Rufous-tailed jacamar

Rufous-tailed jacamar
	Female, Brazil
	Male G. r. rufoviridis in the Pantanal, Brazil, and a recording from Ecuador
Conservation status
	; Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Piciformes
Family:	Galbulidae
Genus:	Galbula
Species:	G. ruficauda
Binomial name
	Galbula ruficauda; Cuvier, 1816

The rufous-tailed jacamar (Galbula ruficauda) is a near-passerine bird which breeds in the tropical New World in southern Mexico, Central America and South America as far south as southern Brazil and Ecuador.

Description

Like other jacamars they are elegant, brightly coloured birds with long bills and tails. The rufous-tailed jacamar is typically 25 cm (10 in) long with a 5 cm (2 in) long black bill. The subspecies G. r. brevirostris has, as its name implies, a shorter bill. This bird is metallic green above, and the underparts are mainly orange, including the undertail, but there is a green breast band. Sexes differ in that the male has a white throat, and the female a buff throat; she also tends to have paler underparts. The race G. r. pallens has a copper-coloured back in both sexes.

Male
G. r. ruficauda
Tobago
Male
G. r. melanogenia
Belize
Male
G. r. rufoviridis
the Pantanal, Brazil

Food and foraging

This insectivore hunts from a perch, sitting with its bill tilted up, then flying out to catch flying insects. One commonly preyed upon insect is the social wasp Agelaia vicina. Other insect prey include flies, beetles, bees, dragonflies, and butterflies.^[2] Further, the bird distinguishes between edible and unpalatable butterflies mainly according to body shape.^[3]

Nesting

This species is a resident breeder in a range of dry or moist woodlands and scrub. The two to four rufous-spotted white eggs are laid in a burrow in a bank or termite mound.

Vocalizations

The rufous-tailed jacamar's call is a sharp pee-op, and the song a high thin peeo-pee-peeo-pee-pe-pe, ending in a trill.

Bibliography

ffrench, Richard (1991). A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago (2nd ed.). Comstock Publishing. ISBN 0-8014-9792-2.
Hilty, Steven L (2003). Birds of Venezuela. London: Christopher Helm. ISBN 0-7136-6418-5.

References

^ BirdLife International (2020). "Galbula ruficauda". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020: e.T22682200A163585918. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T22682200A163585918.en. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
^ "Galbula ruficauda (Rufous-tailed Jacamar)" (PDF). Sta.uwi.edu. Retrieved 26 March 2022.
^ Chai, Peng (1996). "Butterfly visual characteristics and ontogeny of responses to butterflies by a specialized tropical bird". Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 59 (1): 37–67. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.1996.tb01452.x.

External links

Media related to Galbula ruficauda at Wikimedia Commons Data related to Galbula ruficauda at Wikispecies

Rufous-tailed jacamar videos, photos & sounds in the Internet Bird Collection
Rufous-tailed jacamar photo gallery VIREO
Stamps^[usurped] (for British Honduras-(Belize), Guyana, and Nicaragua)
Photo-High Res; Article, Tsgcs.co.uk

[iucn_status_20_November_2021-1] BirdLife International (2020). "Galbula ruficauda". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2020: e.T22682200A163585918. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-3.RLTS.T22682200A163585918.en. Retrieved 20 November 2021.

[2] "Galbula ruficauda (Rufous-tailed Jacamar)" (PDF). Sta.uwi.edu. Retrieved 26 March 2022.

[3] Chai, Peng (1996). "Butterfly visual characteristics and ontogeny of responses to butterflies by a specialized tropical bird". Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 59 (1): 37–67. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.1996.tb01452.x.

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