Moustached Puffbird

Mustache Faulvogel ( Malacoptila mystacalis )

The Mustache Faulvogel ( Malacoptila mystacalis ) is a species of bird in the family of Puffbirds ( Bucconidae ). This species has a large distribution area, which includes the South American country of Venezuela and Colombia. The stock is assessed by the IUCN as endangered not (Least Concern )

Features

The mustache -toed bird reaches a body length of about 22 centimeters and a weight of about 50 grams. The bill is blue-gray. The beak ridge and the tip of the beak are dark. The eyes are red-orange. The brown top is light yellow-brown speckles on the back and on the wings. The extended front spring, which is usually applied, but is occasionally erected, the area between the beak and eyes, the cheeks and the hair tufts are white. The rest of the head is cinnamon. The throat and the extended chest belt are orange brown. The rest of the underside is made of a dull white with brown stripes.

Distribution and habitat

The species lives in damp, humid and wet foothills and mountain forests at altitudes between 400 and 2000 meters. You can spot him in the dense wild cloud forest, as well as to their forest edges. In Venezuela he comes in the Sierra de Perijá in the state of Zulia, isolated in the Andes Táchiras, in the west of Mérida, Barinas from the northwest to the southeast in front of Lara. In addition, you can find him in the mountain Yaracuys and the Cordilleras of Carabobo to the Dependencias Federales, to the southeast of Miranda. In Colombia, he comes to the Pacific slopes of the San Juan river front near the 3950 -meter-high Cerro Tatama to the Departamento de Narino. Further distribution areas are the eastern slopes of the Western Andes of Antioquia, both slope sides of the central Andes Quindíos, the eastern Andes Cundinamarcas, the Serrania de la Macarena, the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and the Colombian part of the Sierra de Perijá.

Behavior

The bird usually sits longer time quietly in pairs on branches that are 1-7 meters above the ground. They always keep a certain spatial distance from each other. They act very lethargic, almost tame. They observe their surroundings carefully. After longer periods of rest break occasionally to accommodate food and liquid. The lining is in relation to their body of relatively large insects and small vertebrates. After feeding, they return back to their often stemmed place. Occasionally he attacked ants swarms or to add to other flocks of birds. His nest he builds in caves that are located on slopes or hillsides. In front of the entrance they build to protect small wreaths of sticks.

Subspecies

Rodolphe Meyer de Schauensee has 1949 Caldasia Vol 5 No. 23 is a subspecies called Malacoptila mystacalis pacifica described. This subspecies is generally considered invalid taxon. Thus, the species is considered monotypic.