Birds of the Atlantic Forest
White-eared puffbird
Nystalus chacuruJoão-bobo
The bird that will not startle.
- Habitat
- Edges of dry woodland, wooded fields, fence lines and roadsides.
- Season
- Resident. Partly migratory in some areas.
- Size
- 20 to 22 cm
- We look for it on
- Through the Lens
Stout, big-headed, with a heavy orange bill tipped in black. The first thing you see is the dark mask and, in the middle of it, the white cheek patch — the white ear that gives it its English name. Usually in pairs, on a bare branch, in plain sight of everyone.
It digs its nest into a bank: a deep tunnel ending in a chamber where the female lays two to four glossy white eggs. When the cold comes it lowers its own temperature and goes into torpor, a rare trick among birds. In the breeding season both sing, answering each other, and several pairs end up building a chorus.
What it sounds like
Türu · türu · türu
Three syllables, trembling, descending, dying at the end. You hear it at any hour, even in the hottest part of the siesta, but it is after sundown that the whole neighbourhood sings at once.
Where we look for it
Through the Lens
Birding outings at first light and after dark, in the locations the birder chooses.
Photo: Martino Esteche · © Natural Mystic Expeditions
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