Green-tailed Jacamar (Galbula galbula) - Birds of the Guyanas 25

The Green-tailed Jacamar is the most common Jacamar in Suriname. This beautiful coloured bird can be found at forest edges where it hunts for insects. With its long bill it can also catch dragonflies and butterflies. They are very active when they forage, perched on a branch from a tree, they perform up to 40 areal sallies an hour.

Although I said common, it's only the second time that I saw this bird. This one is a male, it has a white chin and throat. The female has an orange chin and throat. It lives in eastern Colombia, southern and eastern Venezuela, the Guianas and northern Brazil.

The Green-tailed Jacamar has a very distinctive call/song. On xeno-canto you can listen to it if you're curious. Xeno-canto is a very useful website for identifying birds by their song. I now realise that I've heard this bird several times before. Sometimes their call is just very loud and sharp 'peeo' but often it completes its song/call like this: peeo peeo peea pee-pee-pee-pee-pe-pe-pe-e-e-e-e’e’e’e..., ending in a thrill.

The Green-tailed Jacamar is 18–22 cm long and weighs 18–29 g. Personally I find them one of the most beautiful birds I've seen so far.

Thanks for visiting my blog and happy birding.