Cotingas
The cotingas are a large family of passerine bird species found in Central America and tropical South America.
Diet / Feeding
Cotingas are birds of forests or forest edges, which mostly eat fruit or insects and fruit.
Description
Comparatively little is known about this diverse group, although all have broad bills with hooked tips, rounded wings, and strong legs. They may be the most diverse passerine family in body size, ranging from the 8-cm Kinglet Calyptura to the 50-cm male Amazonian Umbrellabird, although the smaller bird may not be a true cotinga.
The males of many species, such as the cock-of-the-rocks, are brightly colored, or decorated with plumes or wattles, like the umbrellabirds, with their umbrella-like crest and long throat wattles. Some, like the bellbirds and the Screaming Piha, have distinctive and far-carrying calls. The females of most species are duller than the males.
Breeding / Nesting
Most species are polygynous, and only the females care for the eggs and young. Both brilliant male colors and loud vocalizations are the result of sexual selection. Many have striking courtship displays, often grouped together in leks (competitive mating displays or dancing grounds). In such canopy-dwelling genera as Carpodectes, Cotinga, and Xipholena, males gather high in a single tree or in adjacent trees, but male cocks-of-the-rock, as befits their more terrestrial lives, give their elaborate displays in leks on the ground.
On the other hand, the Purple-throated Fruitcrow lives in mixed-sex groups in which one female lays an egg and the others help provide insects to the chick.
Nests differ greatly. Many species lay a single egg in a nest so flimsy that the egg can be seen from underneath. This may make the nests hard for predators to find. Fruiteaters build more solid cup nests, and the cocks-of-the-rock attach their mud nests to cliffs.
Species
FAMILY: COTINGIDAE
- Genus: Phytotoma - plantcutters
- White-tipped Plantcutter, or Reddish Plantcutter, Phytotoma rutila
- Rufous-tailed Plantcutter or Chilean Plantcutter, Phytotoma rara
- Peruvian Plantcutter, Phytotoma raimondii
- Genus: Phoenicircus - red-cotingas
- Guianan Red-cotinga (Phoenicircus carnifex)
- Black-necked Red-cotinga (Phoenicircus nigricollis)
- Genus: Tijuca
- Black-and-gold Cotinga (Tijuca atra)
- Grey-winged Cotinga (Tijuca condita)
- Genus: Carpornis - berryeaters
- Hooded Berryeater (Carpornis cucullata)
- Black-headed Berryeater (Carpornis melanocephala)
- Hooded Berryeater (Carpornis cucullata)
- Genus: Ampelion
- Red-crested Cotinga (Ampelion rubrocristatus)
- Chestnut-crested Cotinga (Ampelion rufaxilla)
- Genus: Doliornis
- Chestnut-bellied Cotinga (Doliornis remseni)
- Bay-vented Cotinga (Doliornis sclateri)
- Genus: Zaratornis
- White-cheeked Cotinga, Zaratornis stresemanni
- Genus: Pipreola - fruiteaters
- Barred Fruiteater (Pipreola arcuata)
- Golden-breasted Fruiteater (Pipreola aureopectus)
- Fiery-throated Fruiteater (Pipreola chlorolepidota)
- Handsome Fruiteater (Pipreola formosa)
- Scarlet-breasted Fruiteater (Pipreola frontalis)
- Band-tailed Fruiteater (Pipreola intermedia)
- Orange-breasted Fruiteater (Pipreola jucunda)
- Black-chested Fruiteater (Pipreola lubomirskii)
- Masked Fruiteater (Pipreola pulchra)
- Green-and-black Fruiteater (Pipreola riefferii)
- Red-banded Fruiteater (Pipreola whitelyi)
Genus: Ampelioides - Scaled Fruiteater- Genus: Lipaugus - typical pihas
- Dusky Piha, Lipaugus fuscocinereus
- Scimitar-winged Piha, Lipaugus uropygialis
- Screaming Piha, Lipaugus vociferans
- Rufous Piha, Lipaugus unirufus
- Cinnamon-vented Piha, Lipaugus lanioides
- Rose-collared Piha, Lipaugus streptophorus
- Chestnut-capped Piha, Lipaugus weberi
- Genus: Snowornis - atypical pihas (2 species)
- Olivaceous Piha (Snowornis cryptolophus)
- Grey-tailed Piha (Snowornis subalaris)
- Genus Porphyrolaema
- Purple-throated Cotinga, Porphyrolaema porphyrolaema
- Genus: Cotinga
- Lovely Cotinga, Cotinga amabilis
- Turquoise Cotinga, Cotinga ridgwayi
- Blue Cotinga, Cotinga nattererii
- Plum-throated Cotinga, Cotinga maynana
- Purple-breasted Cotinga, Cotinga cotinga
- Banded Cotinga, Cotinga maculata
- Spangled Cotinga, Cotinga cayana
- Genus: Xipholena
- Pompadour Cotinga (Xipholena punicea)
- White-tailed Cotinga (Xipholena lamellipennis)
- White-winged Cotinga (Xipholena atropurpurea)
- Genus: Carpodectes (3 species)
- Black-tipped Cotinga, Carpodectes hopkei
- Yellow-billed Cotinga, Carpodectes antoniae
- Snowy Cotinga, Carpodectes nitidus
- Genus: Conioptilon
- Black-faced Cotinga, Conioptilon mcilhennyi
- Genus: Gymnoderus
- Bare-necked Fruitcrow, Gymnoderus foetidus
- Genus: Haematoderus
- Crimson Fruitcrow, Haematoderus militaris
- Genus: Querula
- Purple-throated Fruitcrow, Querula purpurata
- Genus: Pyroderus
- Red-ruffed Fruitcrow, Pyroderus scutatus
- Red-ruffed Fruitcrow, Pyroderus scutatus
- Genus Cephalopterus, the umbrellabirds
- Long-wattled Umbrellabird, Cephalopterus penduliger
- Amazonian Umbrellabird, Cephalopterus ornatus
- Bare-necked Umbrellabird, Cephalopterus glabricollis
- Genus: Perissocephalus
- Capuchinbird, Perissocephalus tricolor
- Genus Procnias, the bellbirds
- Three-wattled Bellbird, Procnias tricarunculata
- White Bellbird, Procnias alba
- Bearded Bellbird, Procnias averano
- Bare-throated Bellbird, Procnias nudicollis
- Genus Rupicola, the cock-of-the-rocks
- Guianan Cock-of-the-rock, Rupicola rupicola
- Andean Cock-of-the-rock, Rupicola peruviana
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