White-winged Cotinga Xipholena atropurpurea

Brazilian name: Anambé-de-asa-branca

Male White-winged Cotinga, Porto Seguro, Bahia, Brazil, November 2008 - click for larger image Veracel, Porto Seguro, Bahia, Brazil
November 2008

The White-winged Cotinga is distributed in lowland Atlantic Rain Forest along the coast of eastern Brazil from Paraíba to Rio de Janeiro.

Male White-winged Cotinga, Porto Seguro, Bahia, Brazil, November 2008 - click for larger image

Unfortunately, this is a habitat that is disappearing fast and numbers are declining at an alarming rate. As a consequence it is classified as Endangered by Birdlife International. The main threat comes from continuing deforestation which destroyed 60% of the habitat between 1980 and 1997.

Female White-winged Cotinga, Porto Seguro, Bahia, Brazil, November 2008 - click for larger image The male, seen here in photos 1 and 2 is blackish-purple on the head and body with white on the wings and a yellow eye.

The female in photos 3 to 5 is ash-grey above with white edging on the wings and paler underparts with mottling.

Photo 6 shows an immature male moving into male plumage with white specks on the underparts. It would have started off life looking like a female.
Female White-winged Cotinga, Porto Seguro, Bahia, Brazil, November 2008 - click for larger image The outer web of the primaries have thicker rami as can be seen in flight in photo 5.

There are recordings on xeno-canto, a distribution map from NatureServe and additional information available via Avibase. There is a page in Portuguese with excellent photos on Wikiaves.

Female White-winged Cotinga, Porto Seguro, Bahia, Brazil, November 2008 - click for larger image
Immature White-winged Cotinga, Porto Seguro, Bahia, Brazil, November 2008 - click for larger image
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