Swallow-tailed Cotinga

The swallow-tailed cotinga is about 18 to 20 cm (7.1 to 7.9 in) long and weighs about 43 to 60 g (1.5 to 2.1 oz). The sexes have different plumage though both have the eponymous long divided tail. Adult females have a mottled black and gray forehead, a pale gray to grayish brown crown with a usually concealed dull red streak in the middle. Their nape is blackish with broken white bars. Their upperparts are mostly dull olive with bright yellow forming a scaly appearance; their uppertail coverts are mostly olive-yellow with dark streaks. Their wings are mostly blackish brown with an olive green wash and feather edges. Their tail's upper side is blackish brown and its underside grayish; the feathers have yellow edges whose size decreases from the inner ones to the outer. Their lores are mottled gray and blackish and their ear coverts variably gray to blackish with a wide white stripe below them. Their throat is medium yellow with gray-brown spots. The rest of their underparts are blotchy white and yellow with brownish black to black tips on the feathers that form horizontal bars. Adult males are overall brighter and more boldly marked than females. Their crown is a dark navy blue with a mostly concealed crimson-red center. Their upperparts are yellowish to canary-yellow with navy blue barring. Their wings are deep bluish black with no olive wash. …

The swallow-tailed cotinga has an odd disjunct distribution. It is found in southeastern Brazil, mostly from central Bahia, central Minas Gerais, and Espírito Santo south to Rio Grande do Sul and into northeastern Argentina's Misiones Province. Its range nominally includes eastern Paraguay though there are no records there since the late 1900s. A small separate population is in Goiás. The species inhabits somewhat open landscapes including the edges of extensive forest, partially wooded areas, meadows and roadsides with some trees, and gardens. In elevation it ranges from sea level to 2,000 m (6,600 ft).

The swallow-tailed continga feeds mostly on fruit and also includes small numbers of insects in its diet. It often forages in flocks, and mostly in the forest's canopy but sometimes much nearer the ground. It takes food mostly by gleaning while perched and also takes insects with short sallies.