Bird Watching Blog

Rufoustailed jacamar

Galbula ruficauda

TAXONOMY

Galbula ruficauda Baron Cuvier, 1816. OTHER COMMON NAMES

French: Jacamar a queue rousse; German: RotschwanzGlanzvogel; Spanish: Jacamar Común.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

9 in (23 cm); 2 in (51 mm) slender bill. Metallic green upper parts, white or buff patch on throat, rufous or reddish underside.

DISTRIBUTION

Very common from southern Mexico to northern Argentina, including Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador. Also found in Trinidad and Tobago.

HABITAT

Forest edge, woodland, thickets, and near streams and rivers. BEHAVIOR

Live in pairs, prefer to hunt from low shrubbery.

Galbula ruficauda

I Resident accounts

FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET

Prefers flying insects, like most jacamars. Catches prey in midair and batters it against a branch before consuming it.

REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY

Lays one to four white eggs in ground-hole nest cavity. Incubation is 20-23 days. Chicks emerge from nest after 21-26 days. Both sexes incubate, and care for chicks.

CONSERVATION STATUS

Not threatened; widespread and common, adapts to many different habitats.

SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS None known. ♦

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