Parental care of Chestnut-capped Puffbird Bucco macrodactylus on the middle Juruá River, Amazonas, Brazil

Abstract

Chestnut-capped Puffbird Bucco macrodactylus, like other members of the Bucconidae family, nest in arboreal termitaria. Here we described a nest of the species, found in the floodplain of the Juruá River in December 2014. It was built inside an arboreal termite mound, 2.45 m above the ground. We determined the type and frequency of prey consumed by chicks over six days: during this time adults brought food to the nest 147 times. Prey included both vertebrates and invertebrates, though the most frequent were insects of the Order Orthoptera. Fledging may have been directly stimulated by a predation attempt made by a marsupial.