Crested Guan
Penelope purpurascens
Very large, long-tailed game bird of tropical and subtropical forest. Often seen high in trees or flying through the forest canopy; usually not seen in areas near people except in some protected areas due to hunting pressure. Typically in pairs or small groups and wary. Plumage dark overall (often looks blackish) with bright red throat wattle; white streaking on body visible at closer range. Crest is bushy and usually not a striking feature.
Identification
The crested guan is 76 to 91.5 cm (30 to 36 in) long and weighs about 1.6 to 2.4 kg (3.5 to 5.3 lb). Among standard measurements, its wing chord is 33 to 37 cm (13 to 15 in), its tail is 29 to 36 cm (11 to 14 in), and its tarsus is 6.5 to 8.6 cm (2.6 to 3.4 in). It is similar in general appearance to a turkey, with a small head, long strong legs, and a long broad tail. The sexes are similar. Adults of the nominate subspecies are mostly dusky olive brown and have a faint greenish or purplish iridescence. Their belly and crissum are chestnut and the breast and belly feathers have white edges. Their throat has some bristles and its loose skin dangles as a small red wattle. Juveniles resemble adults but overall mottled with blackish brown and with a rufous brown wash on the wing and tail feathers. Both sexes have a red iris, a blackish bill, slaty black bare skin on their face, and red legs and feet. Subspecies P. p. aequatorialis is similar to the nominate, but smaller and more rufescent. Subspecies P. p. brunnescens is more rufescent than the nominate but less so than aequatorialis.
Taxonomy
The crested guan has three subspecies, the nominate P. p. purpurascens (Wagler, 1830), P. p. aequatorialis (Salvadori & Festa, 1900), and P. p. brunnescens (Hellmayr & Conover, 1932).
- Scientific name
- Penelope purpurascens
- Authority
- Wagler, 1830
- Order
- Galliformes
- Family
- Cracidae
- Genus
- Penelope
Range and habitat
The nominate subspecies of the crested guan is the northernmost. It is found in Mexico from Sinaloa in the west and southern Tamaulipas in the east and south along the Pacific and Caribbean slopes through Belize and Guatemala into El Salvador and Honduras. Subspecies P. p. aequatorialis is found across much of Nicaragua and south through Costa Rica, Panama, western Colombia, and western Ecuador into far northwestern Peru. Subspecies P. p. brunnescens is found in the Serranía del Perijá where northeastern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela meet, east around Lake Maracaibo, and also in the Venezuelan Coastal Ranges intermittenly from Falcón to Delta Amacuro.<p>The crested guan inhabits a variety of forested landscapes including tropical and subtropical evergreen and deciduous forest, cloudforest, gallery forest, and evergreen montane forest. Most are semi-humid to humid though it occurs locally in drier forest as well. In elevation it is found from sea level to 2,500 m (8,200 ft) in northern Central America, to 1,800 m (5,900 ft) in Costa Rica, to 1,500 m (4,900 ft) in Colombia and Ecuador, to 800 m (2,600 ft) in Peru, and to 1,100 m (3,600 ft) in Venezuela.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The crested guan is a year-round resident throughout its range.<p>The crested guan is generally considered to feed on fruit, usually high in the canopy where it takes it directly from the tree, though it will feed at any level including on the ground. It is usually in pairs or loose flocks that quickly and agiley move from limb to limb by jumps and short flights. However, a study on Barro Colorado Island in Panama found that a high percentage of its diet there was young leaves, with insects also making a significant contribution.<p>The crested guan is monogamous. Its breeding season in Costa Rica spans from March to June but is not defined elsewhere. Its nest is a bulky platform of twigs and leaves constructed high in a tree. Its usual clutch size is believed to be two eggs. In captivity its incubation period is about 26 days. Its incubation period, time to fledging, and details of parental care in the wild are not known.<p>The crested guan's dawn song is a "powerful 'steam-whistle' call, ending in a low growl: ku LEEErrr!". It also makes "a loud, honking quonk" and in alarm a series of "extraordinarily loud, honking squawks, quonk, quonk, quonk, rrrrrrrrr". Other vocalizations include "a loud, far-carrying, honking WOK!-WOK!-WOK!-WOK!-WOK!-WOOAK!-WOOAK!-WOOK!...; a piping POK!-POK!-POK!...; and a low, nasal, grunting aahhnk-aahhnk". In the breeding season, at or near dawn males make a display flight during which they drum or whirr their wings.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Square-tailed Nightjar
Caprimulgus fossii
Medium-sized, typical nightjar with bold pale spots on the back. Both sexes have a broad pale patch on the outer tail that is white in males and buff in females. Found in a variety of woodland and savanna habitats that are usually moist and often near water. Song is an extraordinarily long, dry trill that changes in speed and pitch. Most similar to Swamp Nightjar, but has smaller pale patches in the outer tail and lacks a blackish cheek; male has a white trailing edge to the wing in flight. Also similar to Montane Nightjar but found in different habitat.
Bronze-olive Pygmy-Tyrant
Pseudotriccus pelzelni
A tiny, rotund flycatcher found singly in the understory of montane forest from Panama to Peru. Very nondescript plumage: darker olive above with a dull tawny breast and yellowish belly. Looks uniformly brownish in bad light. Usually stays low, where it perches quietly and sallies out to glean insects. Often detected by its snapping sounds and whirring wingbeats. Occurs from around 700–2,000 m, typically lower than Rufous-headed Pygmy-Tyrant but some elevation overlap.
Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill
Tockus leucomelas
A medium-sized, mostly black-and-white hornbill with a diagnostic yellow bill that gives it the nickname of “flying banana”. Pairs and small groups occupy semi-desert, savanna, and broadleaved woodland; associates closely with humans in camps. Hops on the ground foraging for invertebrates, and flies into trees when disturbed. It calls a continuous rollicking “ko-ko, ko-ko”, working up to a crescendo, “ko-kukuk, ko-kukuk, ko-kukuk”, with its wings held open and its head bowed.
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