Northern helmeted curassow

Description

It is a large terrestrial black curassow with a small head,large bluish grey casque on forehead,red bill,white-tipped tail feathers,greenish glossed mantle and breast feathers,and white below.Both sexes are similar.Length in adult birds can vary from 80 to 100 cm (31 to 39 in).The male,at 3.6 kg (8 lbs),is larger than the female,at 2.6 kg (5.8 lbs).Among standard measurements,the wing chord is 36.3 to 42.7 cm (14.3 to 16.8 in),the tail is 30.4 to 36.2 cm (12.0 to 14.3 in) and the tarsus is 8.9 to 11.2 cm (3.5 to 4.4 in).Some rare rufous morph female has a black barred and reddish brown plumage.For some time,it also contained the horned curassow taxa as subspecies.Nowadays its southern congener is considered a distinct species P.unicornis.