Long-Wattled Umbrellabird
A punk-rock crest on its head, and a wattle down its chest that it inflates like a balloon to boom at females
No photo available for Long-Wattled Umbrellabird
The wacky thing
The male long-wattled umbrellabird has a spiky, forward-drooping crest of feathers that flops over its bill like a mohawk, plus a long, feathered wattle hanging from its chest that can reach 35cm — nearly as long as its own body. To court females, it inflates the wattle with air and delivers a deep, resonant booming call that carries through the forest, all while displaying the crest.
Overview
Found in the wet forests of the Pacific coast of Colombia and Ecuador, the long-wattled umbrellabird is a member of the cotinga family. Males gather in loose leks to perform their booming calls and wattle displays for visiting females, who choose a mate based on the display alone — males provide no parental care. It's currently classified as vulnerable, threatened primarily by deforestation of its already-narrow coastal forest range.
Found in
Wet lowland and foothill forests of the Pacific coast of Colombia and Ecuador.
Things worth knowing
- 1
The wattle contains a specialized air sac connected to the bird's respiratory system, which it inflates specifically to deepen and amplify its booming courtship call.
- 2
Only males have the oversized crest and wattle — females are comparatively plain, an extreme example of sexual dimorphism driven by mate choice.
- 3
Males gather at the same lek display sites for years, and younger males may spend seasons watching and practicing before older males allow them a central, more visible display spot.
- 4
The umbrellabird's booming call has been described as sounding almost mechanical — some early European naturalists reportedly mistook recordings of it for a distant foghorn.
- 5
Its narrow range along the rapidly deforested Chocó bioregion makes habitat loss the single biggest threat to the species' survival.