white crown and wing patch on otherwise black body (Zoo; 2011-11-20)


Blue-throated Piping Guan
Pipile cumanensis

Native Range: South America

Notes: a small-turkey-sized bird that forages for fruits and seeds on the ground or in the canopies of flowering trees; helps reseed the forest by passing some viable seeds through its gut and depositing these seeds, complete with fertilizer, in new places; prefers steep hills near rivers and streams; named for the piping sound it makes during the breeding season; this species sometimes is considered only a subspecies of the Common Piping Guan, Pipile pipile.

frontal view; note pink legs and feet (Zoo; 2011-11-20)
pale blue on bill and around eye (Zoo; 2011-11-20)

some freckled white spotting on body (Zoo; 2011-11-20)
getting a drink; note throat flap and long, spread toes (Zoo; 2011-11-20)

full body view; note white patch on wing, long tail (Zoo; 2011-11-20)
note crested look of head; (Zoo; 2011-11-20)

chicken-like blue bill with black tip; white-crested head (Zoo; 2011-11-20)
hint of blue on bill and on bare skin around the eye (Zoo; 2011-11-20)