The rufous-necked puffbird (''Malacoptila rufa'') is a species of

near-passerine Near passerines and higher land-bird assemblage are terms of traditional, pre-cladistic taxonomy that have often been given to tree-dwelling birds or those most often believed to be related to the true passerines (order Passeriformes) owing to mor ...

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

Bucconidae The puffbirds and their relatives in the family Bucconidae are tropical tree-dwelling insectivorous birds that are found from South America up to Mexico. Together with their closest relatives, the jacamars, they form a divergent lineage within th ...

, the puffbirds, nunlets, and nunbirds. 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 ...

, and

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 ...

Taxonomy and systematics

The rufous-necked puffbird has two subspecies, the nominate ''M. r. rufa'' and ''M. r. brunnescens''.

Description

The rufous-necked puffbird is about long and weighs about . It is somewhat unusual for a puffbird because it is unstreaked. The nominate subspecies' crown and cheeks are dark gray with narrow pale streaks and there is a large rufous

loral Loral may refer to: * Loral Corporation, contractor founded in 1948 in New York by William Lorenz and Leon Alpert as Loral Electronics Corporation * Loral Space & Communications, satellite communications company * Loral GZ-22, a non-rigid airshi ...

spot. The nape has a wide rufous collar that extends onto the sides of the neck. The back is dark brown and the wings and tail a warmer brown. The underparts are shades of brown, darker on the breast and paler on the belly. The upper breast has a white crescent with a thin black border under it. The bill is blue-gray to black, the eye dark brown or dark red, and the feet pale gray-brown to pale olive-gray. ''M. r. brunnescens'' is very similar to the nominate, differing mainly in the intensity of the colors.Schulenberg, T. S. and G. M. Kirwan (2020). Rufous-necked Puffbird (''Malacoptila rufa''), version 1.0. In Birds of the World (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bow.runpuf1.01 retrieve November 8, 2021

Distribution and habitat

The rufous-necked puffbird is found in southern

Amazonia The Amazon rainforest, also called the Amazon jungle or Amazonia, is a moist broadleaf tropical rainforest in the Amazon biome that covers most of the Amazon basin of South America. This basin encompasses , of which are covered by the rainf ...

. ''M. r. rufa'' occurs in northeastern Peru, northeastern Bolivia, and western Brazil south of the Amazon River and west of the

Madeira River The Madeira River ( ) is a major waterway in South America. It is estimated to be in length, while the Madeira-Mamoré is estimated near or in length depending on the measuring party and their methods. The Madeira is the biggest tributary of ...

. ''M. r. brunnescens'' occurs in Brazil south of the Amazon and east of the

Tapajós River The Tapajós ( ) is a river in Brazil. It runs through the Amazon Rainforest and is a major tributary of the Amazon River. When combined with the Juruena River, the Tapajós is approximately long. Prior to a drastic increase in illegal gold mi ...

to the Atlantic Ocean. Intergrades between the two subspecies occur between the Madeira and Tapajós. In most of its range it inhabits the understory of terra firme

evergreen forest An evergreen forest is a forest made up of evergreen trees. They occur across a wide range of climatic zones, and include trees such as conifers and holly in cold climates, eucalyptus, live oak, acacias, magnolia, and banksia in more temperate zo ...

. In northeastern Peru it appears to be restricted to

várzea forest A várzea forest is a seasonal floodplain forest inundated by whitewater rivers that occurs in the Amazon biome. Until the late 1970s, the definition was less clear and várzea was often used for all periodically flooded Amazonian forests. Althoug ...

Behavior

Feeding

The rufous-necked puffbird hunts from a perch several meters above the ground; it sallies to capture prey from vegetation or the ground. Its diet has not been studied extensively but is known to be mostly insects and other invertebrates with perhaps small vertebrates as well. It occasionally joins

mixed-species foraging flock A mixed-species feeding flock, also termed a mixed-species foraging flock, mixed hunting party or informally bird wave, is a flock (birds), flock of usually insectivorous birds of different species that join each other and move together while fora ...

s and attends

army ant The name army ant (or legionary ant or ''marabunta'') is applied to over 200 ant species in different lineages. Because of their aggressive predatory foraging groups, known as "raids", a huge number of ants forage simultaneously over a limited ...

swarms.

Breeding

Almost nothing is known about the rufous-necked puffbird's breeding

phenology Phenology is the study of periodic events in biological life cycles and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as habitat factors (such as elevation). Examples include the date of emergence of leav ...

. One nest was in a tunnel in the ground.

Vocalization

The rufous-necked puffbird's song is "a long, descending musical trill, indistinguishable from songs of White-chested 'Malacoptila fusca''and Semicollared 'Malacoptila semicincta''puffbirds." Calls include "a thin ''seeeee'' whistle" and "an agitated harsh rasping series: ''trr'r'r'r'r-SHEEAH trr'r'r'r'r-SHEEAH trr'r'r'r'r-SHEEAH...''".

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 rufous-necked puffbird as being of Least Concern. It has a very large range, but its population has not been quantified and is believed to be decreasing. No specific threats have been identified.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1260993 rufous-necked puffbird Birds of Southern Amazonia rufous-necked puffbird Taxonomy articles created by Polbot