Feeding Behavior of Purple-throated Fruitcrow (Querula purpurata: Cotingidae) in the Colombian Amazon and Its Implications for Seed Dispersal

We studied some feeding behaviors of the purple-throated fruitcrow (Querula purpurata) in two Colombian Amazonian forests, which affect the primary seed dispersal of the plants on which it feeds. Visit length, number of fruits removed and dispersed, feeding rates, and fruit-handling times were compared to those obtained for two other cotingas feeding on the same fruiting trees. Querula purpurata exhibited shorter visits (98 sec) and fruit-handling times (4 sec), and higher mean feeding rates (1.6 fruits/min) than Phoenicircus nigricollis and Cotinga cayana. In contrast, P. nigricollis dispersed the highest number of seeds of four of the five tree species studied. Although Q. purpurata and P. nigricollis exhibited feeding behaviors that increase seed dispersal, Q. purpurata may be more important in the transport of seeds between habitats, while P. nigricollis may be a major seed disperser within the primary forest.