Black Guan

Overview

The black guan is a species of bird in the chachalaca, guan, and curassow family Cracidae, found in Costa Rica and Panama. It is currently assessed as being of Least Concern by the IUCN, though it faces significant hunting pressure.

Identification

• Length of 62 to 69 cm with a weight of approximately 1,135 g.
• Adults possess all-black plumage, contrasting with bright blue facial skin around a red eye and pinkish-red legs and feet.
• Juveniles resemble adults but appear less glossy, with browner underparts and blackish or dark brown facial skin.
• Vocalisations include piping calls, a low, deep 'ro-rooo' or coughing 'kowr', and a 'tsik tsik...' alarm call, accompanied by a loud, sharp, crackling wing-rattling display at dawn and dusk.

Habitat

Found from the Cordillera de Guanacaste in northern Costa Rica to western Coclé Province in Panama, the species inhabits cloudforest within the Talamancan montane forest ecozone. It prefers steep terrain in temperate, subtropical, and tropical zones, typically between 1,000 and 2,250 m in elevation, though its range can extend from 800 m to 3,000 m.

Diet

The black guan forages singly, in pairs, or in small groups, with fruits forming its primary diet. Studies in Costa Rica have identified at least 35 different fruit species consumed, and the bird feeds mostly in trees but will also eat fallen fruit on the ground.

Did you know?

The breeding season spans from February to June, during which nests are constructed as small platforms of twigs and leaves placed in clumps of epiphytes in trees situated 4.5 m above the ground.