Highland Guan

Penelopina nigra

Please send me photos and information on this species so that I can build up a more detailed database.

There appear to three races of the Highland Guan (unless there is another race from Mexico that I am unaware of). Dickey and van Rossem describe the interior subspecies P. n. dickeyi of El Salvador and Honduras as having brownish red skin around the eye and a bluish hue to the males’ plumage, whilst the subspecies found on the volcanoes along the Pacific slope P. n. nigra has bluish or purplish skin around the eye and a greenish hue to the males’ plumage. The females of these first two species are said to be similar. van Rossem (1934, cited in Monroe) also describes a subspecies from Nicaragua P. n. rufescens, where the male is similar to dickeyi, but the female differs in being more rufescent. Monroe discusses how he could not distinguish between dickeyi and nigra on plumage characteristics alone and commented on how the skin area of specimens loses its colour and so cannot be used long after death.

This species seems to be fairly common throughout the central highlands of northern Central America and Oaxaca and Chiapas in southern Mexico, though they seem to have mostly been extirpated from many of the volcanoes on the Pacific slope of El Salvador, where they were formerly common (Dickey and van Rossem). They are threatened by both hunting and habitat destruction (Howell and Webb).

Dickey and van Rossem collected one bird on February 26th which was laying. They found no nests, but mention that the locals reported two or three white eggs are laid in a nest that is comprised of only a few twigs placed in the crown of a tall tree fern. This was supported by Thurber et al, who were shown a nest in the crown of a tree fern containing two eggs. Thurber et all discuss 4 nest sites reported by Pullen (1978) and also discuss how Vuilleumier had believed that the species nests on the ground (like other Cracids), but that Vaurie (1968) had disputed this claim because it was based on a single instance and that ground nesting was the exception rather than the rule. They also state that Rowley (1984) reported on 16 nests, only one of which was on the ground. I have not seen any of these papers that were discussed by Thurber et al.
Highland Guans are prone to desert nests if they are disturbed by humans (Pullen, 1978 cited in Thurber et al), though Rowley (1984) made limited observations of one nest which was discovered with two eggs on 7th May. The eggs hatched on the evening of 8th May and the chicks left the nest soon after (though perhaps prematurely because of disturbance). Pullen saw downy chicks on 4th and 24th April, which Thurber et al suggest indicate that laying may begin in late February or early March. They also suggest that females that have been found incubating in May might represent second nesting attempts. Females were seen with Pullets (never more than two) by Pullen and Thurber et al, between April and late November. Puller (1978, cited in Thurber et al) twice saw males near, but not with, females with young and concluded that males do not interact with females after mating. However, Delacour and Amadon (1973, cited in Thurber et al) argued that unless proven otherwise, Highland Guans may be assumed to be monogamous like other Cracids. I have seen males on the ground near to females with young at Biotopo del Quetzal in early November.

I have found little information on feeding behaviour, though Dickey and van Rossem described two birds which “had their crops stuffed with round, hard, green berries about the size of hazelnuts”. They also describe the courtship behaviour, involving a male that whirled round and round like a dog chasing its tail, and they mention a bit about roosting behaviour in the highest pines at around 150 feet.

According to Thurber et al, Pullen (1978) counted singing males at Montecristo in El Salvador (when they are most active in February and March) and recorded 22 in his study area which measured 180km2, and they commented that this gave 8.6 hectares per singing male (the maths doesn’t work out. There is certainly nothing like 180km2 of cloud forest at his Montecristo study site, so they must mean 180 hectares, which would give 8.2 hectares per singing male, not 8.6). However, he estimated territories to be much smaller than this; the three that he closely studied had areas of 2.8, 4.0 and 6.3 hectares.

Habitat
This species is mainly found in cloud forest, but they also wander into pine-oak and second growth areas. Generally found in rich forests in areas with dense undergrowth.

Birdlife has a factsheet on this species www.birdlife.net
Biblioteca de Sonidos Aves de Mexico has a recording of this species www.ecologia.edu

Known sites

Guatemala
I have seen or heard this species at Aguas Amargas, Biotopo del Quetzal, Tarrales and Volcan Atitlan

Honduras
I have seen this species at Celaque and La Muralla

El Salvador
I have heard a bird at El Pital and seen in the mist, what was probably this species, at Montecristo, which is a known sight.

Calls
A recording of the call is to be found on ‘Bird Songs of Belize, Guatemala and Mexico’ by Dale Delaney

Delacour, J. and Amadon, D. (1973) Curassows and related birds. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., xv + 247pp.

Pullen, T. M. Jr. (1978) A field study of the Black Chachalaca (Penelopina nigra Fraser) in El Salvador. San Salvador: Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganaderia, Unidad de Parques Nacionales. Mimeo.