Guianan Cock of the Rock

Description:

This is a South American passerine about 30 cm (12 in) in length. The bright orange male has a prominent half-moon crest, which is used is competitive displays in lek gatherings to attract a female. knowing that we hadnt managed to see this beautiful bird at Kaieteur our naturalist said we could go and look for it at a Lek he knew on the way to Karanambu lodge instead of doing a forest walk round iwokrama so we got in the car back down the one dirt track road and then trekked for half an hour through thick rainforest to where this Lek was. We passed the nest (photo 2) on the way up and then sat quietly to wait. after about twenty minutes the female came although she was too far away to photograph then just as she went the male came, still far away but just near enough to get an identifiable shot of him so we were able to carry on with our adventure happy that we had managed to see yet another endemic species to the Guianan shield.

Habitat:

As suggested by its name, the Guianan Cock-of-the-rock is found in the Guianan Shield, occurring in French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, southern Venezuela, eastern Colombia and northern Amazonian Brazil. Its preferred habitats are humid forests near rocky outcrops.