Black-fronted piping guan  (Pipile jacutinga)

Resembling a turkey, the black-fronted piping-guan has a large red throat wattle with a blue base and a ring of bare bluish skin around the eyes. The feathers are mainly black, including on the forehead, which is unique in the Pipile genus. The neck and upper breast feathers are edged with white and the wings are each decorated with a large, white patch. The crown and nape are white, the bill pale blue with a black tip, and the legs red. The call is a soft whistle (4).

Having once been widespread and common, the black-fronted piping-guan has been lost from much of its range and is now found in a very limited area, comprising southeast Brazil, northeast Argentina and southeast Paraguay (2).

Preferring forested areas, the black-fronted piping-guan is found in both coastal and inland regions up to 1,800 metres above sea level. It appears to be associated with rivers and streams and in some areas favours forests with a high proportion of palmito (Euterpe edulis) (2) (4).

Although the black-fronted piping-guan is thought of as a fruit-eater, it has opportunistic feeding habits, taking insects and molluscs where possible, as well as seeds, grains and buds. In some areas, the vast majority of its diet comes from the fruit of the palmito (Euterpe edulis) but also from figs (Ficus), araçazeiros (Psidium), bicuiba (Virola), pindaúba (Xylopia), and guarumo (Cecropia) plants. It is also thought to ingest mud as a means of taking in salt (2) (4).

In common with other guan species, the black-fronted piping-guan is found alone or in groups of up to five, but it is known to be territorial to outsiders, shaking its wings in display and creating a machine-like rattle. The groups break off into pairs for the breeding season, building a platform-like nest of twigs in a tree-fork. During September up to four eggs are laid by the female and these are incubated for about 28 days. Chicks are seen in October and November but little is known of the parental care they receive or their dispersal once fledged (2).

This species makes some seasonal movements, partly in response to the fruiting of the palmito which ripens first at lower altitudes and later in the year at higher altitudes. Parents are known to move on shortly after nesting, but whether the chicks accompany them is unclear (2).

The winter of 1866 was particularly cold and resulted in 50,000 guans being killed for food in the space of a few weeks in Santa Catarina. Before this slaughter the black-fronted piping-guan had been numerous, but it has now been lost from the northern part of its historical range and is limited to small areas in the southern portion of the range. The populations tend to be small and fragmented and due to its tendency to follow the fruiting, conservation of small areas of land can be ineffectual. Continuing hunting and poaching from protected areas adds to the plight of this bird, particularly from Tabuleiro State Park in Santa Catarina where park guard numbers are dropping (2) (4).

The habitat of the black-fronted piping-guan is also under threat, from illegal harvesting of palm-hearts, conversion of land to plantations, and the construction of hydro-electric dams. In Argentina the main food source of this species, the palmito, has been exploited nearly to extinction (2) (4).

The black-fronted piping-guan is protected by law in Brazil but this has little impact on the rate of poaching there. Similarly, it is found in several state parks and reserves including Urugua-í Provincial Park and Iguazú National Park, both in Misiones, but the security offered by these has had little effect on bolstering the species' numbers. There are several captive breeding programmes which have had some success but reintroduction has so far been unsuccessful. An awareness campaign and the enforcement of anti-poaching measures seem to be the best hope for this species, with regular surveying to follow its progress (2) (4).

For further information on this species see del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A. & Sargatal, J. eds. (2001) Handbook of the Birds of the World Volume 2: New World Vultures to Guineafowl. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

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