Black Nunbird

The black nunbird is 25 to 29 cm (9.8 to 11 in) long and weighs 74 to 104 g (2.6 to 3.7 oz). The adult's upperparts are glossy blue-black and the underparts dark gray to light gray. The lesser coverts are white, showing as a wide white band on the closed wing. The bill is red, the eye red to brown, and the legs and feet slaty black. Immatures are sootier above and browner below than the adult.

The black nunbird is found from southern and eastern Venezuela through the Guianas into Brazil, where it occurs north of the Amazon River and east of the Rio Negro. It possibly also occurs in extreme eastern Colombia, though that has not been confirmed by the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society (SACC). It inhabits humid terra firme, gallery, and várzea forest, usually at the edges, near water, and in somewhat open landscapes. It can be seen at all levels of the forest from the understory to the canopy. In elevation it ranges from sea level to 1,000 m (3,300 ft).

The black nunbird hunts by sallies from a perch, usually plucking prey from vegetation or limbs though sometimes taking it in flight. Its diet includes insects, spiders, and other invertebrates as well as small vertebrates such as lizards. It follows army ant swarms.