Sickle-winged Guan

Birding abroad: the Sickle-winged Guan.

In Kabalebo I have seen so far 4 different Guans: the Little Chachalaca, the Marail Guan, the Spix's Guan and the Blue-throated Piping Guan. Quite distinctive birds in Suriname, but when I visited the cloud forest in Mindo, Ecuador, I met another member of the Guan family: the Sickle-winged Guan (Chamaepetes goudotii).

The Sickle-winged Guan is a shy and secretive bird, one that actually is seldom seen out in the open. But when I was birdwatching in Mindo (Ecuador) I noticed that many birds are being fed so it was easy to photograph them on a close range.

I did had to wake up quite early (4.00 AM) to start a long road trip to see these guans. Around 5.00 AM we arrived at a farm that was close to the forest and surrounded by steep hills. It was an intensive climb of at least 25 minutes, pretty dark and cloudy, and we had to sit and wait until the birds came to eat their breakfast.

The locals working on the farm used a lot of banana's to feed them, most of the fruit came from their own garden. 

Here you see a couple of Sickle-winged Guans on the feeder. Quite distinctive are their blue facial skin and red feet. Notice also the color difference from the upper and lower part of their body (black/rufous). 

It is known that the Sickle-winged Guans are active only early in the morning, explaining why I had to wake up so early. And since you wanted to be there before the birds, it was no problem to miss out on some sleep. 

Sickle-winged Guans enjoy fruits, seeds and leaves and seen in the pictures they surely like the banana's a lot too. 

What makes this meet and greet so special is that the Sickle-winged Guans are only found in Columbia and Ecuador. 

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