The Story
I photographed this Sickle-winged Guan (Chamaepetes goudotii) at Finca La Conchita, in the Kilómetro 18 area near Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia, in October 2019. The nominate subspecies lives in the western and central Andes of Colombia south to Nariño. Adults have a brown head and neck, a bright chestnut belly, pale blue facial skin and red eyes. Pairs or groups of up to eight forage in fruiting trees, usually around dawn and dusk. It eats mostly small fruit, and in some places it visits feeding stations for bananas. At dawn and dusk it gives a wing-whirring display, flying back and forth between two trees. IUCN lists it as Least Concern, though its numbers are believed to be falling.
I used a Pentax K-1 with the HD Pentax-D FA 150-450mm f/4.5-5.6 for this one, at 1/2000 sec, f/5.6, ISO 3200, −0.7 EV. It seems to tolerate some habitat change and, at least away from villages, faces little hunting pressure.
©2020 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Sickle-winged Guan (Chamaepetes goudotii) belongs to the family Cracidae (Guans, Chachalacas, and Curassows) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2024), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List
