The yellow-billed nunbird is a species of near-passerine bird in the family Bucconidae, the puffbirds, nunlets, and nunbirds. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
Region
Western Amazon Basin
Typical Environment
Occurs in lowland and foothill forests of Bolivia, Brazil (western Amazon), Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. It prefers forest margins, secondary growth, river edges, and clearings where it has open perches for sallying. The species is also regularly associated with bamboo thickets and gallery forest along waterways. It is generally uncommon to locally fairly common, often patchily distributed. Core activity is at mid to lower levels of the forest edge rather than deep interior.
Altitude Range
100–1100 m
Climate Zone
Tropical
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
A member of the puffbird family (Bucconidae), the yellow-billed nunbird spends long periods perched quietly before sallying out to catch prey. Its bright yellow bill is a distinctive field mark that separates it from other dark-plumaged nunbirds. It favors edges and early successional habitats, making it more often encountered along rivers, clearings, and bamboo thickets than inside dense primary forest.
Temperament
quiet and watchful
Flight Pattern
short rapid wingbeats between perches; quick sallying flights
Social Behavior
Usually seen singly, in pairs, or small family groups along edges and rivers. Pairs maintain territories and spend long periods perched motionless before pursuing prey. Like other puffbirds, it nests in a burrow excavated in an earthen bank or similar substrate, with both adults sharing duties.
Migratory Pattern
Resident
Song Description
Vocalizations include soft, mellow whistles delivered from exposed perches. Phrases are simple and repeated, often a plaintive, descending series. Calls are more frequently heard at dawn and late afternoon.
Plumage
Mostly uniform sooty to dark slate-black with a slight gloss, sometimes a subtly paler chin. Tail often appears slightly rounded; overall texture smooth and even.
Diet
Primarily takes large insects such as grasshoppers, beetles, mantises, and orthopterans, captured by sallying from a perch. It occasionally snaps up spiders and other arthropods and may take small vertebrates opportunistically. Prey is often subdued by the stout, slightly hooked bill and swallowed whole.
Preferred Environment
Feeds along forest edges, riverbanks, and in secondary growth where open sight lines allow aerial sallies. It frequently hunts around bamboo patches and semi-open woodlands with scattered perches.
