Baudo Guan Penelope ortoni Scientific name definitions

The Baudo Guan is the only cracid restricted to the Choco biogeographic region of western Colombia and northwestern Ecuador. It mainly occurs in humid forest in the upper tropical zone up to 1500 m, but is also known from the lowlands in western Colombia. Little is known of its habits, movements or breeding but the Baudo Guan presumably is similar to most other Penelope guans, being basically sendentary and foraging for fruits in the upper strata of humid forest in small groups. It has occasionally been considered a subspecies of Andean Guan, but the two species appear to overlap in western Colombia and southwest Ecuador with no apparent integradation. The Baudo Guan is the only Penelope guan with no pale markings on the head.

58–63 cm. Shy, long-tailed cracid. The only small Penelope without pale markings on head and wings . Rich brown with greyish-brown tinge to neck and head, bare blue ocular area, prominent red dewlap , and dull red legs . Smaller and duller than sympatric Penelope and similar-sized Chamaepetes goudotii lacks red dewlap. Juvenile presumably much like adult.

W Colombia (from N Chocó S to Nariño) and W Ecuador (S to Pichincha, formerly to Guayas).

Humid forests , mainly in upper tropical zone, usually up to 1500 m, W of Andes; thought to prefer broken country and foothills, but also occurs in lowland forests and recent research suggests it is heavily dependent on maintenance of tall primary forest (1 del Hoyo, J., and A. Motis (2004). Update chapter. In Curassows and Related Birds (J. Delacour, and D. Amadon), Second edition. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain, and American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. pp. 322–476. Close ), usually on steep slopes (presumably as a result of hunting pressure); in Colombia recorded between 100 m and 1500 m, although wandering birds reported as high as 3100 m; in one area strongly associated with the hardwood tree, Humiriastrum procerum (Humiriaceae) (1 del Hoyo, J., and A. Motis (2004). Update chapter. In Curassows and Related Birds (J. Delacour, and D. Amadon), Second edition. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain, and American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. pp. 322–476. Close ). Absent from dry coastal area of SW Ecuador.

No information available, but presumably sedentary, although in Colombia what have been assumed to be wandering individuals have been recorded well above the species' usual elevational range.

Very few data available, but now known to feed on relatively small-sized fruits like others of genus, probably taken largely in canopy and subcanopy trees (2 Strewe, R. (2000). New distributional sightings of 28 species of birds from Dpto. Nariño, SW Colombia. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 120(3):189–195. Close ). Only specific fruit mentioned is that of Humiriastrum procerum (Humiriaceae) (1 del Hoyo, J., and A. Motis (2004). Update chapter. In Curassows and Related Birds (J. Delacour, and D. Amadon), Second edition. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain, and American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. pp. 322–476. Close ). No indications that this species descends to ground to feed, unlike most congenerics (1 del Hoyo, J., and A. Motis (2004). Update chapter. In Curassows and Related Birds (J. Delacour, and D. Amadon), Second edition. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain, and American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. pp. 322–476. Close ). Usually seen in pairs or small family groups of up to four individuals.

Dawn call a far-carrying guttural, repeated bawling “waou”  , while pairs warn each other of approaching humans using low, soft and prolonged rising whistles of c. 3 seconds duration (1 del Hoyo, J., and A. Motis (2004). Update chapter. In Curassows and Related Birds (J. Delacour, and D. Amadon), Second edition. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain, and American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. pp. 322–476. Close ); rarely heard alarm call is a repeated, agitated “konh-konh-konh-konh”#R  sometimes given for prolonged periods (resembling other Penelope species)#R.

Virtually nothing known, although a female about lay was collected in SW Colombia in mid Aug (1 del Hoyo, J., and A. Motis (2004). Update chapter. In Curassows and Related Birds (J. Delacour, and D. Amadon), Second edition. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain, and American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. pp. 322–476. Close ) and it has been suggested that the breeding season is Jul–Sept; clutch two eggs#R. No other information available.

ENDANGERED. Previously considered Near Threatened. Total population now estimated at 7000–21,000 individuals. Local but widespread in W Colombia, where known only from a small number of localities, the only recent sightings being from Chocó, Valle del Cauca and Nariño (where known from the important but relatively small El Pangán Nature Reserve) (2 Strewe, R. (2000). New distributional sightings of 28 species of birds from Dpto. Nariño, SW Colombia. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists’ Club 120(3):189–195. Close , 3 Strewe, R. (2000). Las aves y la importancia de la conservación de la Reserva Natural El Pangán, Nariño, en el suroeste de Colombia. Boletín de la Sociedad Antioqueña de Ornitología 11:56–65. Close ); status in this country considered Vulnerable in 1990. Additional protected areas known to harbour species include Los Cedros Reserve (Imbabura), Cotacachi-Cayapas Ecological Reserve, Awacachi Corridor and Canandé Reserve (all Esmeraldas), Mindo-Nambillo Protection Forest (Pichincha), Farallones de Cali (Valle de Cauca) and Ensenada de Utría (Chocó) National Parks. In Ecuador range subject to startling contraction; formerly recorded S to NE Guayas and W Chimborazo (1 del Hoyo, J., and A. Motis (2004). Update chapter. In Curassows and Related Birds (J. Delacour, and D. Amadon), Second edition. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain, and American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. pp. 322–476. Close ), but now virtually entirely confined to extreme NW in Esmeraldas, with only other modern records from Pichincha (e.g. Mangaloma Reserve) (4 Solano-Ugalde, A. (2011). Notes on the distribution and natural history of bird species in the Chocó bioregion of Ecuador. Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club 131(4): 249–255. Close ), especially the Mindo-Nambilla area (1 del Hoyo, J., and A. Motis (2004). Update chapter. In Curassows and Related Birds (J. Delacour, and D. Amadon), Second edition. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain, and American Museum of Natural History, New York, USA. pp. 322–476. Close ), and Imbabura. Species extremely sensitive to habitat modification and hunting, it being easily shot as it does not flee from human approach; much of range already deforested and plans to colonize and develop more remote regions facilitated by rapidly expanding road network; this in turn brings more small-scale agriculture, illegal coca plantations, selective logging, hunting for food and gold mining, while industrial-scale logging and intensive agriculture, especially oil palm and banana plantations and cattle-farming have transformed over 90% of the Ecuadorian landscape below 900 m. Very rare in captivity; has been kept in one collection in Mexico.