Cotingas | Cotingidae

Cotinga's | Cotingas | Cotingas

In the Andes and the adjoining lowlands the family numbers 44 species in 22 genera, and few families show such a range of forms: the Andean Cock-of-the-rock, national bird of Peru, which displays in groups in cloud-forest ravines, the green-and-black fruiteaters (Pipreola) of the montane forests, the grey, red-crested cotingas of scrub and Polylepis woodland high in the Andes, the plantcutters (Phytotoma) with a serrated bill for snipping off leaves and buds, and in the Amazonian lowlands the Purple-throated Fruitcrow, Bare-necked Fruitcrow, Amazonian Umbrellabird and Screaming Piha. Most are fruit-eaters with a short, broad bill and a wide gape, swallowing fruit whole and so carrying the seeds of laurels and other trees over long distances. In most species the sexes differ strongly: the male is colourful or carries wattles, a throat sac or a crest and attracts females with a striking call or display, while the female alone builds the nest and raises the young. The Screaming Piha gives one of the loudest and most characteristic sounds of the Amazon forest, a piercing whistled 'pee-pee-yoo'. The nest is usually a small, flimsy cup high in a tree, holding a single egg; the cock-of-the-rock instead plasters a nest of mud and plant material onto a rock face.