Guira Cuckoo
Guira guira
A charismatic and eccentric-looking cuckoo. Pale off-white body contrasts with dark wings and tail. Its shaggy orangey crest is usually held cocked. Also note the yellow bill and eyering. Usually seen in groups in open areas such as scrub, agricultural fields, grasslands, and the edge of urban areas. Very noisy and sociable; gives a series of descending notes “pio-pio pio-pio-pirrrrr.”
识别特征
The guira cuckoo has a total length of approximately 34 cm (13 in) and weighs 140 g (4.9 oz). The sexes are very similar in appearance, except that the female is slightly larger than the male. Juveniles appear quite similar to adults.<p>The species has dark brown upperparts streaked with white, and whitish-buff throat, breast, underparts and rump. The tail is relatively long and broad, dark brown in color with a white-tip, and the legs are dark gray. The eyes and beak are yellow to orange, with a thin ring of featherless yellow skin around the eye (this commonly fades in captivity). There is a prominent orange-rufous crest.<p>The bird's call is unmistakable for being long and shrill, something between a long whistle and a wailing. Like other members of the subfamily Crotophaginae, the guira cuckoo gives off a strong, pungent odour.
分类信息
The guira cuckoo was described and illustrated in 1648 by the German naturalist Georg Marcgrave in his Historia Naturalis Brasiliae. He used the name "Guira angatara". The word Güirá means "bird" in the Guarani language. Later ornithologists based their descriptions on Marcgrave's account: Francis Willughby in 1678, John Ray in 1713, Mathurin Jacques Brisson in 1760, and Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1779. When the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin revised and expanded Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae in 1788 he included the guira cuckoo. He placed it with all the other cuckoos in the genus Cuculus and coined the binomial name Cuculus guira. The guira cuckoo is now the only species placed in the genus Guira that was introduced in 1830 by the French naturalist René Lesson. The species in monotypic: no subspecies are recognised. It is most closely related to the anis in the genus Crotophaga.
- 学名
- Guira guira
- 命名信息
- (Gmelin, JF, 1788)
- 目
- Cuculiformes
- 科
- Cuculidae
- 属
- Guira
分布与栖息地
- 迁徙
- Complete migrants
行为
The guira cuckoo is a bird of open habitats such as pastures and wetlands, and its range has expanded significantly due to deforestation. Within its distribution, it is commonly seen in suburban parks and gardens. Like the related squirrel cuckoo, the guira cuckoo is not a particularly adept flier, and usually flies only for short distances. It is often seen gliding or hopping from one perch to another while vocalizating loudly.<p>Although it is primarily an arboreal bird, it is often seen foraging on the ground, sometimes alone but often in flocks of up to 18 individuals. It is sometimes seen with other birds whose behaviour is similar, such as the smooth-billed ani. Unlike many of the Old World cuckoos, the guira cuckoo does not practice brood parasitism or kleptoparasitism.<p>The guira cuckoo is an opportunistic predator, gathering small prey items on the ground or searching for them among branches. It feeds on worms, insects and other arthropods, tadpoles and frogs, eggs, small birds (especially nestlings) and small mammals such as mice. It also has been observed feeding on lizards.<p>The nest is built on a tree fork 2 to 5 m (6.6 to 16.4 ft) from the ground. The eggs (from 5 to 7) are dark green and covered with a chalky layer. They are incubated either in individual or community nests; in the latter one can find up to 20 eggs. Under community nests there are many broken eggs. The competition between young being great, mortality is significant.
保护状况
- 种群趋势
- rising
照片
分布
鸟叫声
其他鸟类
Gray-crested Finch
Lophospingus griseocristatus
Small, mostly terrestrial finch-like tanager of dry intermontane valleys from central Bolivia to NW Argentina. Plain gray plumage and erect crest distinctive. Prefers open thorn scrub, especially mixed with cacti. Juvenile similar to juvenile and female Black-crested Finch, but supercilium much narrower.
Black-headed Antbird
Percnostola rufifrons
Medium-sized, stocky bird of forest understory. Shows substantial geographic variation in plumage, but males are always black and dark gray, females rufous and gray-brown. Both sexes show thin wingbars: white in males, rufous-buff in females. Eastern populations (Guianas and NE Brazil) have striking red eyes; those of more western subspecies are gray. Found in tall rainforest and in lower-stature forests on sandy soils, usually in pairs or small groups that often follow army ants but are just as likely to be seen away from them, searching deliberately for insects in low vegetation. Not especially shy but often assesses observers warily from dense cover, pumping tail and giving low churring calls similar to other antbirds. Song is a series of clear, whistled notes on one pitch, with some geographic variation in pace; most common call is a sharp bark, similar to call of Black-faced Antthrush. In dim forest light, male may be confused with Spot-winged Antbird; Black-headed is best distinguished by wing bars (not spots), stockier profile, and vocalizations.
Purple Honeycreeper
Cyanerpes caeruleus
Very small tanager, widespread and common in lowlands and foothills of northern South America. Male is indigo-blue with narrow black mask, black throat, and black wings. Note long decurved bill and yellow legs to separate from other honeycreepers in most of range. Female much different: she is mostly green with pale streaking on underparts, a grizzled buffy-brown face, and a blue mustache stripe. Extremely similar to Shining Honeycreeper, but very little range overlap. Male Shining has larger black throat patch and slightly shorter bill; female has duller, grayer crown and less buffy face. Usually in small groups, often accompanying a mixed-species flock in the canopy. Found in forests, edges, and gardens.
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