Black-and-red Broadbill Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchos Scientific name definitions
Version: 2.0 — Published March 12, 2021
Revision Notes
Sign in to see your badges
Account navigation Account navigation
Welcome to Birds of the World!
You are currently viewing one of the free accounts available in our complimentary tour of Birds of the World. In this courtesy review, you can access all the life history articles and the multimedia galleries associated with this account.
For complete access to all accounts, a subscription is required.
Already a subscriber? Sign in
A large and splendidly colorful bird, the Black-and-red Broadbill (Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchos) is a familiar species in riverine forested habitats in Southeast Asia. Its presence is usually first betrayed by the species’ conspicuous, untidy nest, which is usually suspended from a branch overhanging water, where it is protected from most predators. This broadbill’s large, comical-looking, blue bill, and contrasting black-and-red plumage make it unmistakable throughout its range, with the species’ distinctiveness being recognized in its placement in a monotypic genus. Although quite common, and tolerant of degraded habitats, being confined to the lowlands (principally below 300 meters) where forest destruction has been particularly widespread, Black-and-red Broadbill has declined precipitously in parts of its range. Only one subspecies, affinis of southwestern Myanmar, is well differentiated (even being treated as a separate species by one recent taxonomic checklist); the others are all very similar and display somewhat clinal variation, meaning that further research may determine them to be invalid.
