Rufous-tailed jacamar

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 Template:Convert long with a Template:Convert 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
  Costa Rica
• 
  Male
  G. r. rufoviridis
  Chapada dos Veadeiros National Park
• 
  Female, Brazil

Food and foraging

Male G. r. melanogenia with a bee in Belize

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Further, the bird distinguishes between edible and unpalatable butterflies mainly according to body shape.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

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 Template:Not a typo, and the song a high thin Template:Not a typo, ending in a trill.

Bibliography

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book

External links

• Rufous-tailed jacamar videos, photos and sounds in the Internet Bird Collection
• Template:Usurped (for British Honduras-(Belize), Guyana, and Nicaragua)
• Photo-High Res; Article, Tsgcs.co.uk