Red-billed Ground-Cuckoo
Neomorphus pucheranii
Impressive roadrunner-like cuckoo found in Amazonian rainforest. Large and long-tailed, with a red bill tipped with yellow and a red face. Upperparts are bronzy green with chestnut wings and a black cap, and underparts are mostly gray with a black breast band (indistinct on some birds) and faint barring on the throat. Distinguished from Rufous-vented Ground-Cuckoo by Red-billed’s mostly red bill, red face, completely black crown, and chestnut wings. Rarely encountered and poorly known, but like other ground-cuckoos it is terrestrial and most likely to be encountered when following swarms of army ants. Song is a very low, rising “who?” that is repeated every few seconds; also gives loud bill snaps.
Identification
The red-billed ground cuckoo is 43 to 55 cm (17 to 22 in) long, about half of which is its tail. One male weighed 330 g (12 oz). Adults have a heavy decurved red or orange bill tipped with green or yellow. Males and females of each subspecies have the same plumage. Adults of the nominate subspecies have a dark bluish black crown and shaggy crest with a purple gloss. Their nape and back are olive brown and the rump brown with a bronzy green gloss. Their tail is dark chestnut with an olive green gloss on the upperside of the central feathers. Their wings are mostly rufous; the outer primaries are black with a violet blue gloss. Their face is ashy gray with red lores, red skin around the eye, and bright blue skin behind the eye. Their throat is plain ashy gray, the breast ashy gray with faint black edges to the feathers and a black band below it. Their belly is buffy to light gray and the flanks and undertail coverts dark brownish gray. Juveniles have brown upperparts without gloss, a blackish crest, purplish chestnut wings, black throat and chest, and a brown belly.<p>Adults of subspecies N. p. lepidophanes are similar, but with a clay-colored breast and belly rather than buffy to light gray. Their breast feathers appear more scaled as well.
Taxonomy
The red-billed ground-cuckoo has two subspecies, the nominate N. p. pucheranii and N. p. lepidophanes.
- Scientific name
- Neomorphus pucheranii
- Authority
- (Deville, 1851)
- Order
- Cuculiformes
- Family
- Cuculidae
- Genus
- Neomorphus
Range and habitat
The red-billed ground cuckoo is a bird of the upper Amazon basin. The nominate subspecies is found in eastern Peru and western Brazil north of the Amazon River. A sight record in Ecuador leads the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society to treat it as hypothetical in that country. That committee has not evaluated another sight record from Colombia. Subspecies N. p. lepidophanes is also found in eastern Peru and western Brazil but south of the Amazon. The species inhabits moist lowland evergreen forest, usually that on somewhat hilly terrain with well-drained soil at elevations up to 700 m (2,300 ft).
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
Migration pattern: Resident species.
Conservation
Population trend: stable.
- Population trend
- stable
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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