Psophia crepitans
The Grey-winged Trumpeter, Psophia crepitans, is a captivating medium-sized, ground-dwelling bird endemic to the Amazon rainforest. Measuring approximately 45-52 cm (18-20 inches) in length and weighing 1-1.5 kg (2.2-3.3 lbs), it sports a predominantly velvety black plumage with an iridescent purple, green, or bronze sheen, especially noticeable on its lower back and wing coverts, which gives it its common name. Its most distinctive field marks include its long, bluish-grey legs, a characteri...
Found in undisturbed humid tropical lowland rainforests, primarily in terra firme (non-flooded) and gallery forest ecosystems, generally below 500 meters elevation.
Omnivorous, primarily feeding on fallen fruits, insects, spiders, and small reptiles or amphibians, foraged mainly by gleaning from the forest floor.
Grey-winged Trumpeters are diurnal and highly terrestrial, spending most of their time walking or running on the forest floor in cohesive social groups typically comprising 2 to 10 individuals. They forage by methodically walking and gleaning insects, fruits, and small vertebrates from the leaf l...
The Grey-winged Trumpeter is resident across the northern Amazon Basin and the Guiana Shield. Its primary distribution includes northeastern Brazil north of the Amazon River, all of French Guiana, Suriname, and Guyana, eastern Venezuela, and parts of northern Colombia, eastern Ecuador, and northe...
Least Concern
- Grey-winged Trumpeters are one of the few bird species known to actively follow troops of monkeys or army ant swarms, preying on the insects and small animals flushed out by their movements. - Their distinctive 'trumpeting' calls, which give them their name, are low-frequency sounds that can ca...