Sickle-winged Guan vs Alagoas Curassow

Chamaepetes goudotii compared with Mitu mitu

Side-by-Side Comparison

Attribute Sickle-winged Guan Alagoas Curassow
Scientific Name Chamaepetes goudotii Mitu mitu
Order Galliformes Galliformes
Family Cracidae Cracidae
Conservation Status Least Concern Extinct in the Wild
Length — —
Wingspan 50.7 cm (20.0 in) 79.2 cm (31.2 in)
Weight 702.0 g (24.76 oz) 2852.5 g (100.62 oz)
Diet Frugivorous; eats fruits, berries, seeds, and leaves in Andean foothill and montane forests. Forages at … Frugivorous; eats fruits, seeds, and invertebrates in the ground and forest understorey. Extinct in wild; …
Clutch Size 2-3 2-3
Population Trend — —

Habitat Comparison

Shared Habitats

Sickle-winged Guan only

None

Alagoas Curassow only

None

Song & Call Comparison

Sickle-winged Guan

Song

Emits a loud, resonant cackling call and loud wing-whirring. The guan call carries through Andean cloud forest; wing-whirring display flight is a diagnostic feature in the mountains.

Alagoas Curassow

Song

Extirpated from wild (EW). Calls documented from captive birds: a deep, resonant booming similar to Razor-billed Curassow; flocks give low, guttural clucking contact calls.

Geographic Range & Migration

Sickle-winged Guan

Resident in the Andes from Colombia south to Bolivia at 1,500-3,400 m. Found in humid cloud forest.

Alagoas Curassow

Endemic to northeastern Brazil in Alagoas. Extinct in the wild; survives only in captivity. Last wild record was 1980s.

Conservation Status

Least Concern

Sickle-winged Guan

Extinct in the Wild

Alagoas Curassow

How to Tell Them Apart

Sickle-winged Guan

Plumage

Dark chestnut-brown above and on breast; lower belly rufous-chestnut; bare blue facial skin around eye; wings distinctively curved sickle-like; no wattle; tail dark brown.

Alagoas Curassow

Plumage

Glossy black body; white lower belly and undertail; massive compressed red bill with orange-yellow tip; no head ornamentation. Now extinct in wild; the large red razor bill was its most …

About These Birds

Sickle-winged Guan

A medium-sized cracid (~700 g) of family Cracidae, with sickle-shaped outer primaries and blue facial skin. Inhabits humid Andean cloud forests and forest edges from Colombia to Bolivia at 900–3,000 m elevation. Arboreal, feeding mainly on small fruits and berries. Least Concern; widely distributed in the Andean cloud forest zone and common in undisturbed montane habitats.

Alagoas Curassow

A large cracid (~2.9 kg) of family Cracidae, with glossy black plumage and a distinctive red knobbed bill. Extinct in the Wild; the last wild individuals disappeared from Alagoas, Brazil by the 1980s due to deforestation of the Atlantic Forest. A captive population survives in Brazilian zoos, with reintroduction programs underway. One of the most critically imperiled birds globally.

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