All species › Jacamars and puffbirds › Puffbirds › Black-fronted Nunbird
Black-fronted Nunbird | Monasa nigrifrons
Zwartvoorhoofdtrappist | Monja frentinegra | Chora-chuva-preto
The Black-fronted Nunbird is an all-dark nunbird with a coral-red bill, which in the lowlands east of the Andes lives mainly along rivers and in flooded forest. Small groups sit upright and still at mid-height and regularly burst together into loud, rolling choruses. It often follows mixed flocks and monkeys and catches the insects they flush.
Voice
Loud, rolling and cackling choruses by several birds at once, often long sustained and mainly in the morning; also single whistled and wailing calls.
Recording: JAYRSON ARAUJO DE OLIVEIRA — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
27–29 cm, with a long tail and a heavy, slightly decurved, coral-red bill. The entire plumage is slate-grey, blacker on the head and forehead; there are no white markings. The sexes are alike; juveniles are browner, with a duller bill.
Confusion species
White-fronted Nunbird Monasa morphoeus has white around the base of the bill and lives more in the interior of terra firme forest. Yellow-billed Nunbird Monasa flavirostris is smaller, with a yellow bill and white shoulders. Smooth-billed Ani Crotophaga ani is also black, but has a high, black, ridged bill and lives in open country.
Habitat
Várzea and other flooded forest, forest along rivers and on river islands, swamp forest, forest edges and secondary forest, locally also terra firme, mainly in the lowlands and locally up to about 1000 m. It sits in small groups at mid-height and takes large insects, spiders and small lizards, often with mixed flocks or troops of monkeys. The nest is at the end of a tunnel in the ground.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia in the far south of Amazonia, along the large rivers. In Ecuador in the eastern lowlands. In Peru throughout the Amazonian lowlands. In Bolivia in the lowlands of the north and centre. Absent from the Galápagos. Outside the guide area in Brazilian Amazonia, mainly south of the Amazon, to central Brazil.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Along riverbanks and in flooded forest, for example on boat trips in the Amazonian lowlands. The loud choruses are often heard before the group is seen.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The species has a very large range and tolerates secondary forest and forest edges.
Scientific name
Monasa nigrifrons | (Spix, 1824)
Spix described the species in 1824 as Bucco nigrifrons; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Monasa was introduced in 1816 by Vieillot. The genus name comes from Greek monas, 'solitary'. The species name comes from Latin niger, 'black', and frons, 'forehead'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Rio Solimões, Brazil.