White Bellbird
Procnias albus
Medium-sized bird; heard far more than seen. All-white male is unmistakable; mostly green female is best identified by chunky proportions and long, sloping head profile. Found in tall forest, principally at higher elevations; common in the tepui region. Feeds at fruiting trees but is more often seen from high vantage points or flying across gaps. Males sing from bare snags above the canopy and are often not visible from below. Song is only vaguely bell-like, amazingly loud and reverberating; younger males may give a cracked or truncated version.
Identification
The white bellbird grows to a length of about 28 cm (11 in). The male is pure white with a black bill that has a fleshy black wattle, sparsely feathered with white feathers, dangling from its top and hanging down the side, usually the right side; the female is an overall olive colour, with olive streaks on the yellowish underparts, and resembles other bellbirds. The male is unlikely to be mistaken for anything else, but the female resembles the bearded bellbird (Procnias averano); that bird has a dusky olive crown and black streaking on the throat.<p>According to a study published in 2019, the white bellbird produces the loudest call ever recorded in a bird, reaching 125 dB(A) (at equivalent 1m distance). The record was previously held by the screaming piha, which was recorded at 116 dB.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Procnias albus
- Authority
- (Hermann, 1783)
- Order
- Passeriformes
- Family
- Cotingidae
- Genus
- Procnias
Range and habitat
The range of the white bellbird includes parts of Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. It occurs in moist tropical or subtropical forests.
- Migration
- Vertical migration
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Gray Hawk
Buteo plagiatus
Compact raptor. Adults distinctive, all pale gray with thin white bars on underparts. Tail banded black and white. Juvenile is brown and streaky. Juveniles are similar to juvenile Broad-winged and Red-shouldered Hawks, but have bolder face pattern, paler underwings, and a small white patch at the base of the uppertail. Found in shrubby riparian woodland. Usually seen singly.
Beautiful Jay
Cyanolyca pulchra
Blue and gray jay with a black mask and white crown. It’s restricted to Andean cloud forest in northwestern Ecuador and western Colombia. Similar to both Turquoise and Black-collared Jays, but lacks the black breast band and has a dark gray back and breast. Noisy groups roam widely through the forest, giving a fun variety of strange calls, some of which sound like they came straight from an 80’s arcade game.
Brownish-headed Antbird
Myrmelastes brunneiceps
Dull-plumaged antbird with a restricted range in the Andean foothills. Males are grayish brown with small white wing spots; females are similar, but are paler tan below. Part of the species complex previously known as “Spot-winged Antbird;” it is similar to the previously conspecific Humaita Antbird, although separated by range and habitat. Brownish-headed Antbird is found in the understory of mature rainforest along the base of the Andes, especially in areas with bamboo, while Humaita Antbird is found away from the foothills in the Amazonian lowlands, mostly in palm swamps. Its song is a descending series of rapid high notes.
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