Rufous-tailed Jacamar Galbula ruficauda

Brazilian name: ariramba-de-cauda-ruiva
Female Rufous-tailed Jacamar, Caseara, Tocantins, Brazil, January 2002 - click for larger image Brazil

For more details on Jacamars see the Green-tailed Jacamar page.

The Rufous-tailed Jacamar is slightly larger than the Green-tailed at about 23 cms and has a similar long and slender bill. The main difference, as their names suggest, is the colour of the tail. The first photo shows a female with her rufous throat while the males in the second and third photos have a white throat.
Male Rufous-tailed Jacamar, Perequê, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 2002 - click for larger image The Rufous-tailed Jacamar is probably the most widespread of the Jacamars occurring from Mexico to northern Argentina and there are several subspecies. This one is Galbula ruficauda rufoviridis which used to be regarded as a separate species.

It is found in forest borders and clearings, secondary growth thickets and alongside streams.

There are illustrations in HBW, Volume 7, Pages 84, 85, 86, 89 and 92, Hilty & Brown, Plate 18.
Male Rufous-tailed Jacamar, Thaimaçu, Pará, Brazil, April 2003 - click for larger image Photos 4 to 8 show what I assume was part of the mating ritual of Rufous-tailed Jacamars which I watched for some considerable time. The male went off to catch a butterfly and duly brought it back to the horizontal branch on which the female sat. The male passed the morsel to the female and the female then manipulated it, usually in the air, before swallowing it.
Male Rufous-tailed Jacamar, Carajás, Pará, Brazil, October 2005 - click for larger image The song is a loud series of notes ending in a trill, gaining in pitch and speed.

Male and Female Rufous-tailed Jacamar, Carajás, Pará, Brazil, October 2005 - click for larger image There is a distribution map at NatureServe and more information is available via Avibase.

There is an excellent detailed article at Chaine, Noelle M. 2010 .Rufous-tailed Jacamar (Galbula ruficauda), Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Female Rufous-tailed Jacamar, Carajás, Pará, Brazil, October 2005 - click for larger image
Female Rufous-tailed Jacamar, Carajás, Pará, Brazil, October 2005 - click for larger image
Male Rufous-tailed Jacamar, Porto Seguro, Bahia, Brazil, November 2005 - click for larger image
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