Andean Cock-of-the-Rock

The Andean cock-of-the-rock (Rupicola peruvianus) is a medium-sized passerine bird of the Cotinga family native to Andean cloud forests in South America. It is widely regarded as the national bird of Peru. It has four subspecies and its closest relative is the Guianan cock-of-the-rock. The species exhibits marked sexual dimorphism; the male has a large disk-like crest and scarlet or brilliant orange plumage, while the female is significantly darker and browner. Gatherings of males compete for breeding females with each male displaying its colourful plumage, bobbing and hopping, and making a variety of calls. After mating, the female makes a nest under a rocky overhang, incubates the eggs, and rears the young, all by herself. The Andean cock-of-the-rock eats a diet of many organisms. It consistently eats fruit and occasionally feeds on insects, amphibians, reptiles, and smaller mice. The species eats high protein fruits occasionally and has also been found to eat 14 others. It is distributed all across the cloud forest of the Andes. The species is patchily distributed across its range of about 260,000 km2 (100,000 sq mi). Even though it is being affected by its habitat destruction, the Andean cock-of-the-rock is not near enough to the threshold of becoming threatened. One of two species in the genus Rupicola, the other being the Guianan cock-of-the-rock, the Andean cock-of-the-rock was first described by English ornithologist John Latham in 1790. It is considered to be in Cotingidae, a family of brightly coloured birds. The generic name is derived from the Latin stems rupes "rock" or "cliff", and cola "inhabiting", and is derived from its habit of nesting in rock walls. Its specific epithet peruvianus "of Peru" is masculine despite the -a ending of the genus name (in Latin, names in -cola were masculine or neuter); peruviana is seen in older works.