White-chested puffbird

White-chested puffbird
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1) [1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Piciformes
Family:	Bucconidae
Genus:	Malacoptila
Species:	M. fusca
Binomial name
Malacoptila fusca (Gmelin, 1788)

The white-chested puffbird (Malacoptila fusca) is a species of 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.

Taxonomy and systematics

The white-chested puffbird was formally described in 1788 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae . He placed it with the other puffbirds in the genus Bucco and coined the binomial name Bucco fuscus. ^[2] The specific epithet is Latin meaning "brown" or "dusky". ^[3] Gmelin based his description on the "white-breasted barbet" that had been described in 1782 by the English ornithologist John Latham from a specimen that had been collected in Cayenne, French Guiana. ^[4] The white-chested puffbird is now one of seven species placed in the genus Malacoptila that was introduced by George Gray in 1841. ^{[5] [6]}

The white-chested puffbird and the semicollared puffbird (Malacoptila semicincta) were considered to be conspecific by James Peters in 1958 but they are now treated as a superspecies. ^{[7] [8]} The white-chested puffbird is generally considered to be monotypic, though a subspecies M. f. venezuelae was proposed in 1947. ^{[6] [9]}

Description

The white-chested puffbird is about 18 cm (7.1 in) long and weighs about 44 g (1.6 oz). 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. ^[10]

The 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." ^[10]

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 200 m (660 ft) in Venezuela, 600 m (2,000 ft) in Colombia, 900 m (3,000 ft) in Ecuador (though locally to 1,200 m (3,900 ft)), and 1,500 m (4,900 ft) in Peru. ^[10]

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. ^[10]

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).

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. ^[1]

References

1. BirdLife International (2016). "White-chested Puffbird Malacoptila fusca". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2021.
2. Gmelin, Johann Friedrich (1788). Systema naturae per regna tria naturae : secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis (in Latin). Vol. 1, Part 1 (13th ed.). Lipsiae [Leipzig]: Georg. Emanuel. Beer. p. 408.
3. Jobling, James A. (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher Helm. p. 168. ISBN   978-1-4081-2501-4.
4. Latham, John (1782). A General Synopsis of Birds. Vol. 1, Part 2. London: Printed for Leigh and Sotheby. p. 505.
5. Gray, George Robert (1841). A List of the Genera of Birds : with their Synonyma and an Indication of the Typical Species of Each Genus (2nd ed.). London: R. and J.E. Taylor. p. 13.
6. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David; Rasmussen, Pamela, eds. (January 2023). "Jacamars, puffbirds, barbets, toucans, honeyguides". IOC World Bird List Version 13.1. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved 15 February 2023.
7. Peters, James Lee, ed. (1948). Check-List of Birds of the World. Vol. 6. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p. 16.
8. Rasmussen, P.C.; Collar, N.J. (2002). "Family Bucconidae (Puffbirds)" . In del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 7: Jacamars to Woodpeckers. Barcelona, Spain: Lynx Edicions. pp. 102-139 [131-132]. ISBN   978-84-87334-37-5.
9. Phelps, W.H.; Phelps, W.H. Jr. (1947). "Ten new subspecies of birds from Venezuela". Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. 60: 149–164.
10. Schulenberg, T.S.; Batcheller, H. (2020). Schulenberg, T.S. (ed.). "White-chested Puffbird (Malacoptila fusca), version 1.0". Birds of the World. Ithaca, NY, USA: Cornell Lab of Ornithology. doi:10.2173/bow.whcpuf1.01.

External links

• Photo
• White-chested puffbird photo gallery VIREO