This is Bird Note.

The piece of the vast Guyana jungle is abruptly broken.

A herd of nervous cattle? A distant motorboat?

It's the dawn chorus of male capuchin birds,

one of the most bizarre members of one of the most bizarre bird families in South America,

the Cottingas.

Named for their tawny cinnamon plumage,

with a prominent neck rough and bald head,

capuchin birds gather in the treetops to display each morning and evening. The singing male bows forward, then suddenly stretches to his full length,

raising a monk-like cowl of feathers around his naked blue-gray head.

The display grounds, or Lex, are used over and over year after year.

Some stands of ancient trees may have witnessed the spectacle for centuries.

The unmistakable, apparently irresistible noise attracts the female capuchin birds,

which jostle each other ruthlessly in the quest to get close to the studliest of the displaying males.

That alpha male, with the best singing technique,

will be the only one to mate.

For Bird Note, I'm Mary McCann.

Bird Note gives you the sounds of birds every day,

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at Bird Note Radio.