Scientific name:
Bucconidae

Natural spread:
tropical America

the decay-birds is a small family, whose representatives occur exclusively in the tropical America. The main-spread-area of the moderate-sized birds lies in the Amazon-basin, from here they are until South-Mexico as well as. Paraguay reaches.

Characteristics The decay-birds have a notably big head and a short, thick neck. As a neuweltliche representative of the woodpecker-birds, they carry also a powerful beak, that either strongly and with a hakigen top equips (as with the type Bucco) or more thinly and bent (type Monasa and the most different) is. The plumage has mainly blunt colors, differently than with the near relatives shine-birds. Some types are colored contrastingly black and white, usually however brown-sounds predominate in all shades. The sexes don't differ in the coloring.

Way of life Decay-birds visit forest-areas as preferred habitat. Here, they are in pairs or, to find in usually inferior height in smaller groups. Frequently, they show no fear of the human being, so that one draws near at it can along-step. they also are very quiet, the tone-remarks sound very thin and piepsig. If they sit so quietly in the branches, they usually ruffled its plumage strongly. its food consists mainly of insects, on who the decay-birds lurk consecutively from a branch long time occasionally, in order to carry it off in the flight. However, they rummage also on the ground after loot.

Reproduction The nests can be positioned in tree-caves (usually termite-nests) or in Erdhöhlen. The Erdhöhlen dig it even in sand-hills itself. There, an occasionally very long walk then leads into the actual brood-chamber, that is padded with foliage. They bring the dug out earth for reasons of the camouflage at another place, probably in the beak. Also the entrance can be camouflaged by the decay-birds very well; so, the Schwarztrappist (Monasa atra) positions a porch over the ground from foliage and dry branches, under which a walk leads only to the actual nest-entrance.

The nest normally contains 2-3 roundish, white eggs, that become erbrütet from both parents together. If the bare squabs hatch, they are fed by the father at first; later, the mother then takes on the task directly at the nest-entrance. Only after approximately 3 weeks, they leave befiederten squabs fully the cave meanwhile and are to be hardly still distinguished from the parents.