Guianan cock-of-the-rock

This 10- to 12-inch tall bird lives in the rainforests of Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil. They have a distinctive half-circle crest on their heads. The males are bright orange and the females are olive-gray.

In his A Book of Rather Strange Animals, Caleb Compton describes the bird’s “dance-off” mating ritual. Females watch as about 40 males put on an elaborate courtship display, hoping to receive a peck on the back from a female, the sign that she’s chosen him. They’re a cousin of the Andean cock-of-the-rock, the national bird of Peru, which is even more distinctive looking.