Shrike-like Cotinga Laniisoma elegans
(aka Elegant Mourner)

Brazilian name: chibante

Male Shrike-like Cotinga, REGUA, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, November 2006 - click for larger image REGUA, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
November 2006

The Shrike-like Cotinga is distributed in south-east Brazil with disjunct populations in the foothills of the Andes from western Venezuela, in Colombia, in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. The Andean races are sometimes considered a separate species but they are vocally similar to the Brazilian population with only minor plumage differences.

Male Shrike-like Cotinga, REGUA, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, November 2006 - click for larger image They are found in humid forest and mature secondary growth usually near streams. They feed on fruit and insects.

It has traditionally been included in the Cotinga family but is now felt to be more closely related to the Schiffornismourners or some of the Tyrant-flycatchers.

Male Shrike-like Cotinga, REGUA, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, November 2006 - click for larger image It has a black cap, olive-green upperparts and bright yellow underparts with black spots on the throat and barring on the remainder of the underparts. The bill is blackish above and yellowish below.

The female is more extensively barred than the male and has a less solidly black cap.

Male Shrike-like Cotinga, REGUA, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, November 2006 - click for larger image The call is very thin, high-pitched and repetitive as you can hear on xeno-canto.
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