Maranhão. N. t. picatus is found from southeastern Colombia south through eastern Ecuador and Peru into eastern Bolivia and east into west-central Brazil. N. t. subtectus is found from extreme southeastern Nicaragua through Costa Rica and Panama into north central Colombia, and through western Colombia into northwestern Ecuador. The species is generally resident throughout its range, but appears to make some irregular seasonal movements. The pied puffbird inhabits a variety of landscapes from savanna to the interior and edges of tropical evergreen forest. other examples include secondary forest, gallery forest, abandoned clearings, and mangroves. It tends to prefer the canopy and subcanopy. In Costa Rica it appears to shun primary forest, occurring in more open landscapes up to an elevation of . Elsewhere it occurs as high as . Behavior Feeding The pied puffbird hunts for its arthropod prey by sallies from an exposed perch, usually high in the canopy. Known dietary items include spiders and insects of many families in at least seven orders. Breeding The pied puffbird's breeding season varies within its large range, with breeding activity in some area in almost any month. The nest is typically a cavity excavated in an arboreal termitarium anywhere between above the ground. The clutch size is two eggs; whether both parents incubate them is not known but both feed the young. Vocalization The pied puffbird's song differs somewhat between the subspecies. Those of the nominate and N. t. picatus is described as a "thin but loud, high-pitched, bat-like series of whistles, 'tee-oo' or 'pweee pweee pweee' in various patterns". That of N. t. subtectus is "apparently higher-pitched and possibly more piping, [and] less modulated". Status The IUCN follows HBW taxonomy, and so treats the pied puffbird as two species. Both "greater" (N. t. tectus/tecatus) and "lesser" (N. t. subtectus) are assessed as being of Least Concern. Neither has a quantified population, and both are believed to be declining. The pied puffbird occurs in at least one protected area in most countries, but deforestation has affected the populations in Costa Rica and Ecuador. Gallery References pied puffbird Birds of Costa Rica Birds of Panama Birds of Colombia Birds of the Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena Birds of the Amazon Basin Birds of the Guianas pied puffbird Birds of Brazil Taxonomy articles created by Polbot