Pied Puffbird Notharchus tectus Scientific name definitions

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The Pied Puffbird has a widespread but rather discontinuous distribution, from the Caribbean slope of Costa Rica to northwest Ecuador (which population is sometimes treated specifically), then in the Guianas across northern Amazonia to eastern Peru, and in eastern Bolivia and western Brazil, as well as in northeast Brazil around the mouth of the Amazon and southwards. This is a small-sized, mainly black-and-white puffbird; its plumage recalls that of the substantially larger Guianan Puffbird (Notharchus macrorhynchos), but has a narrow white supercilium, a narrower breast band, and white on the scapulars. The Pied Puffbird is exclusively lowland in its distribution, being recorded below 1000 m, and is found in tropical evergreen forest, tall second growth, clearings and plantations, and even mangrove, among other wooded habitats. Declines have been reported in some areas of the species’ range, presumably in response to ongoing deforestation.

Pied Puffbird (Lesser)

14–15·5 cm; 21–40 g. Most easily confused with <em>N. hyperrhynchus</em> , despite that latter is dramatically larger with a massive bill, but note black forehead, white supercilia, spotted crown  and white in wings of present species (1 Hilty, S. L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Previously considered to be conspecific with <em>N. tectus</em> (see Taxonomy comments), <em>subtectus</em> is smaller, with smaller bill , narrower pectoral band  , less or no white spotting on crown, and greyer flanks vaguely barred white. Immature is brownish black above, with greater wing-coverts and inner secondaries tipped white, forehead speckled buff, narrower breastband, scapular tufts, throat and breast tinged buff, and the outer rectrices brownish grey tipped and barred white.

Pied Puffbird (Greater)

14–17 cm; 21–40 g. Most easily confused with <em>N. hyperrhynchus</em> , despite that latter is dramatically larger with a massive bill, but note black forehead , white supercilia  , spotted crown and white in wings of present species (1 Hilty, S. L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). Mainly glossy black above and white below  ; dark bare patch behind eye; distinct short white line  from nasal bristles to behind eye, small white spots on crown; white on some scapulars; white patches near tail base and at tail tips, distal outer webs black on most rectrices; broad black pectoral band , black flank patches  lightly barred white; bill all black; eyes brown; feet black. Immature  duller, browner above, white areas tinged buff , wing-coverts spotted buffy-white, rectrices paler, breastband pale-fringed; pale-tipped bill. Race <em>picatus</em> larger than nominate, darker, less white on lateral tail feathers.

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Pied Puffbird (Lesser)

Pied Puffbird (Greater)

Pied Puffbird (Lesser)

Caribbean SE Nicaragua (2 Múnera-Roldán, C., M. L. Cody, R. H. Schiele-Zavala, B. J. Sigel, S. Woltmann, and J. P. Kjeldsen (2007). New and noteworthy records of birds from south-eastern Nicaragua. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 127(2):152–161. Close ), Costa Rica S to W & NC Colombia and NW Ecuador. Also isolated record in SW Nicaragua (3 McCrary, J. K., W. J. Arendt, L. Chavarría, L. J. López, P. A., Somarriba, P. O. Boudrault, A. L. Cruz, F. J. Muñoz, and D. J. Mackler (2009). A contribution to Nicaraguan ornithology, with a focus on the pine-oak ecoregion Cotinga 31:72–78. Close ).

Pied Puffbird (Lesser)

Inhabits tropical lowland humid evergreen forest, edges, clearings and streamsides, second growth with scattered tall trees, abandoned clearings, gallery and riverine forest, mangroves, woodland, savanna. Prefers canopy and subcanopy strata. In Costa Rica apparently confined to the tropical belt, frequenting clearings with scattered trees, plantations and pastures inside generally wooded country, and appears to avoid primary forest. Occurs in lowlands, below 300 m in Costa Rica.

Pied Puffbird (Greater)

Inhabits tropical lowland humid evergreen forest, edges , clearings and streamsides, second growth with scattered tall trees, abandoned clearings, gallery and riverine forest, mangroves, woodland, savanna. Prefers canopy and subcanopy strata (1 Hilty, S. L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ). In the Guianas occupies high forest, also other habitats such as coastal mangroves, plantations, sand-ridge and savanna forest, shrubby second growth, and granite vegetation in form of low, dense, vine-clad woodland. Occurs in lowlands up to 1000 m; below 300 m in Costa Rica.

Pied Puffbird (Lesser)

Pied Puffbird (Greater)

Presumably resident, but appears to move around countryside in irregular pattern, at least seasonally.

Pied Puffbird (Lesser)

Diet not well known, but presumably similar to that of N. tectus (includes dragonflies, bees, wasps, beetles); like the latter, the present species usually forages from open or dead branch, usually high in canopy, sometimes lower down.

Pied Puffbird (Greater)

Dragonflies (including Libellulidae), Orthoptera (including Locustidae), bugs (Hemiptera), butterflies  and moths (Lepidoptera, which dominated in one study) (4 Mazzoni, L. G., M. Canuto, V. M. Gomes, and V. C. Rodrigues (2013). Notes on the breeding biology of the Pied Puffbird Notharchus tectus in southeastern Pará, Brazil. Atualidades Ornitológicas 171:24–25. Close ), bees and wasps (including Sphegidae), beetles (including Elateridae), termites (Isoptera), and spiders (Araneae) (4 Mazzoni, L. G., M. Canuto, V. M. Gomes, and V. C. Rodrigues (2013). Notes on the breeding biology of the Pied Puffbird Notharchus tectus in southeastern Pará, Brazil. Atualidades Ornitológicas 171:24–25. Close ). One stomach contained hard-shelled beetles of a single species. Forages from open or dead branch , usually high in canopy, sometimes lower down. Sallies tend to be made at long intervals (1 Hilty, S. L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Pied Puffbird (Lesser)

Differences from formerly conspecific N. tectus  not fully elucidated as yet, but song  is apparently higher-pitched and possibly more piping, less modulated; described as a “series of high, thin, reedy two-syllable whistles, often slowing down at the end” (Panama) (5 Angehr, G. R., and R. Dean (2010). The Birds of Panama: A Field Guide. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, USA. Close ) or “loud, clear, thin, high-pitched whistles: pweee pweee pweee or weereee weereee wreee weeea” (Costa Rica), considered to be not unlike the call of Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platypterus), but much shorter and repeated (6 Stiles, F. G., and A. F. Skutch (1989). A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ).

Pied Puffbird (Greater)

Song  (sometimes given in duet by pair) (7 Schulenberg, T. S., D. F. Stotz, D. F. Lane, J. P. O’Neill, and T. A. Parker (2007). Birds of Peru. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close ) an easily overlooked (1 Hilty, S. L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ), thin but loud, high-pitched, bat-like series of whistles, “tee-oo” or “pweee pweee pweee” in various patterns, e.g., “peed-peed-peed-peed-it, peed-it, peed-it, peed-it, peea, pee, pee, pee” (1 Hilty, S. L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ) or “pipipi whi whi whi WHEE-WHEE-whee whee whee” (7 Schulenberg, T. S., D. F. Stotz, D. F. Lane, J. P. O’Neill, and T. A. Parker (2007). Birds of Peru. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close ), always slowing at end, but sometimes repeated several times, virtually without pause and slightly recalling song of Tropical Gnatcatcher (Polioptila plumbea innotata) (1 Hilty, S. L. (2003). Birds of Venezuela. Christopher Helm, London, UK. Close ); call “pseeee tidit, tidit-tidit”, like tyrant-flycatcher (Tyrannidae), also twitters, a mewing “tewww”, harsh “djer” (7 Schulenberg, T. S., D. F. Stotz, D. F. Lane, J. P. O’Neill, and T. A. Parker (2007). Birds of Peru. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close ) etc.

Pied Puffbird (Lesser)

May in Costa Rica and Jun in Panama; Feb–Aug in Colombia; apparently around Mar in Ecuador. Nest in hole excavated in arboreal termitarium, situated 4–25 m above ground. Clutch two eggs; no information available on incubation and fledging periods.

Pied Puffbird (Greater)

Sept in Surinam; Mar–May and Nov in French Guiana; Oct in SE Pará (4 Mazzoni, L. G., M. Canuto, V. M. Gomes, and V. C. Rodrigues (2013). Notes on the breeding biology of the Pied Puffbird Notharchus tectus in southeastern Pará, Brazil. Atualidades Ornitológicas 171:24–25. Close ) (with another nest being excavated in Jun) (8 Oniki, Y. and E. O. Willis (1983). A study of breeding birds of the Belém area, Brazil: III. Trogonidae to Furnariidae. Ciência e Cultura 35(9):1320–1324. Close ) and Dec  in Tocantins (both E Amazonian Brazil). Nest  in hole excavated in arboreal termitarium  (including active colonies) (4 Mazzoni, L. G., M. Canuto, V. M. Gomes, and V. C. Rodrigues (2013). Notes on the breeding biology of the Pied Puffbird Notharchus tectus in southeastern Pará, Brazil. Atualidades Ornitológicas 171:24–25. Close ), usually situated 4–25 m above ground, but once just 2 m (4 Mazzoni, L. G., M. Canuto, V. M. Gomes, and V. C. Rodrigues (2013). Notes on the breeding biology of the Pied Puffbird Notharchus tectus in southeastern Pará, Brazil. Atualidades Ornitológicas 171:24–25. Close ). Clutch two eggs; no information available on incubation and fledging periods, but both adults provide the young with food, which is deposited at the entrance hole, rather than fed directly to the nestlings (4 Mazzoni, L. G., M. Canuto, V. M. Gomes, and V. C. Rodrigues (2013). Notes on the breeding biology of the Pied Puffbird Notharchus tectus in southeastern Pará, Brazil. Atualidades Ornitológicas 171:24–25. Close ).

Pied Puffbird (Lesser)

Not globally threatened. In Costa Rica, increasingly rare with deforestation; only recently discovered in neighbouring Nicaragua (9 Múnera-Roldán, C., M. L. Cody, R. H. Schiele-Zavala, B. J. Sigel, S. Woltmann, and J. P. Kjeldsen (2007). New and noteworthy records of birds from south-eastern Nicaragua. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 127(2):152–161. Close ), where known from two sites, including Laguna de Apoyo Nature Reserve (10 McCrary, J. K., W. J. Arendt, L. Chavarría, L. J. López, P. A. Somarriba, P.-O. Boudrault, A. L. Cruz, F. J. Muñoz, and D. J. Mackler (2009). A contribution to Nicaraguan ornithology, with a focus on the pine–oak ecoregion. Cotinga 31:72–78. Close ). Fairly common in Panama in 1970s. Common in W Colombia, where present in Los Katíos National Park, but available habitat in NW Ecuador much reduced (11 Ridgely, R. S., and P. J. Greenfield (2001). The Birds of Ecuador. Volumes 1–2. Comstock Publishing Associates, Ithaca, New York, USA. Close ).

Pied Puffbird (Greater)

Not globally threatened. Common in the Guianas. In Venezuela, occurs in Imataca Forest Reserve and El Dorado. Generally uncommon in C & S Amazon region, uncommon near Manaus, and apparently rare in Rondônia, but known from Amazônia (Tapajós) National Park (12 Oren, D. C., and T. A. Parker (1997). Avifauna of the Tapajós National Park and vicinity, Amazonian Brazil. In Studies in Neotropical ornithology honoring Ted Parker (J. V. Remsen, Editor). Ornithological Monographs 48. pp. 493–525. Close ) and the mosiac of protected areas within the Serra do Carajás (13 Pacheco, J. F., G. M. Kirwan, A. Aleixo, B. M. Whitney, A. Whittaker, J. Minns, K. J. Zimmer, P. S. M. Fonseca, M. F. Lima, and D. C. Oren (2007). An avifaunal inventory of the CVRD Serra dos Carajás project, Pará, Brazil. Cotinga 27:15–30. Close ); fairly common in E Amazon. Apparently rare to uncommon in Peru and Bolivia; occurs in Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, Bolivia.