melodious call, which has made it a target for trapping.
Galbula is the type and largest genus of the jacamar family (Galbulidae) of piciform birds, and its suborder Galbulae. Sometimes, the Piciformes are split in two, with the Galbulae upranked to full order Galbuliformes.
The three-toed jacamar is a species of bird in the family Galbulidae. It is monotypic within the genus Jacamaralcyon.
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