Cotinga

The cotingas are a large family of passerine bird species found in Central America and tropical South America. Cotingas are birds of forests or forest edges, which mostly eat fruit or insects and fruit. 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 centimetres (3.15 in) kinglet calyptura to the world’s largest suboscine in the 50 centimetres (19.69 in) male Amazonian umbrellabird, although the smallest species may not be a true cotinga.

Description

Cotingas vary widely in social structure. There is a roughly 50/50 divide in the family between species with biparental care, and those in which the males play no part in the rearing of young. 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.

Cotingas where only the females caring for the eggs and young have striking courtship displays, often grouped together in leks. Such sexual selection results in the males of these species, including the Guianan cock-of-the-rock, being brightly coloured, or decorated with plumes or wattles, like the umbrellabirds, with their umbrella-like crest and long throat wattles. Other lekking cotingids like the bellbirds and screaming piha, have distinctive and far-carrying calls. 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.

Cotinga (journal)

Cotinga is a biannual peer-reviewed scientific journal of ornithology published by the Neotropical Bird Club. It was established in 1994 and covers the field of neotropical ornithology and bird conservation in South America, Central America from Mexico to Panama, and the islands of the Caribbean. The focus of the journal is on new distributional and temporal information, including new country records, new biological information, particularly on breeding, and new interpretations on taxonomy, particularly descriptions of new taxa. It publishes articles, short notes, and reviews. Articles are published in English, Spanish, or Portuguese, with an abstract in English, Spanish, Portuguese, or French. The current editor-in-chief is George Wallace.

See also

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Cotinga (genus)

Cotinga is a genus of passerine birds belonging to the cotinga family, Cotingidae. It contains seven species. They are found in tropical rainforest in South and Central America from southern Mexico to south-east Brazil. They feed mainly on fruit and forage high in trees.

They are 18-22 cm long. The males have highly colourful plumage; bright blue with areas of purple. The blue colour is produced by air bubbles in the feathers which scatter light. Females are much duller than males and are mainly brown, often with pale feather edges giving them a scaled or speckled appearance.

The wings of the males make a whistling or rattling noise in flight.

Deforestation is a threat to several members of this genus. The turquoise cotinga is classed as Vulnerable by the IUCN and the banded cotinga is considered to be Endangered.

Species list