Rufous-vented Ground Cuckoo

Overview

The Neomorphus geoffroyi is a Vulnerable species of cuckoo belonging to the tribe Neomorphini. It is a large, terrestrial bird found across parts of Central and South America, currently threatened by habitat fragmentation.

Identification

• Body length of 45 to 51 cm, with a shaggy, glossy blue-black erectile crest and bright blue skin surrounding the eye.
• Heavy decurved bill that is pale grayish green to horn-colored at the base with a yellow tip.
• Plumage varies by subspecies, but features include rufous vents, often bronze-olive or dark upperparts, and underparts that are pale buff with a black breast band and scaled markings.
• Principal vocalization is a low, drawn-out, moaning coo; emits a muffled, barking woof and a sharp kchak! call near army ant swarms.

Habitat

Found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Panama, and Peru, where it inhabits mature undisturbed evergreen forest, as well as riverside, seasonally flooded, and sometimes dry forest. It ranges in elevation from sea level to 1,450 m in Central America and up to 1,650 m in South America.

Diet

The diet consists mostly of insects and other arthropods, with some small vertebrates like lizards, amphibians, and small birds, along with occasional fallen fruits. It forages almost exclusively on the forest floor by walking or running, and often follows army ant swarms, peccaries, and monkey troops to catch fleeing prey.

Did you know?

To secure food, it makes a sharp, loud kchak! call to aggressively drive other birds away from prey flushed by army ant swarms.