- Hypnelus ruficollis
Includes: Two-banded Puffbird
Identification
22cm. Large head, long tail, thick black hooked-tipped bill, white face with a large yellow eye and a dark arch below the eye. The upperparts are brown, with whitish spotting and white wing tips. Underparts are paler with variable throat color, presence of one or two dark breast bands, and flank spotting.
Variation
bicinctus has two dark brown chest bands; that is true for stoicus as well, but pale feather edges obscure the pattern somewhat. Subspecies coloratus and ruficollis has rufous throat over a single breast band; decolor (and the sometimes recognized striaticollis) has a thin breast band and paler throat
Distribution
Northeastern Colombia and much of Venezuela.
Taxonomy
Subspecies
Five subspecies are recognized[1]:
- H. r. ruficollis
- H. r. decolor
- H. r. coloratus
- H. r. bicinctus
- H. r. stoicus
The two last subspecies are sometimes split as Two-banded Puffbird (H. Bicinctus).
Habitat
Lowland in varied habitats: open forest, savanna, riparian, dry thickets, scrub with some trees, second growth. Two banded Puffbird is absent in more strongly wooded areas.
Behaviour
It excavates a burrow in an arboreal termite colony, and lays 3 white eggs.
The diet includes insects, lizards and other small prey.
References
- Clements, JF. 2010. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2010. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/Clements%206.5.xls/view
- Restall et al. 2006. Birds of Northern South America. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300124156
