Black Guan Chamaepetes unicolor Scientific name definitions

It often comes as a surprise to new visitors to the neotropics to see large, turkey-shaped birds inhabiting the canopy of the forest, as opposed to being terrestrial.  The Black Guan is one such arboreal cracid.  An endemic to the cloud forests and montane evergreen forests of the highlands of Costa Rica and Panama, the Black Guan is a distinctive and striking small guan.  The body is all black, with blue bare skin around a red eye and red legs. In the forest, this bird can be very difficult to see and is not nearly as vocal as the Crested Guan (Penelope purpurascens) of the lowlands and foothills; though it can become at least somewhat confiding if coming in to feed at fruit feeders.  The Black Guan is frugivorous, feeding on fruits and berries from the canopy and subcanopy of the forest. The Black Guan prefers intact, undisturbed forest, and is thus (inevitably) threatened by habitat loss.

62–69 cm; mean c. 1135 g. Uniform black plumage ; bare blue facial skin; red eyes. Juvenile similar to adult, but less glossy and with slightly browner underparts; plumage much like adult when 75% of latter’s size, but bare ocular patch is blackish or dark brown, and this only becomes blue a few months later (1 del Hoyo, J., and A. Motis (2004). Update chapter. In Curassows and Related Birds (J. Delacour, and D. Amadon), Second edition. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain, and American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. pp. 322–476. Close ).

Mountains of Costa Rica (S from Cordillera de Guanacaste) and W Panama (as far S as W Coclé).

Mountain cloudforest. Prefers steep terrain with ridges and ravines, but occasionally enters more open areas. Occurs in upper tropical, subtropical and temperate zones, up to 3100 m, near tree-line, in Costa Rica (1 del Hoyo, J., and A. Motis (2004). Update chapter. In Curassows and Related Birds (J. Delacour, and D. Amadon), Second edition. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain, and American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. pp. 322–476. Close ) and only marginally lower in Panama, but generally is not frequent much above 2000–2250 m in both countries (1 del Hoyo, J., and A. Motis (2004). Update chapter. In Curassows and Related Birds (J. Delacour, and D. Amadon), Second edition. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain, and American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. pp. 322–476. Close ); at lower end of elevational range, usually not below 1000 m, although one record at 450 m in Bocas del Toro, Panama, and seasonally is regularly recorded at c. 800 m in the Cordillera de Tilarán, Costa Rica (1 del Hoyo, J., and A. Motis (2004). Update chapter. In Curassows and Related Birds (J. Delacour, and D. Amadon), Second edition. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain, and American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. pp. 322–476. Close ).

Presumably largely sedentary, but some evidence of relatively short-distance elevational movements from Costa Rica, where the species was commonest at c. 1400 m during the breeding season (Feb–Jun) yet thereafter numbers declined at this altitude (although some remained present year-round) and increased at c. 800 m, in the Cordillera de Tilarán, where it occurred between Sept and Nov/Dec (2 Chaves-Campos, J. (2003). Changes in abundance of Crested Guan (Penelope purpurascens) and Black Guan (Chamaepetes unicolor) along an altitudinal gradient in Costa Rica. Orn. Neotropical. 14(2): 195–200. Close , 3 Chaves-Campos, J. (2004). Elevational movements of large frugivorous birds and temporal variation in abundance of fruits along an elevational gradient. Orn. Neotropical. 15(4): 433–445. Close , 1 del Hoyo, J., and A. Motis (2004). Update chapter. In Curassows and Related Birds (J. Delacour, and D. Amadon), Second edition. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain, and American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. pp. 322–476. Close ).

Mainly fruits, including a wide range of types and sizes; in one study at Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, Costa Rica, fruits of 26 species of plants were consumed, 11 of them commonly: Beilschmiedia, Ocotea (Lauraceae), Urera (Urticaceae), Ardisia (Myrsinaceae), Ilex (Aquifoliaceae), Guarea (Meliaceae), Citharexylum (Verbenaceae), Guettarda (Rubiaceae), Chamaedorea (Arecaceae); during same study, leaves of two species of Asteraceae were also taken, mainly during afternoon, while fruits were consumed at any time of day; juveniles never seen feeding on leaves (1 del Hoyo, J., and A. Motis (2004). Update chapter. In Curassows and Related Birds (J. Delacour, and D. Amadon), Second edition. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain, and American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. pp. 322–476. Close ). Also seen taking fruits of guarumo trees (Cecropia, Urticaceae). Fruits of c. 10 additional species have been reported subsequently (1 del Hoyo, J., and A. Motis (2004). Update chapter. In Curassows and Related Birds (J. Delacour, and D. Amadon), Second edition. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain, and American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. pp. 322–476. Close ). Seeds are defecated intact, and, as, unlike other smaller frugivores, present species rarely deposit seeds under parent plant, it seems to play an important dispersing role; this guan is considered to be especially important in dispersal of Ocotea tenera seeds (1 del Hoyo, J., and A. Motis (2004). Update chapter. In Curassows and Related Birds (J. Delacour, and D. Amadon), Second edition. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain, and American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. pp. 322–476. Close ). Forages singly, in pairs or in small groups, mostly in trees; at times comes to ground, mainly to take fallen fruit.

Display consists of loud, sharp, crackling wing-rattling noises  given at dawn or dusk, or during cloudy conditions (1 del Hoyo, J., and A. Motis (2004). Update chapter. In Curassows and Related Birds (J. Delacour, and D. Amadon), Second edition. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain, and American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. pp. 322–476. Close ). Other vocalizations include piping calls given during breeding season, which are described as being softer and lower than similar calls of Penelope purpurascens, also a low, deep “ro-rooo” or coughing “kowr” if disturbed, and a sharp, repeated “tsik tsik...” in alarm (1 del Hoyo, J., and A. Motis (2004). Update chapter. In Curassows and Related Birds (J. Delacour, and D. Amadon), Second edition. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain, and American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. pp. 322–476. Close ). A young bird was reported giving a squeaky grunt and a double-noted call likened to a bull-frog (4 Delacour, J., and D. Amadon (2004). Curassows and Related Birds. Second edition. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain, and American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. Close ).

Season probably Feb–Jun throughout range (1 del Hoyo, J., and A. Motis (2004). Update chapter. In Curassows and Related Birds (J. Delacour, and D. Amadon), Second edition. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain, and American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. pp. 322–476. Close ). In Panama, young seen in Feb and Jun; pairing begins in Mar in Costa Rica, with very small chicks and almost full-grown young being recorded at same locality two days apart in Jul; this might suggest that replacement clutches are laid. One nest was small platform of leaves and twigs, and constructed within mass of epiphytes 4·5 m above ground in tree (1 del Hoyo, J., and A. Motis (2004). Update chapter. In Curassows and Related Birds (J. Delacour, and D. Amadon), Second edition. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain, and American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. pp. 322–476. Close ). Lays 2–3 white (1 del Hoyo, J., and A. Motis (2004). Update chapter. In Curassows and Related Birds (J. Delacour, and D. Amadon), Second edition. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain, and American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. pp. 322–476. Close ) eggs; chicks (which leave nest soon after hatching like those of most cracids) (1 del Hoyo, J., and A. Motis (2004). Update chapter. In Curassows and Related Birds (J. Delacour, and D. Amadon), Second edition. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain, and American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. pp. 322–476. Close ) have brown down, with a striped pattern on the head. No further information available.

Not globally threatened (Least Concern). Previously considered Near Threatened. In Costa Rica fairly common in several remote or protected areas, especially at Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve, where density of 4 pairs/km² was estimated at beginning of 1990s; scarce and wary where hunted (illegally, as species has been protected since 1988 in this country) (1 del Hoyo, J., and A. Motis (2004). Update chapter. In Curassows and Related Birds (J. Delacour, and D. Amadon), Second edition. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain, and American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. pp. 322–476. Close ). Reported as common in several areas of Panama during 1930s, but regarded as uncommon and very local in 1971; at that time extinction from Panama was already feared for near future if effective protective measures were not taken; in 1989 generally considered rare, and populations highly fragmented (1 del Hoyo, J., and A. Motis (2004). Update chapter. In Curassows and Related Birds (J. Delacour, and D. Amadon), Second edition. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain, and American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. pp. 322–476. Close ), but locally still moderately numerous. Much hunted for food. Very rare in captivity, but has been bred in one collection in Mexico.