globalbirdtrekkers.org - Flickr Bird of The Week

Main Menu

Home

The Sociable Nest

The Trekkie's Forum

TBOP newsletter

Birds and Birding news..

Flickr Gallery

About Us

STRUIK:Latest Bird Guides

Favourite Birding Spots

The GBT Wiki

GBT Bird Sightings Mosaic

GBT Shop

Birding Software

STRUIK link

Africa Birds&Birding

Login Form

Administrator

Lynx

Kushiyana Link

Birding on The Berg

Leica

CK Wildlife Photo

Bird Art

Bird Course

Feeds

The Trekkie's Forum

Recent Blog Posts

loot.co.za

Home

The Sociable Nest

Flickr Bird of The Week

Written by Michel Gutierrez

Wednesday, 29 July 2009

Andean Cock of the Rock

Photo of Juan D. Ramirez

About the pic:
This photo was taken with digiscoping (using a digital camera and a telescope) in the mountains located at east of Colombia, in the beautiful natural reserve of Cachalu, where there are several endemic species of birds and a great biodiversity. The andean cock of the rock and many species of birds that i photographed are very easy to observe in our reserves where you are cordially invited. If you have any questions, please I invite you to visit www.colombiabirding.com

.....

About the bird:
The Andean Cock of the rock (Rupicola peruviana) is a medium-sized passerine bird of the Cotinga family native to Andean clouds forests in South America (Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú and Bolivia).It typically stays in the lower and middle forest levels, but will range higher in fruiting trees and sometimes will enter and cross clearings. It is generally shy and inconspicuous.
The male takes the minority of the breeding period, is polygamous, and has nothing to do with nesting once mating is done. The male's energy instead is devoted to display elaborate rituals, that includes showing off its magnificent plumage. These rituals take place in communal "leks", where males gather and challenges each other and beckon the females. The males are easily disturbed, so their behavior is not easy to observe. At the lek, males can break up into pairs, performing "confrontation displays". This consists of facing each other while bowing, jumping, and flapping their wings, sometimes even snapping their bills, and at the same time giving off various squawking and grunting calls. When the female approaches, it becomes even more intense. The display turns into a cacophony of bright color and frenzied activity filled with very strange sounds.

P.s: when i visited ecuador I observed a lek of this bird...it was great to see all those males that beckon the females...unfortunally i couldn´t get any picture of it...:((

» 3 Comments

1Comment
at Wednesday, 29 July 2009 17:38by Jay

Incredible looking bird this! and what a beautiful shot of it, Juan!!
Michel, thank you so much for sourcing this amazing photo and the added information and I really hope you also get to photograph it one day ;-)))

2Comment
at Wednesday, 29 July 2009 18:03by Candys Style

An amazing bird, it is surprising that a bird with this type of plumage is able to survive in the wild.
Michel, it's unfortunate that you weren't able to get photos of the Males at the lek but it must of been a superb experience!

3Comment
at Thursday, 30 July 2009 23:17by Katja Soehngen

It must have been an awesome experience Michel !!!!
What an amazing bird and a stunning capture Juan.
Thanx for sharing this and the extra bit of information here with us.

» Post Comment

Only registered users can write a comment.
Please login or register.