Blue-throated Piping Guan

Overview

The blue-throated piping guan (Pipile cumanensis) is a species of guan found in the Amazon Basin and surrounding regions. It is described as oddly 'prehistoric' yet handsome, with a very large range despite an unknown population size that is believed to be decreasing.

Identification

• Length of 60 to 69 cm with a disproportionately thin head and long neck and tail.
• Blackish plumage with a greenish blue gloss, white forehead, crown, nape, and breast fringes.
• Pale blue or black bill with contrasting bare skin around the eye and a dewlap that can be white, cobalt blue, purple, or black.
• Vocalisation consists of slow, clear, ascending whistles rendered as 'püüeee, püüeee, püüeee', accompanied by wing-whirring sounds likened to a fanning deck of cards.

Habitat

Found in far northwestern Bolivia, eastern Peru and Ecuador, central and eastern Colombia, southern and eastern Venezuela, the Guianas, and northwestern Brazil. It inhabits humid tropical forest, including terra firme, várzea, gallery, and semi-deciduous types, and less forested coastal areas in the Guianas. The species almost always occurs within about 100 m of rivers.

Diet

Diet consists mostly of fruits and leaves, with a preference for figs but also consuming fruits from many other plant families. Forages in the canopy or just below it, occasionally on the ground under fruiting trees, and engages in geophagy. During the nesting season it forages in pairs or family groups, but outside that season it may gather in flocks of up to 30 birds, particularly at salt licks.

Did you know?

The bird's vocal display involves wing-whirring that produces a sound explicitly likened to a deck of cards being fanned backwards and forwards. It is also the only guan species that engages in geophagy, the practice of eating soil.