About Penelope purpurascens Wagler, 1830
This species, commonly known as the crested guan, has the scientific name Penelope purpurascens Wagler, 1830. Adult crested guans measure 76 to 91.5 cm (30 to 36 in) in length, and weigh approximately 1.6 to 2.4 kg (3.5 to 5.3 lb). For standard measurements, the wing chord ranges from 33 to 37 cm (13 to 15 in), the tail ranges from 29 to 36 cm (11 to 14 in), and the tarsus ranges from 6.5 to 8.6 cm (2.6 to 3.4 in). In overall appearance, the crested guan resembles a turkey, with a small head, long strong legs, and a long broad tail. Males and females have similar appearances. Adults of the nominate subspecies are mostly dusky olive brown, with faint greenish or purplish iridescence. Their belly and crissum are chestnut, and the feathers of the breast and belly have white edges. Their throat has some bristles, and its loose skin dangles as a small red wattle. Juveniles look similar to adults, but are overall mottled with blackish brown, and have a rufous brown wash on their wing and tail feathers. Both sexes have a red iris, a blackish bill, slaty black bare skin on the face, and red legs and feet. Subspecies P. p. aequatorialis is similar to the nominate subspecies, but is smaller and more rufescent. Subspecies P. p. brunnescens is more rufescent than the nominate subspecies, but less rufescent than P. p. aequatorialis. The nominate subspecies of the crested guan is the northernmost of the three subspecies. It occurs in Mexico from Sinaloa in the west and southern Tamaulipas in the east, extending south along the Pacific and Caribbean slopes through Belize and Guatemala into El Salvador and Honduras. Subspecies P. p. aequatorialis occurs across most of Nicaragua, extending south through Costa Rica, Panama, western Colombia, and western Ecuador into far northwestern Peru. Subspecies P. p. brunnescens occurs in the Serranía del Perijá, where the border of northeastern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela meets, east around Lake Maracaibo, and also occurs intermittently in the Venezuelan Coastal Ranges from Falcón to Delta Amacuro. The crested guan lives in a variety of forested habitats, including tropical and subtropical evergreen forest, tropical and subtropical deciduous forest, cloudforest, gallery forest, and evergreen montane forest. Most of its habitats are semi-humid to humid, though the species also occurs locally in drier forest. In terms of elevation, the crested guan is found from sea level up to 2,500 m (8,200 ft) in northern Central America, up to 1,800 m (5,900 ft) in Costa Rica, up to 1,500 m (4,900 ft) in Colombia and Ecuador, up to 800 m (2,600 ft) in Peru, and up to 1,100 m (3,600 ft) in Venezuela.
