White-necked Puffbird

About the White-necked Puffbird

The white-necked puffbird (Notharchus hyperrhynchus) is a species of bird in the family Bucconidae, the puffbirds, nunlets, and nunbirds. It is found in Mexico, Central America, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.

During the second half of the 20th century, the white-necked puffbird and what are now the buff-bellied puffbird (N. swainsoni) and Guianan puffbird (N. macrorhynchus) were treated as conspecific. As of 2021, the white-necked puffbird has two recognized subspecies, the nominate N. h. hyperrhynchus and N. h. paraensis. Those in El Salvador and northwestern Nicaragua have been proposed as a third subspecies, N. h. cryptoleucus, and those in northeastern Colombia's Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta might be, too.

The white-necked puffbird is about 25 cm (9.8 in) long and weighs 81 to 106 g (2.9 to 3.7 oz).It is mostly glossy black. It has a broad white forehead, throat, upper breast, and most of the belly. A broad black band separates the last two, and a black stripe runs from the beak to the crown, passing through a dark red eye. The white of the throat extends as a fairly broad line around the nape. The lower... Wikipedia →