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Crestless Curassow | Mitu tomentosum
Kleine mesbekpauwies | Paujil culicastaño | Mutum-do-norte
The Crestless Curassow is a black curassow without a prominent crest, which in the guide area occurs only in the far east of Colombia. It lives in forest along the rivers of the Orinoco and Rio Negro basins, where it may appear on banks and sandbars early in the morning.
Voice
A very deep, humming mmm-mmm, often in short series, mainly at dusk and in the breeding season; also high, thin whistles as an alarm.
Recording: Mauricio Álvarez Rebolledo (Colección de Sonidos Ambientales - Instituto Humboldt) — CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
83–91 cm. Glossy black, with a chestnut belly, chestnut undertail coverts and a narrow chestnut terminal band on the tail. The crown feathers are short and velvety and do not form a true crest. The bill is red, laterally compressed but not strongly swollen; the legs are red. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
Salvin's Curassow Mitu salvini has a white belly, white undertail coverts and a broad white tail tip. Black Curassow Crax alector has a prominent crest of curled feathers, a white belly and a yellow or orange bill base. Nocturnal Curassow Nothocrax urumutum is much smaller and rufous-brown.
Habitat
Gallery forest and seasonally flooded forest along rivers and in lowland river valleys, also palm swamp forest near water; mostly below about 400 m. It walks in pairs or small groups on the forest floor and comes to the water's edge to drink and forage. It eats fallen fruit, seeds and leaves. It nests in a tree.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In Colombia in the far east, along the rivers of the Orinoco and Rio Negro basins. Absent from Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. Outside the guide area in southern Venezuela, north-western Brazil and south-western Guyana.
- Resident
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
Search early in the morning from a boat along forested riverbanks in remote parts of eastern Colombia, where birds may walk on the bank or on a sandbar. At dusk the deep humming can be heard.
Conservation status
Listed as Least Concern. Sensitive to hunting, especially along rivers used by boats; in remote areas with few settlements the species remains fairly common.
Scientific name
Mitu tomentosum | (Spix, 1825)
Spix described the species in 1825 as Crax tomentosa; because it was later moved to another genus, the author and year stand in brackets. The genus Mitu was introduced in 1831 by Lesson. The genus name comes from the Tupi name Mitú or Mutúm for the curassows, roughly 'black bird'; Marcgrave recorded it in 1648 as 'Mitu' or 'Mutu', and Lesson made it a genus name in 1831. The species name comes from Latin tomentum, 'stuffing of wool or feathers': 'downy' or 'woolly'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Barcelos, Rio Negro, Brazil.