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Material on this page was provided by Paul Smith and Hemme Batjes and is used with their permission.
GUIRA CUCKOO Guira guira
To look at him you would think that the Guira Cuckoo was near the back of the queue when brains were being given out, but you would be quite wrong. Despite his ridiculous hairdo, pathetically weak flight-style and unimpressive voice, the Guira Cuckoo is an adaptable and intelligent omnivore, one of the most numerous and successful species in the Paraguayan countryside. To give an example of their intelligence, the Cuckoos continually managed to avoid a mist-net which other birds habitually collided with. Not only that but they actually used the net - which caught more cicadas than birds - as a means to feed themselves, perching delicately on the draw strings and carefully extracting the luckless insects with more dexterity than I could with my hands! Guira Cuckoos are amiable, sociable birds, one of my personal favourites. Look out for them on cold mornings, huddled together with their white back feathers (FPAVE1468PH) exposed to the sun to make the most of the solar energy.
Click on the images to enlarge them.
FIGURE 1 - (FPAVE2805PH) Adult, Pirahú, Departamento Presidente Hayes (Paul Smith July 2011).
FIGURE 2 - (FPAVE1467PH) Adult, Bahía Negra, Departamento Alto Paraguay (Paul Smith September 2006).
FIGURE 3 - (FPAVE1468PH) Adult, exposing white feathers of back and rump to gain body heat in the morning, Estancia Laguna Blanca, Departamento San Pedro (Hemme Batjes November 2005).
FIGURE 4 - (FPAVE1469PH) Adult ventral view, Encarnación, Departamento Itapúa (Paul Smith October 2006).
FIGURE 5 - (FPAVE4149PH) Chick, Buffalo Bill, Departamento Presidente Hayes (Paul Smith February 2015).
VIDEO A - (FPAVE1470VI) Adults calling Encarnación, Departamento Itapúa (Paul Smith January 2007).
VIDEO B - (FPAVE1471VI) Adults, Estancia Laguna Blanca, Departamento San Pedro (Paul Smith September 2010).
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Guira guira
1 (FPAVE1472RE) Descending calls "raptor" call recorded PROCOSARA, PN San Rafael (Paul Smith March 2007).
2 (FPAVE1473RE) Rattle recorded PROCOSARA, PN San Rafael (Paul Smith March 2007).
3 (FPAVE1474RE) Flight calls recorded Encarnación, Departamento Itapúa (Paul Smith November 2009).
4 (FPAVE1475RE) Shrill calls recorded Encarnación, Departamento Itapúa (Paul Smith November 2009).
5 (FPAVE1476RE) Song  recorded Encarnación, Departamento Itapúa (Paul Smith November 2009).
Click the link to hear the call. Longer versions of this call can be downloaded from the Paraguay page of our partner website Xeno-Canto - the largest collection of freely downloadable Neotropical bird calls available online.