Black-fronted Nunbird - BirdForum Opus

Photo © by Robert Scanlon
Photographed Near Iquitos, Peru, January 2005

Monasa nigrifrons

Identification

26-27½ cm (10¼-10¾ in).
Adult's black head and slate-gray body contrasts with the slender and slightly decurved coral-red bill. Juvenile is browner with orange or yellow bill.

Similar Species

White-fronted Nunbird Adults similar to Black-fronted Nunbird but with conspicuous white facial patches. Yellow-billed Nunbird may be confused with juvenile Black-fronted, but is blacker with white lesser coverts.

Variations

A slightly paler race M. n. canescens is confined to Eastern Bolivia

Distribution

South America: found in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil

Taxonomy

Subspecies^[1]

There are 2 subspecies:

• M. n. nigrifrons:

• Lowlands of south-eastern Colombia to eastern Peru and much of Brazil

• M. n. canescens:

• Tropical Bolivia east of Andes

Habitat

Lower to middle levels of humid forest, close to rivers and streams.

Behaviour

Breeding

It nests in burrows excavated on level ground or bank.

Diet

The diet includes insects.

Vocalisation

Song is a rapid series of ­melodious upslurred clerry or curry notes often in a chorus. Also a repeated kew-CHU-garoo

Movements

Resident

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Avibase
3. Arthur Grosset
4. Black-fronted Nunbird (Monasa nigrifrons), In Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. retrieved from Neotropical Birds Online: https://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/Species-Account/nb/species/blfnun1
5. Rasmussen, P.C., Collar, N. & Kirwan, G.M. (2019). Black-fronted Nunbird (Monasa nigrifrons). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from https://www.hbw.com/node/55983 on 13 July 2019).
6. Schulenberg, T. S. & Stotz, D. F. & Lane, D. F. & O'Neill, J. P. & Parker III, T. A. & Egg, A. B. (2010). Birds of Peru: Revised and Updated Edition. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691130231

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Black-fronted Nunbird. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 25 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Black-fronted_Nunbird

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