Puffbirds | Bucconidae

Baardkoekoeken | Bucos

In Mexico and Central America the family numbers nine species in seven genera. Most live in humid lowland forest in Costa Rica and Panama; a few, such as the White-necked and White-whiskered Puffbirds, reach southern Mexico. 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.