Red-throated Piping-Guan
Pipile cujubi
Large black-and-white guan with a red dewlap. Subspecies vary in the size of the dewlap and in the amount of white on the crest. Other piping-guans have a different face pattern and/or dewlap color. Largely arboreal, but may descend to the ground. Occurs in forests, especially riverine forests, where sometimes encountered in flocks of up to 30 individuals. Gives a rising series of clear whistles, and at dawn produces a wing-whirring display.
Identification
The red-throated piping guan is 69 to 76 cm (2.26 to 2.49 ft) long; P. c. nattereri weighs 1,100 to 1,300 g (2.4 to 2.9 lb). Both subspecies are black overall with black-and-white patches on the wings, a shaggy white crest, white speckles on the breast, bare pale blue skin on the face, and a red gular patch. The nominate subspecies is glossier than P. c. nattereri, with a blue sheen, and the white wing patches are smaller.
Taxonomy
The taxonomies of the International Ornithological Committee (IOC), The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, and Handbook of the Birds of the World treat the red-throated piping guan as one of four species in genus Pipile. Though also agreeing with this treatment, the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society notes that "evidence for species rank for the four species of Pipile is weak". Various authors have proposed instead that the genus contains one, two, or three species, or that it should be subsumed entirely into genus Aburria with the wattled guan (A. aburri).<p>As currently accepted, the red-throated piping guan has two subspecies, the nominate Pipile cujubi cujubi and P. c. nattereri. The latter is sometimes treated as a subspecies of blue-throated piping guan (P. cumanensis) or as a species in its own right.
- Scientific name
- Pipile cujubi
- Authority
- (Pelzeln, 1858)
- Order
- Galliformes
- Family
- Cracidae
- Genus
- Pipile
Range and habitat
The nominate subspecies of red-throated piping guan is found in north-central Brazil south of the Amazon River from the lower reaches of the Madeira River east into northern Pará state. P. c. nattereri is found in western Amazonian Brazil in an area roughly bounded by the states of Pará, Goiás, Amazonas, and Rondônia and also in the eastern part of Bolivia's Santa Cruz department. They inhabit tropical and semi-deciduous forests in lowlands up to 700 m (2,300 ft). They prefer forests with a minimum height of 15 m (49 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The red-throated piping guan forages in flocks of up to about 30 birds and sometimes in mixed flocks with blue-throated piping guan, usually in the canopy but sometimes on the ground. The details of its diet have not been documented but it is known to feed on fruit and flowers.<p>Almost nothing is known about the red-throated piping guan's breeding phenology.<p>The red-throated piping guan's song is "a rising series of clear whistles", usually made in the morning. Its wing-whirring display, " a coarse, doubled, ripping noise", is usually given at dawn.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Hartlaub's Gull
Chroicocephalus hartlaubii
A medium-sized, pale-gray-backed gull of coastal waters and human settlements. Breeding birds have dark eyes and a very faint chalky-gray hood, which non-breeding birds lack. This adaptable omnivore is the commonest gull of the Benguela Current, but its penchant for eating offal means it is expanding its range eastwards. The similar Gray-hooded Gull differs from Hartlaub’s Gull by being larger, having a yellowish-white eye, a longer redder bill, and a discrete grayish hood in breeding plumage. Immature Gray-hooded Gulls have a black terminal tail band which juvenile Hartlaub’s Gulls lack.
Trilling Cisticola
Cisticola woosnami
Fairly large, plain cisticola. Note the rufous cap, pale underparts, and two bands across the tip of the tail, one pale and one black. Found in a variety of savanna habitats, including miombo. The distinctive song is a high, rising trill, given from a prominent perch. The call is an agitated, repeated “chit.” As with other cisticolas, habitat and vocalizations are important to identification. Fairly similar to Whistling Cisticola, but has a rufous cap.
Tricolored Blackbird
Agelaius tricolor
Very similar to Red-winged Blackbird. Male entirely glossy black with red shoulder patch bordered by white, not yellow. Female dark brown and streaky, larger and darker than any sparrow. Lacks warm tones to plumage, unlike female Red-winged Blackbird. For both sexes, note relatively thin, sharp bill. Found in marshes and adjacent fields; breeds in colonies. Undergoing significant population decline due to habitat loss. Song is nasal and low-pitched, not as complex or as musical as Red-winged.
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