Endangered: Banded Cotinga by Ken _Gilliland
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Description
Happy Earth Day! Here's another "Threatened Endangered Extinct v4" preview... this time, it's a pair of endangered Banded Cotingas... in the background is also the endangered Hyacinth Macaw (from my Cool 'n' Unusual Birds v3).
It occurs in southeastern Bahia (in Brazil), with two records from northeast Minas Gerais in 2003 (Santa Maria do Salto and Bandeira municipalities) and none since the 19th century in Rio de Janeiro, south-east Brazil. It was previously easily observed in Espírito Santo, but there have been few, if any, records from the state since the 1990s and it may now be extirpated from the state. It has declined significantly in abundance and distribution and is now mostly confined to a few protected areas, notably RPPN Estação Veracel (formerly known as Estação Veracruz), Porto Seguro, Bahia as well as Reserva Serra Bonita, Camacan, also in Bahia.
There are 50-249 mature individuals left with a decreasing population trend. The main threats to the species are the large-scale destruction of the remaining lowland Atlantic forest and illegal capture for the cage-bird trade. The extensive and continuing deforestation within its range has isolated populations in a few key protected areas. Forest is logged and burned and cleared for conversion to agriculture for crops such as coffee and for grazing. In the past, birds were collected for feather-flower craftwork by local Indians and Bahian nuns. The apparent scarcity of the species in trade during recent decades is probably a consequence of its rarity.
It is a strikingly beautiful, dark blue cotinga. The male has bright, dark cobalt-blue upper-parts, somewhat mottled black on back. The female is dusky brown above scaled whitish. It has slightly paler and buffier under-parts with quite broad scaling, giving a paler appearance.
They eat fruit - predominantly Byrsonima sericea and Ficus species.
Comments (5)
Flint_Hawk
A striking bird with a sad story. What a shame it is endangered!
starship64
This is wonderful work!
STEVIEUKWONDER
So sad that we never get to see such beautiful specimens in real life!
robertswww
Pretty birds-in-flight scene, and I hope they are able to come off the endangered species list!
3DClassics123456
Superb birds! Where do you find the time to gather all the information and the images? Hat off, and go on with this Threatened Endangered Extinct series.