Birds
Jacamar
Galbulidae · also called jacamars
A jacamar catches its meal in a flash of iridescent colour and precise aerial timing, snatching a butterfly or dragonfly clean out of the air. Then comes the careful part: beating the prey against a branch again and again to strip away wings, legs, and stingers before swallowing it, a routine thorough enough that the bird can safely eat toxic butterflies most other insectivorous birds simply avoid.
Overview
Jacamars, family Galbulidae, are metallic, iridescent insectivores of Neotropical forest, found from Mexico through Central and South America. A long, thin, forceps-like bill lets them snatch flying insects, especially butterflies and dragonflies, from mid-air with real precision.
Preparation before every meal
Captured prey is beaten repeatedly against a perch to remove wings, legs, and stingers, a routine thorough enough to let jacamars safely eat toxic butterflies most birds avoid. Like several tropical relatives, they nest in burrows dug into earthen banks or termite mounds rather than in trees.
Status
Least Concern — reasonably common across suitable Neotropical forest, tolerating some edge and secondary growth in addition to intact forest interior.
Jacamar: common questions
Why does a jacamar beat its prey against a branch before eating it?
This behaviour serves to remove wings, legs, and, importantly, the stinger from stinging insects such as bees and wasps, making the prey considerably safer and easier to swallow whole afterward. Repeatedly striking the captured insect against a perch also helps subdue any remaining struggling, ensuring the jacamar can reposition and consume its meal without being stung, bitten, or otherwise injured in the process.
How can a jacamar safely eat toxic butterflies that other birds avoid?
Jacamars are notable among insectivorous birds for regularly and successfully capturing and eating butterfly species that carry toxins or unpleasant tastes deterring many other potential predators, and while the exact physiological or behavioural explanation is not entirely settled, it likely involves some combination of effective prey-handling technique, such as their branch-beating preparation routine, and a degree of tolerance for the specific compounds involved that many other bird species lack.
What makes a jacamar's feathers look so shiny and metallic?
The intense, glossy iridescence seen in many jacamar species comes from the microscopic physical structure of the feathers themselves, which scatters and reflects light in a way that produces shifting, metallic-looking colours depending on the viewing angle, rather than the colour coming primarily from pigment. This structural colouration is the same basic optical principle behind the iridescent feathers of several other brightly coloured bird groups.
Do jacamars build nests in trees like most birds?
No, jacamars typically dig a nesting burrow into an earthen bank or, in some cases, into an active termite mound, rather than constructing a more conventional nest in the branches of a tree, a nesting strategy shared with several other tropical bird families that provides eggs and chicks with additional shelter and protection compared with a more exposed nest site.