Bird Guide

Swallow-winged Puffbird vs White-whiskered Puffbird

Swallow-winged Puffbird (Chelidoptera tenebrosa)

Swallow-winged Puffbird

Chelidoptera tenebrosa

Small36 gShrubland

The swallow-winged puffbird is 14 to 15 cm (5.5 to 5.9 in) long and weighs 30 to 41.5 g (1.1 to 1.5 oz). The nominate subspecies has sooty black upperparts with some bluish iridescence. The lower back and rump are white. Its tail is short and black with white tips to the feathers that quickly wear away. The wings are long and pointed. The chin is whitish, the throat grayish, and the breast sooty black fading to gray in its lower part. Its belly is orange-chestnut. The bill is black, the eye dark brown, and the feet dark gray or black. C. t. Voice: The swallow-winged puffbird has a "wittering song often given in flight". Its calls include "'tsi-tsi-tsi' and high clear 'dí-didi dí-didi dí-didi…'."

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Joao Quental · CC BY 2.0
White-whiskered Puffbird (Malacoptila panamensis)

White-whiskered Puffbird

Malacoptila panamensis

Small43 gForest

The white-whiskered puffbird is about 18 cm (7.1 in) long with an average weight of about 43 g (1.5 oz). Unlike most puffbirds, the male and female have different plumages. Both sexes have bristles around the base of the large bill, and white "whiskers", which are actually tufts of feathers. The nominate adult male's upperparts are brown to chestnut brown. The forecrown has narrow buff or tawny streaks and most of the rest of the upperparts have buff or tawny spots. The tail is chesnut brown. Its lores, supercilium, cheeks, and the sides of the neck are tawny. Voice: The white-whiskered puffbird's song is "a high-pitched descending trill ... usually with an emphasized note at the end, e.g., tssiirrrrr-tsít." It sings less often than many other puffbirds. A frequently heard call is "a high, thin, slightly reedy, drawn-out tsssiiiw or tssssiiir, fading away".

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Sonogram of the White-whiskered Puffbird
Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Song · Esmeraldas: Canandé, Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0
Photo: Len Blumin · CC BY 2.0

Where you might meet both

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Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Swallow-winged Puffbird and White-whiskered Puffbird.