Bearded Bellbird

Sightings
The male Bearded Bellbird was seen and heard on several occasions. This remarkable bird was often perched on top of a dead tree several hundred metres from the main verandah of the Asa Wright Centre. Views were good in a telescope but it was much too far away for a photograph. I therefore set off on the forest trails to get closer to the bird but despite tracking it by its call, I was unable to see the bird. On one occasion, I sat in the forest mesmerised by the raucous guttural and ventriloqiual call of several, or was it only one, birds. Fortunately, our guide was able to locate a bird a few days later. It was perched in an apparent trance and unconcerned by our presence. It took me several minutes to obtain a line of sight and take some photographs.

Species
Bearded Bellbird Procnias averano also known as the Campanero or Anvil-bird, is a passerine bird which occurs in northern South America. The male Bearded Bellbird is about 28 cm (11 in) long with white plumage apart from a brown head and black wings. At his throat hang several black, unfeathered wattles. The female is a little smaller with olive-green head and upperparts, yellow underparts streaked with green and a yellow vent area. The male has a loud, repeated metallic hammering call, as well as various other vocalisations.

This bird is found in moist tropical forests where it feeds mainly on fruit and berries which are picked on the wing. The nest is a rather flimsy mass of stems and slender twigs built far out on a branch of an isolated tree. A single buff-coloured egg is laid and incubated solely by the female.

Status and distribution
A species of least concern in its range of nearly 5 million square kilometres. There are two subspecies, the nominate subspecies P. a. averano is only found in north eastern Brazil, while the other subspecies P. a. carnobarba occurs in Trinidad, Venezuela, Colombia, Guyana, eastern Bolivia and northern Brazil. A locally common resident in deciduous forest in northern range, Trinidad but absent from Tobago.

References
Asa Wright Centre; BirdLife; Wikipedia; World Bird Names; Kenefick, M., Restall, R., and Hayes, F. (2015) Birds of Trinidad and Tobago, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 206

Photograph
Taken in near darkness at 1/125th of a second, f5.6 and ISO 10000 with almost 2 stops of exposure compensation.