Indian Crow / Red-Ruffed Fruit Crow

Presented by Luc Couturier (September 2005)

Introduction

The general idea of this article is to complement existing data and images found in fly tying related
books or websites on the Red-ruffed fruit crow.

The focus is to bring a more exhaustive image bank- via representative plates- of the (5) known
pyroderus scutatus subspecies.

One must assume the existence of regional variations within each of the known subspecies, aspect that brings some problems in the identification of certain specimens within each defined subspecies.

The image bank produced was prepared using feathers collected over a certain period of time.

I strongly encourage the reader to advance in is own researches in Bird Studies, may it be only for the general feathers he uses in fly dressing. We live in an era where information can be easily made available.

An initial request made through the British Natural History Museum?s Bird Group and Picture Library permitted me to access- via pictures in TIF format inscribed on a CD-ROM- to a wealth of information on the Institution?s pyroderus scutatus holdings.

Luckily , some of these pictures were made available to the public in the BNHM?s Picture Library:
The reader may consult these pictures as reference, though they present certain anomalies with the
identification of some specimens, a problem clearly addressed by David Snow in his book
The Cotingas (1982). As of today, this problem remains unsolved.

Scientific classification

Order: Passeriformes
Family: Cotingidae
Genus: Pyroderus (Gray, 1840)
Species: Pyroderus scutatus (Shaw, 1892)

Geography

Generally know to be found in: humid tropical forest; savannah; mountains (1200 to 2900 m) of
Colombia, Venezuela, and Guyana S through W Ecuador to EC Peru, lowlands of SE Brazil, SE
Paraguay and NE Argentina.

Again, I encourage the reader to consult: David Snow, The Cotingas, Cornell University Press, 1982.
The reader must consider that the geographical distribution and locations of different subspecies
proposed by David Snow had their limitations- recognized by the Author- mainly due to the methods
used at the time of the study.

We can presume, considering these limitations, and in respect to the new and very rare data that have
been produced since the publication David Snow?s book, that the geographical and topological
elements proposed at the time are partly obsolete and will probably remain such due to the inexistent
field work done on the species.

Another presumption is based on the effects of world climatic and atmospheric changes, which
directly affect the oxygen levels within the diversity of ecosystems, that more intensely in the tropical rainforests, once considered the Lung of the Earth.

So, it is easily imaginable that the state of geographical irrelevancies advanced by David Snow find
their existence in a very coherent and dramatic way today. The food chain being at the hearth of any
ecosystem, one can easily hypothesise that it may become extremely difficult to determine the
specificities between the orthodox- or known subspecies- of the pyroderus scutatus and their local
variation(s) with the usual taxonomic methods.

Most recent status

? Non CITES

? Still, National Governments and Authorities are highly protective of the species.

? Many Countries consider the bird as threatened: ?em perigo? (Portuguese for in danger) ;
?probably threatened?, and appearing in Brazil?s official list of endangered species, primarily because of forest defragmentation and destruction, aggressive deforestation encouraged by certain Governments in exchange for agricultural land, regional disturbances, general forest decline, etc.

? In the wild, the bird is ?(r)are and/or very difficult to see?



References: ? http://encyclozine.com/Cotingidae

General plate of the (5) known subspecies



Pictorial Plates

Note : In order to dismiss any existing confusions with the picture plates already available either in
books or on the web, I wish to say that these picture plates can be considered as standardized, and a
definite attempt to produce clear referential data on the (5) known subspecies of the Red-ruffed fruit
crow.

Other people?s work on the matter was instrumental but presented anomalies which will be corrected in this presentation.

It is far from my intention to neglect the effort that was invested by each of the individuals. I also
believe their efforts were made with the most honest will for transparency and comprehension. That
being said, one needs to go further in his understanding of birds and feathers, whether it be in the most elementary of fashion. And the will for acute transparency is a just cause to my eyes.

I will not comment my pictures, nor try to make assessments on the objective structure or qualities
of the feathers they contain, as I believe that the pictures speak for themselves.

Note: All the feathers presented come from adult male specimens, with the exception of the
orenocencis. A simple comment here to mention that the latter subspecies, in general, usually presents smaller feathers on the breast than the other (4) subspecies.













Below is a series of thumbnails depicting a stack of feathers from each subspecies. Click on them to see a larger image:



General comments

? The reader who wishes to gain knowledge on the specific qualities of the black and brownish feathers found on the different pyroderus scutatus subspecies may again consult David Snow?s book The Cotingas, qualities described in words and based on specimens available at the BNHM collection at the time of the publication of the book.

? Mostly, he may consult the BNHM Picture Library?s corpus. (See web link in my Introduction)