By Peggy Scott ASSOCIATE EDITOR
W
hen it comes to courting a mate, the male capuchinbird Perissocephalus tricolor is a double threat. If his potential gal pal isn’t wooed by his feather display, then she is sure to be swept off her perch by his unique love song. It’s a winning combination, according to Athena Wilson, a senior keeper at the Zoo. “They look like no other bird,” she says. “And that call—who could resist that?” Indeed, this winged Don Juan is quite the charmer.
You Won’t Believe Your Eyes—or Ears Found in the humid forests of Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Suriname, and Venezuela, the capuchinbird’s appearance is distinctive, to say the least, with its heavy bill and bald, almost vulture-like head. About the size of a jay (14 inches from head to tail), the capuchinbird is thickset, and the feathers on the back of its head are dense and stand upright, forming a prominent cowl that gives it a hunchbacked appearance. Capuchinbirds are sexually monomorphic, except for one bright difference: the male’s distinctive feature is his curly, orange under-tail covert feathers, which are visible only when he is “in the mood.”
With its bare face and hunched posture, the capuchinbird’s appearance is distinctive, to say the least.
PHOTO BY KEN BOHN, SDZG
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