Brown-banded Puffbird

The brown-banded puffbird is about 20 cm (7.9 in) long and weighs about 51.5 g (1.8 oz). It crown, nape, upperparts, and a thin line from the gape to the eye are a slightly glossy black. The lower part of its forehead; its face, chin, throat and upper breast; and a thin white line at the base of the nape are white. A black band separates the white upper breast from the olive-brown lower breast. The central belly is white with brown spots and the flanks white with black spots. The upper side of the tail is black with white tips to the feathers and the underside has a white band at the middle. A white band on the underwing shows in flight. The large bill and the feet are black and the eye dark brown.

The brown-banded puffbird has a highly disjunct distribution. One large region spans from southern Venezuela's Amazonas state into northwestern Brazil's Amazonas state. Another region is in Brazil's Rondônia state and a third at the intersection of Brazil, Peru, and Bolivia. There are also scattered records elsewhere in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. It inhabits the interior and edges of rainforest and transitional forest, stunted forest on white-sand and other nutrient-poor soils, and the edges of terra firme forest. It tends to remain in the canopy.

Little is known about the brown-banded puffbird's feeding behavior and diet. The few observations suggest that it hunts like others of its genus, sallying from a perch to catch insects or pluck them from vegetation.