Snowy cotinga

The snowy cotinga (Carpodectes nitidus) is a medium-sized species of passerine bird in the family Cotingidae. It is found in Central America where its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and heavily degraded former forests. The male is white and the female pale grey and both sexes are readily recognisable.

Snowy cotinga

Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Cotingidae
Genus: Carpodectes
Species:
C. nitidus
Binomial name
Carpodectes nitidus
Salvin, 1865

Description

The adult snowy cotinga is about 8 inches (20 cm) long and is a plump bird with a smallish head. The male is very conspicuous and is entirely white, apart from a slight bluish-grey tinge on head and back. The upper parts of the female are pale brownish-grey with slightly darker wings bordered with white. There is a white ring round the eye and the underparts are greyish-white. In both sexes the beak is bluish-grey, and this distinguishes the birds from the otherwise similar yellow-billed cotinga (Carpodectes antoniae).[2] The female might also be confused with the black-crowned tityra (Tityra inquisitor) or the masked tityra (Tityra semifasciata) but those species both have more colour on the head.[2]

Distribution and habitat

The snowy cotinga is native to lowland humid forests of Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama.[1] It is present on the coastal plains and in low hills to an altitude of about 450 metres (1,476 ft), being found in the canopy, along the edges of woodland, and in nearby areas with isolated large trees.[2]

Status

Though generally an uncommon species, the snowy cotinga has a wide range and any decline in total population is slight. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has assessed its conservation status as being of "least concern".[1]

gollark: As a temporary solution it all got fed to one of our negative frequency trader machines, which will apply it to all financial markets simultaneously and thus keep it out of the way for a few years.
gollark: We tried feeding the capital into excess letters from the language models but then ran into Unicode concerns.
gollark: By some estimates, 3% of our processing power is spent on accounting.
gollark: No.
gollark: I tripped on one of the power cables and accidentally sent a few of them into ideatic apiospace.

References
  1. BirdLife International (2012). "Carpodectes nitidus". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  2. Ridgely, Robert S.; Gwynne, John A. (1989). A Guide to the Birds of Panama: With Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras. Princeton University Press. p. 323. ISBN 0-691-02512-6.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.