Male and female contributions to parental care in the rufoustailed jacamar (galbula ruficauda, galbulidae) in southern goiás, Brazil

Abstract

We quantified patterns of male and female parental care of the Rufous-tailed Jacamar Galbula ruficauda during incubation and nestling feeding, over four breeding seasons in southern Goiás, Brazil. Reproduction in this species was seasonal, occurring during the transition between dry and wet seasons from September to November. Only females incubated overnight, but male and female shared incubation duties during the day, having similar length of incubation bouts (male = 45 ± 16 min vs. Female = 47 ± 14 min; t =-0.56, P = 0.57). The nestling diet was composed exclusively of insects-mainly flies, butterflies, and dragonflies-and males fed nestlings more often than females (male 59% vs. Female 41%, ?2 = 1783, df = 1, P < 0.0001). The results confirm biparental care, with high levels of paternal care, especially during incubation, as predicted for tropical birds with a monogamous social mating system.