Umbrella Bird Information

The male Amazonian umbrella bird is the largest passerine (perching) bird in South America. There are three species of umbrella bird in the genus Cephalopterus, all restricted to the tropical forests of South and Central America. They are considered vulnerable to extinction in the long term due to habitat destruction and hunting. Umbrella birds are easily recognized thanks to their black plumage, prominent crests and dangling chest wattles.

  1. Description

    • All umbrella birds are large passerine birds with predominately black, glossy plumage. They have a retractable crest of forward-facing black feathers on their heads that somewhat resembles an umbrella, and a wattle on the breast that hangs loose but can be retracted during flight. Females are smaller and duller than the males and have smaller crests and wattles.

    Species

    • The Amazonian umbrella bird (Cephalopterus ornatus) is the largest of the genus and reaches a length of 20 inches. It is completely black with a pointed crest on the head and a large inflatable wattle on the breast.

      The male bare-necked umbrella bird (C. glabricollis) is about 16 inches long with a bright red wattle of bare skin dangling from the throat.

      The male long-wattled umbrella bird, (C. penduliger) has the largest wattle of all three species. It can be half the total length of the bird and is covered in small scale-like iridescent feathers.

    Range and Habitat

    • All three species of umbrella bird live in tropical forests in Central and South America. The long wattled species is restricted to the humid forests of the Choco region of Ecuador and western Colombia. The bare necked umbrella bird is found in the Caribbean forests of Costa Rica and Panama while the Amazonian species lives in the Amazon river basin of Brazil, Venezuela, northwest Bolivia and eastern Colombia, as well as the foothills of the eastern Andes.

    Diet

    • Umbrella birds are omnivorous and feed on seasonal fruit supplemented with small animals such as insects, frogs and rodents. They are known to take advantage of army ant swarms to feed on the animals that they disturb and to bang small animals against branches to kill them. They will take fruit from trees while in flight or feed from perches. Umbrella birds migrate between different altitudes within their ranges to take advantage of different sources of seasonal fruit.

    Behavior

    • Males gather in display areas called leks at the beginning of the breeding season and put on elaborate courtship displays to attract females. They raise their crests and inflate their large dangling wattles to amplify their booming calls. The large bulky nests have rarely been observed and females are believed to lay a single egg. Umbrella birds are largely solitary but will migrate in small groups.