Barred Fruiteater (Pipreola arcuata)

Identification & Behavior: ~23.5 cm (9.2 in). The male Barred Fruiteater has green upperparts with patterned tips of flight feathers and wings coverts. The head and bib are black without yellow bordering. The underparts are yellow heavily barred with black. The female is similar to the male but has a green head. Both sexes have a black terminal tail band, pale iris (viridicauda), and red bill and legs. It forages in the canopy of the sub-canopy humid montane forests. It is similar to the Band-tailed Fruiteater and Green-and-Black Fruiteater but is distinguished by having heavily barred underparts, no yellow bordering of the hood, pale iris (viridicauda), patterned wing feathers, and larger size.

Status: The Barred Fruiteater is common in montane forests of the east and west (Piura) slopes of the Andes at elevations ranging between 2100-3500 m. It also occurs in Co, Ec, and Bo.

Name in Spanish: Frutero Barrado.

Sub-species: Barred Fruiteater (Pipreola arcuata arcuata), (Lafresnaye), 1843.  Sierra de Perijá (on Colombia-Venezuela border), and Andes of W Venezuela (E to SW Lara), Colombia, Ecuador and N & C Peru.
(Pipreola arcuata viridicauda), Meyer de Schauensee, 1953.  P. a. viridicauda Meyer de Schauensee, 1953 – Andes from C Peru (S from Junín) S to Bolivia (La Paz, Cochabamba).

Meaning of Name: Pipreola: A variation on Pipra in order to indicate affinity” (Snow 1982). arcuata: L. arcuatus  bow-shaped, curved.

See more of the Family Cotingidae