Puffbirds | Bucconidae

Baardkoekoeken | Puffbirds | Bucos

In the area of this guide the family numbers 34 species in ten genera. Most live in humid lowland forest of the Amazonian foothills; a few live in the Chocó, in dry forest in northern Colombia or, like the White-faced Nunbird, in cloud forest high in the Andes. They are stocky birds with a large head, a short neck and loose, fluffy plumage in brown, black and white, which makes them look plumper than they are. The bill is stout, often with a small hook at the tip or a crossed point, and is surrounded by bristles. The foot is zygodactyl, with two toes forward and two back. Puffbirds are patient sit-and-wait hunters: they perch motionless for long periods on an open branch in the middle storey, then sally suddenly at a large insect, a spider or a small lizard and beat the prey against the branch before swallowing it. This stillness means they are often overlooked. The nunbirds of the genus Monasa are the exception, noisy birds that move through the forest in small groups and join in loud, chattering choruses. The nest lies at the end of a tunnel in the ground or in an arboreal termite nest, with two or three white eggs.