Blue-billed Curassow
Crax alberti
Impressively large bird restricted to lowland rainforest in northern Colombia. It is critically endangered due to deforestation and hunting pressure. Male is black with a white belly and tail tip, shaggy crest, and blue bulges at the base of the bill. Female has a chestnut belly, a variable amount of white barring on body and crest, and a hint of blue at the base of the bill. Younger birds have less blue in the bill. Mostly terrestrial, but may ascend to low branches to sing or when threatened. It is only likely to be encountered in protected areas such as El Paujil Bird Reserve and Tayrona National Park.
Identification
The blue-billed curassow is 82.5 to 92.5 cm (2.7 to 3.0 ft) long and weighs 3.2 to 3.6 kg (7.1 to 7.9 lb). It is the only curassow with a blue cere and wattle, the latter found only on the male. Males are mostly black with a white vent and tail tip. Females are also mostly black but their lower belly and vent are rufous. They have fine white barring on the wings and tail, and a rare "barred" morph also has barring on the breast and belly. Both sexes have an erectile crest, the male's black and the female's black and white.
Taxonomy
The blue-billed curassow is monotypic. However, it formerly included what is now the yellow-knobbed curassow (Crax daubentoni) as a subspecies. The holotype of putative species C. annulata has been determined to be a female blue-billed curassow.
- Scientific name
- Crax alberti
- Authority
- Fraser, 1852
- Order
- Galliformes
- Family
- Cracidae
- Genus
- Crax
Range and habitat
The blue-billed curassow is found only in northern Colombia. Its range used to stretch 106,700-square-kilometers; it now has a highly fragmented range, with small populations between La Guajira and Magdalena Departments south to Antioquia and Boyacá Departments with 2,090-square-kilometers. It inhabits undisturbed forest in the tropical and upper tropical zones, mostly from near sea level to 600 m (2,000 ft) but at least formerly as high as 1,200 m (3,900 ft). The Serranía de las Quinchas area in the Magdalena Valley is home to the last viable population of blue-billed curassows.
- Migration
- Resident species
Behavior
The blue-billed curassow mainly feeds on the ground. Its diet has not been extensively studied but it is known to include fruits, worms, and insects. It also takes in sand and small stones as digestive aids.<p>Blue-billed curassows reach sexual maturity at three years of age. The blue-billed curassow's breeding season spans from mid-December to early March. It is reported to be monogamous. It builds a large nest of sticks and dead leaves and conceals it in dense vine tangles. It typically places it between the understory and the subcanopy. The clutch size is two to three eggs. Eggs are incubated for 32 days before hatching full-feathered.<p>Male blue-billed curassows "boom" from the ground, "a 4–5-syllable series of deep notes...repeated over and over, 'hmm...hmh...hmm...hmm...hmh'". Both sexes give an alarm call, a "soft, high-pitched whistle 'peh-weeeéoh' or 'pehoo'".
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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