The brown jacamar (''Brachygalba lugubris'') is a species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

in the family

Galbulidae The jacamars are a family, Galbulidae, of birds from tropical South and Central America, extending up to Mexico. The family contains five genera and 18 species. The family is closely related to the puffbirds, another Neotropical The Neotro ...

. It is found in

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

, and

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

.Tobias, J., T. Züchner, T.A. de Melo Júnior, and G. M. Kirwan (2020). Brown Jacamar (''Brachygalba lugubris''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliott, J. Sargatal, D. A. Christie, and E. de Juana, Editors). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.brojac2.01 retrieved May 9, 2021

Taxonomy and systematics

The brown jacamar and the dusky-backed (''B. salmoni''), pale-headed (''B. goeringi''), and

white-throated jacamar The white-throated jacamar (''Brachygalba albogularis'') is a species of bird in the family Galbulidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil and Peru.Tobias, J., T. Züchner, T.A. de Melo Júnior, and G. M. Kirwan (2020). White-throated Jacamar (''Br ...

s (''B. albogularis'') form a

superspecies In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...

.Remsen, J. V., Jr., J. I. Areta, E. Bonaccorso, S. Claramunt, A. Jaramillo, D. F. Lane, J. F. Pacheco, M. B. Robbins, F. G. Stiles, and K. J. Zimmer. Version 19 January 2021. A classification of the bird species of South America. American Ornithological Society. https://www.museum.lsu.edu/~Remsen/SACCBaseline.htm retrieved January 19, 2021 The brown jacamar has seven subspecies: *''B. l. fulviventris'' Sclater (1891) *''B. l. caquetae'' Chapman (1917) *''B. l. lugubris'' Swainson (1838) *''B. l. obscuriceps'' Zimmer & Phelps (1947) *''B. l. naumburgae'' Chapman (1931) *''B. l. phaeonota'' Todd (1943) *''B. l. melanosterna'' Sclater (1855) Three of them (''fulviventris'', ''phaeonota'', and ''melanosterna'') were at one time treated as separate species.

Description

The brown jacamar is long and weighs . The upper parts of the nominate are brown and the lower back dark brown with a greenish black gloss. The wings are blackish with a blue sheen. The chin and throat are off-white, the breast and flanks reddish brown, and the lower breast and belly off-white or buff. The other subspecies differ in the tone and intensity of the back and breast colors.

Distribution and habitat

The brown jacamar is found in three unconnected areas in northern South America east of the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

. The details are: *''B. l. fulviventris'', central Colombia's Meta and

Boyacá Department Boyacá () is one of the thirty-two departments of Colombia, and the remnant of Boyacá State, one of the original nine states of the "United States of Colombia". Boyacá is centrally located within Colombia, almost entirely within the mount ...

s *''B. l. caquetae'', from Colombia's

Caquetá Department Caquetá Department () is a department of Colombia. Located in the Amazonas region, Caquetá borders with the departments of Cauca and Huila to the west, the department of Meta to the north, the department of Guaviare to the northeast, th ...

south to eastern Ecuador and northern Peru *''B. l. lugubris'', eastern and southern Venezuela east through the Guianas and northern Brazil *''B. l. obscuriceps'', southern Venezuela and adjoining northwestern Brazil *''B. l. naumburgae'', northeastern Brazil's

Maranhão Maranhão () is a States of Brazil, state in Brazil. Located in the country's Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region, it has a population of about 7 million and an area of and it is divided into 217 municipalities. Clockwise from north, it ...

and

Piauí Piauí ( ) is one of the states of Brazil, located in the country's Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region. The state has 1.6% of the Brazilian population and produces 0.7% of the Brazilian GDP. Piauí has the shortest coastline of any coas ...

states *''B. l. phaeonota'', Brazil, along Rio Solimões (upper Amazon River) in western Amazonas state *''B. l. melanosterna'', Bolivia's Santa Cruz Department and central and southern Brazil The brown jacamar primarily inhabits '' terra firme'', '' várzea'', and

gallery forest A gallery forest is one formed as a corridor along rivers or wetlands, projecting into landscapes that are otherwise only sparsely treed such as savannas, grasslands, or deserts. The gallery forest maintains a more temperate microclimate above th ...

s, both

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Work ...

and secondary. There it is found in the canopy, along edges, and in shrubby clearings. It is also found along watercourses in

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

and, in some parts of its range, on white sand soils. In elevation it usually ranges from lowlands to but has been found as high as in Venezuela.

Behavior

Feeding

The brown jacamar's diet is insects of many kinds. It perches on exposed branches in pairs or small groups and sallies from there to catch its flying prey.

Breeding

The brown jacamar's nest has not been documented, but it is assumed to be a burrow in a soil bank or an arboreal termite nest. In Colombia, a family with three young was noted in March and other individuals in breeding condition in May.

Vocalization

The brown jacamar's song is a "descending 'tick tick tick ti ti ti ti tit t t t' or 'plee, plee, plee-plee-plee’ple’pe’pe’e’e’e" ending in a stutte

Its calls are a sharp "hilew" or lower "chewee

Status

The

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

has assessed the brown jacamar as being of

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

. It is uncommon to common in various parts of its range, occurs in several protected areas, and "its habitat requirements suggest that selective logging would not be a threat." However, subspecies ''B. l. phaeonota'' is known only in a very small area, and so "requires further study to clarify its conservation status and range."

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q614789 brown jacamar Birds of the Ecuadorian Amazon Birds of Colombia Birds of Venezuela Birds of the Guiana Shield Birds of Brazil brown jacamar Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Taxa named by William Swainson