Great curassow, Crax rubra Description Crax rubra rubra 20-Mar-12 Le Selva, Costa Rica
Date 20 March 2012, 08:26
Source Great Curassow http://www.flickr.com/photos/faulkners_fowl_shots/6901560712/
Author Don Faulkner http://www.flickr.com/people/50763319@N04
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crax_rubra_rubra.jpg
The great curassow (Crax rubra) (Spanish: hocofaisán, pavón norteño) is a large, pheasant-like bird from the Neotropical rainforests, its range extending from eastern Mexico, through Central America to western Colombia and northwestern Ecuador. Male birds are black with curly crests and yellow beaks; females come in three colour morphs, barred, rufous and black. These birds form small groups, foraging mainly on the ground for fruits and arthropods, and the occasional small vertebrate, but they roost and nest in trees. This species is monogamous, the male usually building the rather small nest of leaves in which two eggs are laid. This species is threatened by loss of habitat and hunting, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature has rated its conservation status as "vulnerable". Order: Galliformes, Family: Cracidae.
Subspecies:
- Crax rubra rubra Linnaeus, 1758 - common great curassow
- Crax rubra griscomi Nelson, 1926 - Cozumel great curassow
Synonyms:
- Crax chapmani (barred morph female)
- Crax globicera
- Crax hecki (barred morph female)
- Crax panamensis