Venezuela: Los Llanos – Rufous-tailed Jacamar

This tiny bird deserves its separate post – the Rufous-tailed Jacamar (Galbula ruficauda). Its colors are spectacular with iridescent, metallic emerald-green head, back, and narrow chest band, paired with rich cinnamon underparts and tail feathers. These are insectivores, like flycatchers, they sit motionless on a branch and then launch to spear the flying insect in the air and return back to the branch to kill and eat it. They specialize in large flying insects, including butterflies, dragonflies, bees, and wasps. Once caught, the jacamar beats the insect against a hard branch to disarm stings or knock off unpalatable wings before swallowing it whole.