Animalia Life

Bucco capensis
TAXONOMY
Bucco capensis Linnaeus, 1766, Cape of Good Hope; error = the Guianas. Monotypic.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
French: Tamatia а collier; German: Halsband-faulvogel; Spanish: Buco Musiъ.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
7.5 in (19 cm), 1.6–2.2 oz (46–62 g). Dumpy, with large head and short tail. Sides of face bright orange; rest of upperparts rufous, finely barred darker. Complete black collar forms band across chest, bordered buffy on nape. Underparts white, grading to rich buffy on lower flanks. Bill robust and orange; eye orange.
DISTRIBUTION
Widespread in Amazon basin from eastern Ecuador and southeastern Colombia; east to southern Venezuela, the Guianas and northern Brazil; south to southeastern Peru and northern Mato Grosso.
HABITAT
Lower to mid strata of tall humid forest, also dry hilly country, bamboo bordering rivers, and varzea; 0–5,580 ft (0–1,700 m).
BEHAVIOR
Still-hunts from horizontal perches; inconspicuous and tame. Distinctive vocalization given mainly before dawn.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Large insects (beetles, orthopterans, cicadas) and small vertebrates (lizards, snakes, frogs) taken from ground or foliage.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Excavates nests in arboreal termitaria.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not threatened. Uncommon (or at least infrequently observed) but widespread, occurring in several protected areas.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
None known.

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