Sunbittern - BirdForum Opus

Eurypyga helias

Photo by the late Jim Wood
Costa Rica , November 2008

Identification

43–48 cm (17-19 in)
Black head with 2 white lines, upperparts vermiculated brown and black. Throat and vent white, belly pale buff.

Distribution

Central and South America: found from southern Mexico to northern Bolivia and Amazonian Brazil

Taxonomy

Subspecies helias
Photo by max1
NE Colombia, February 2016

Subspecies

There are 3 subspecies¹:

• E. h. major:

• Extreme southern Mexico and Guatemala to western Ecuador

• E. h. meridionalis:

• Threatened; south-central Peru (Junín and Cuzco)

• E. h. helias:

• Colombia to Venezuela, Guianas, Amazonian Brazil and eastern Bolivia

Habitat

Humid lowland forests; wooded streams or creeks at elevations of up to 909 m.

Behaviour

Subspecies meridionalis
Photo by Juninho
Tambopata-Candamo Reserved Zone, Peru, October 2005

Diet

The diet consists of insects, such as beetles, flies, spiders, moths, cockroaches and dragonflies etc.

Breeding

They build a domed nest in a tree and 2 grey eggs are normally laid.

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2016. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2016, with updates to August 2016. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive (retrieved February 2016)

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2021) Sunbittern. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 29 April 2021 from https://www.birdforum.net/wiki/Sunbittern

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