Blue-cheeked Jacamar Galbula cyanicollis Scientific name definitions

Also known as the Blue-necked Jacamar, this species forms a superspecies with its north-bank replacement, the Yellow-billed Jacamar (Galbula albirostris), and in the past these two species were occasionally viewed as being conspecific. The Blue-cheeked Jacamar is found across southern Amazonia, from eastern Peru to east Amazonian Brazil, where it inhabits the interior of lowland forest, both terra firme and seasonally flooded, and in some areas appears to move into areas of várzea forest only during the high-water season. From other southern Amazonian jacamars with largely rufous underparts, this species should be easily distinguished by the yellow lower mandible and the bluish head and neck sides, although these features might require good light to appreciate.

19–22 cm; 21–26 g. Male has crown often bluish, cheeks and malar steel-blue  in E (apparently varying clinally to green with only traces of blue in W birds); upperparts shining green; tail relatively short and moderately rounded, with inner pair of rectrices shining green, and remainder green-fringed rufous; underparts uniform chestnut; bill 3·9–5 cm long (3·4–4·1 cm from nostril), upper mandible usually black but considerable individual variation from all black to, rarely, all yellow, lower mandible yellow; iris dark brown; bare eyering and loral region yellow; feet yellow. Differs from <em>G. albirostris</em> in slightly larger size, bluer head (often difficult to appreciate in field) (1 Schulenberg, T. S., D. F. Stotz, D. F. Lane, J. P. O’Neill, and T. A. Parker (2007). Birds of Peru. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close ), chestnut chin and throat. Female  has slightly duller, tawny-buff (1 Schulenberg, T. S., D. F. Stotz, D. F. Lane, J. P. O’Neill, and T. A. Parker (2007). Birds of Peru. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close ) underparts. Immature not described.

E Peru (S to lower R Ucayali) and Brazil S of Amazon (E to Maranhão, S to Rondônia and N Mato Grosso).

Lower strata in interior of lowland evergreen forest, occasionally at edges and frequently exploiting light gaps, at least in terra firme forest (2 Wunderle, J. M., M. R. Willig, and L. M. P. Henriques (2005). Avian distribution in treefall gaps and understorey of terra firme forest in the lowland Amazon. Ibis 147(1):109–129. Close ); often in várzea forest and, indeed, where these are flooded cyclically (as in tidal areas near Belém, Brazil), seems to appear within the forest only when it is flooded. Also occurs locally in gallery forest in Brazilian cerrado. To 900 m.

Sedentary.

Recorded prey Coleoptera, Hymenoptera (e.g. Ichneumonidae 15 mm long, Apidae, Formicidae) and Diptera (e.g. Brachycera). Possibly also takes Lepidoptera and Odonata. Sallies from a perch to take flying insects.

Considered to be effectively indistinguishable from that of <em>G. albirostris</em> (1 Schulenberg, T. S., D. F. Stotz, D. F. Lane, J. P. O’Neill, and T. A. Parker (2007). Birds of Peru. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA. Close ).

Birds with enlarged gonads or egg in oviduct in Sept; two active nests found in Jun and Oct in Brazil. Nest in arboreal termitarium 1–2 m above ground. Clutch two eggs; no information on incubation and fledging periods.

Not globally threatened. Generally common throughout range. Occurs within several protected areas, e.g. Amazônia (Tapajós) National Park, Tapajós National Forest (2 Wunderle, J. M., M. R. Willig, and L. M. P. Henriques (2005). Avian distribution in treefall gaps and understorey of terra firme forest in the lowland Amazon. Ibis 147(1):109–129. Close ) and the mosiac of protected in the Serra dos Carajás (3 Pacheco, J. F., G. M. Kirwan, A. Aleixo, B. M. Whitney, A. Whittaker, J. Minns, K. J. Zimmer, P. S. M. Fonseca, M. F. Lima, and D. C. Oren (2007). An avifaunal inventory of the CVRD Serra dos Carajás project, Pará, Brazil. Cotinga 27:15–30. Close ), in Brazil. Owing to its greater reliance on intact forest understorey, this species, as G. albirostris, is likely to be more susceptible to deforestation than are most other jacamars.