Curassow

Curassow
11-04-2012

The management said at the time they were unable to identify this immature curassow - perhaps Zoochat members could help?

12-04-2012

in 2008 it was labelled as a Crax alberti

12-04-2012

but if it was there in 2008 it wouldn't still be an immature when this photo was taken in 2010....?

12-04-2012

Thanks but this photo was taken in 2010. I've been looking for photos of Crax alberti but can only find adults and very young chicks.

12-04-2012

The bird I saw in 2008 was also immature, but I would indeed be logical that this would be another bird... Zootierliste lists Haus des Meeres as having kept Crax alberti till 2011....

12-04-2012

Well that's the best evidence i've heard - thanks!

12-04-2012

That was the logic i was following but the subsequent answer seems to clear things up a bit. Would still like a photo of an immature one. I actually own a copy of Delacour's 'Curassows & Related Birds' but it's hidden away somewhere and i can't find it. I seem to recall it included illustrations of chicks and immature birds.

26-02-2013

Venezuelan blue-throated piping-guan
(Pipile cumanensis cumanensis)

26-02-2013

This is not a pure piping-guan, which as immatures have bare face and crown color similar to adults. However, since it has a white wing patch there is some piping-guan blood in it. Intergeneric hybrids are well known in the Cracidae family and this is a hybrid, probably Pipile X Crax. Incidentally the head shape and crown feathering of this bird is quite similar to some other Cracidae hybrids I have seen photos of. The pure black plumage (without any brown) also suggests this is an adult rather than an immature.

26-02-2013

They had a pair of mature Piping Guans in the collection so this could explain it although i sent them a photo and asked for identification and they said it was an immature bird and they didn't know what species it was. I suppose they might have obtained it from a dealer.

Thanks for the id.

01-03-2013

Goura, please see my previous comment. This is a hybrid, certainly not a pure piping guan.

01-03-2013

Thanks, I did see it but didn't explain my post very well. I thought it might have been possible that they bred it (unlikely?) since they may have had the other parent species as well.

02-03-2013

Young piping guan look like this (immature below, adult above). Bare face, relatively narrow pale beak with dark tip and pale crown; browner than adult. This is same in all piping guan species, except rare black-fronted (which from genetics actually belongs in another genus than the rest of the piping guans) where there only is a small pale eye ring instead of a pale face. In piping guans the only plumage before the adult-like plumage is the completely different downy chick. Cracidae also mature fast, getting near-adult plumage within a year. An immature in 2008 would be in full adult plumage shortly after, well before 2010, supporting my previous comment that this is an adult. Unfortunate with hybrids but it happens, and Cracidae are especially notorious for being able to hybridize easily, even between the different genera. In this they can be compared to their cousins, the pheasants.
I quite like Cracidae; I don't remember seeing this unusual specimen on my visit to Haus des Meeres in 2011, but could simply have missed it.

02-03-2013

That's interesting - good website as well...thanks. I too like Cracids; Antwerp has about 5 species all kept in pairs but I'm not sure what their breeding success has been like. I have a copy of Delacour & Amadon's 'Curassows and Related Birds' which is a lovely book but it didn't help me with identification of this one...now i see why, although they do have a small section on hybrids and as you mentioned, this takes place quite readily even in the wild.

03-03-2013

I don't know if this helps in the discussion but when I saw this bird in July 2011 it looked like this:



Also, it was labelled as a blue-throated piping guan (Aburria cumanensis)

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I am Toddy, the zoo-enthusiast from Denmark!
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