Purple-throated Cotinga (Porphyrolaema porphyrolaema) | Photos, Calls and ID

LCLeast ConcernFruit

ForestCup nestMedium · 60 g

Purple-throated Cotinga (Porphyrolaema porphyrolaema), photo 1 — Photo: Leonel Roget · CC BY 4.0

Purple-throated Cotinga (Porphyrolaema porphyrolaema), photo 2 — Photo: David F. Belmonte · CC BY 4.0

Purple-throated Cotinga (Porphyrolaema porphyrolaema), photo 3 — Photo: Cullen Hanks · CC BY 4.0

Purple-throated Cotinga (Porphyrolaema porphyrolaema), photo 4 — Photo: Cullen Hanks · CC BY 4.0

Purple-throated Cotinga (Porphyrolaema porphyrolaema), photo 5 — Photo: Dan Vickers · CC BY 4.0

Purple-throated Cotinga (Porphyrolaema porphyrolaema), photo 6 — Photo: (c) Dan Vickers, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY

Purple-throated Cotinga (Porphyrolaema porphyrolaema), photo 7 — Photo: (c) Leonel Roget, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY

Purple-throated Cotinga (Porphyrolaema porphyrolaema), photo 8 — Photo: (c) David F. Belmonte, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY

Purple-throated Cotinga (Porphyrolaema porphyrolaema), photo 9 — Photo: (c) Cullen Hanks, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC-BY

What the Purple-throated Cotinga sounds like

Sonogram of the Purple-throated Cotinga: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.

Recorded by Niels Krabbe · Call · Orellana: 'Maxus' road km 40 (30 km SSE Pompeya), Ecuador · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

ID tip

The purple-throated cotinga is strongly sexually dimorphic as male and female purple-throated cotingas have few similarities in their plumage. The male has black upperparts, including the head, wings, and tail. The feathers on the bird's back to its uppertail coverts, as well as its upperwing coverts, have white fringes, giving it a scaled appearance. There is also a conspicuous white wingstripe and white edges to the tertial feathers. Additionally, the male has a deeply purple throat and a white belly, with some black barring on its rear flanks.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Purple-throated Cotinga

One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 11 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is January, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Purple-throated Cotinga

Regular range

The map shades 5 countries with regular records. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

Peru Ecuador Brazil Colombia Bolivia

About the Purple-throated Cotinga

The purple-throated cotinga is a species of bird in the cotinga family, Cotingidae. It is found in the western Amazon rainforest of South America; its range extends from southern Colombia south through eastern Ecuador and Peru and east through extreme northwestern Bolivia and into western Amazonian Brazil. It lives in the canopy or along the borders of humid forest throughout its range. The purple-throated cotinga is monotypic within the genus Porphyrolaema and has no known subspecies. It is one of the smaller cotinga species and expresses strong sexual dimorphism.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Black-necked Red CotingaPhoenicircus nigricollisThe black-necked red cotinga is 22 to 24 cm (8.7 to 9.4 in) long and weighs about 93 g (3.3 oz).

Band-tailed FruiteaterPipreola intermediaThe band-tailed fruiteater is 18.5 to 19.5 cm (7.3 to 7.7 in) long and weighs 44 to 59 g (1.6 to 2.1 oz).

Fiery-throated FruiteaterPipreola chlorolepidotaAt just 12.5 cm (5 in), the fiery-throated fruiteater is the smallest species in the genus.

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