White-eared Puffbird
A species of Puffbird Scientific name : Nystalus chacuru Genus : Puffbird
White-eared Puffbird, A species of Puffbird
Botanical name: Nystalus chacuru
Genus: Puffbird
Content
Description General Info
Photo By Don Roberson
Description
Like some other puffbirds, the white-eared puffbird is a round, plump bird with a very narrow tail. The head is relatively large, with a dark brown barred crown, and a orange, black-tipped bill. The sit-and-wait feeding strategy, for insects or opportunistic prey, may explain this body shape. The bird has a medium-brown back and wings, with dark rufous speckles and bars; white and black flecked on the breast. The upper breast is white, extending to a narrow-to-medium white collar around the neck. There is a distinctive, medium-sized white ear patch, which gives the species its common name, and that is surrounded by a dark ear patch. It has a medium-sized tail in dark brown and slightly graduated, with narrow, widely spaced buffy bars, and a pale tip. It measures about 21–22 cm (8.3–8.7 in) in length and weighs between 48–64 g.
Size
22 cm
Feeding Habits
White-eared Puffbird primarily consumes arthropods and small vertebrates, including insects, lizards, amphibians, and marsupials, often captured on the ground. It has opportunistic feeding habits, hunting both flying and non-flying prey, displaying a preference for aquatic environments when catching insects.
Habitat
The white-eared Puffbird is commonly found in various habitats such as mid-stratum tropical dry forests, edges of forest, second growth regions, and gallery forests. It also inhabits open woodlands, wooded grasslands, and areas of tropical savanna. This species adapts to living in scrublands, clearings, pastures, and even cultivated fields like coffee groves. It is often seen along tree-lined streets in rural areas and perches on man-made structures like telephone wires and fence posts. White-eared Puffbird may also be found near vegetated streams and can range from ground level to the forest canopy.
Dite type
Insectivorous
General Info
Distribution Area
The white-eared puffbird can be found from eastern Peru and central Brazil south to Paraguay, Bolivia and northeastern Argentina. In south-eastern Brazil, it is centered on the Cerrado region, and on the southeast Atlantic coast from northern Bahia state south to the Paraná–Santa Catarina state borders. It covers much of the eastern and northern Pantanal, and southern areas of the Caatinga. The north and west parts of its range include the upstream headwaters of some Amazon Basin river systems, encompassing nearly all of northern Bolivia, the Madeira River's many headwater tributaries, and the extreme headwaters of the Tapajós River. East of the Tapajós, the range expands into the Cerrado, the upper half of the Xingu River drainage, and the entire drainage system of the Araguaia-Tocantins River (the eastward system, generally considered part of the Amazon Basin). In Peru, the species is rare but local, found on the very western border region of Bolivia and in some localities in north-central Peru. In this region, it favors the dry forests and scrub found in parts of the Valleys of Mantaro, Apurimac and Urubamba at altitudes between 1000 and 2200 m. It was also recorded in the Mayo Valley. Another second locale is mid-river on the downstream Madeira River in southern Amazon Basin Amazonas state.
Photo By Don Roberson