Spot-backed Puffbird Nystalus maculatus Scientific name definitions

The Spot-backed Puffbird is a resident of deciduous woodland and savanna from Northeastern Brazil to Northwest Argentina.  The Spot-backed Puffbird is a striking member of the family Bucconidae with a red bill, dark brown crown with buffy spots, orange rufous throat, buffy-barred upperparts and a boldly spotted breast.  Spot-backed Puffbirds generally still-hunt from low perches, occasionally making explosive sallies to the ground to catch insects and small vertebrates.  Unlike other species of puffbirds, the Spot-backed Puffbird is an active singer and is often heard singing in duos and trios.

18–19 cm; 32–38 g (nominate), 33–42 g (striatipectus). Off-white feathers around base of bill and face lightly marked dusky, ear-coverts more heavily streaked, postocular streak and malar even more so; buffy supercilium; dark brown crown boldly spangled buffy; pale rufous hindcollar; mantle and wing-coverts to uppertail-coverts barred and spangled buffy; tail long, narrow, slightly graduated, broadly banded black with narrow buffy bars and tip; underparts mainly white, bright orange-rufous lower throat, upper breast and sides of neck; lower breast and sides boldly spotted black, flanks streaked black; lower central underparts white, flanks and undertail-coverts buffier; bill mainly red with dusky base, culmen and tip; iris pale yellow; legs rather long, feet brownish-olive. Immature has short duskier bill, paler hindcollar and breast, underpart spotting shaped as diamonds or streaks. Race striatipectus has face more heavily streaked, hindcollar paler, crown spotting whiter, upperparts less spangled, tail more narrowly banded, breast more extensively but paler rufous, lower breast and upper flanks streaked rather than spotted, bill thinner, more arched, duller.

Editor's Note: This article requires further editing work to merge existing content into the appropriate Subspecies sections. Please bear with us while this update takes place.

Editor's Note: Additional distribution information for this taxon can be found in the 'Subspecies' article above. In the future we will develop a range-wide distribution article.

Low and medium levels in the cerrado, caatinga and campo regions, occupying lowland and foothill semi-deciduous woodland and woodland edge, savanna and palm groves, arboreal-arbustive caatinga, shrubs, scrub, pastures and cultivation. In S of range (striatipectus), in chaco, dry subtropical forest, transitional forest, isolated woodland patches; in arid montane vegetation in Bolivia, extending above 2000 m. Perches on wires by railroads.

Presumably resident; possibly some seasonal wandering by nominate race in parts of EC Brazil.

Chiefly insects, including caterpillars; recorded taking colubrid snake Chironius flavolineatus in Brazil. Still-hunts from low perches , capturing prey on ground or foliage.

Undulating “tewre-tewtewretewtewre”; striatipectus also has disyllabic 3-note whistle, “tuhú tuhú tuhú”, repeated at intervals; sings in duos or trios.

Apparently unrecorded for nominate race. Race striatipectus breeds in Oct in Paraguay, in Jan–Feb in Bolivia . Nest in underground cavity, lined with leaves, in earth bank or level soil. Clutch 2–3 eggs. Incubation and fledging periods not documented.

Not globally threatened. Common in NE Brazil, including inside Serra da Capivara National Park, in Piauí; in 1947, described as one of the commonest birds in Pernambuco. Race striatipectus supposedly rare in Paraguay, but probably under-recorded; common in S Brazil; in Argentina, common in Jujuy and Salta, uncommon in Córdoba.