Family Cotingidae
Three-wattled Bellbird
Procnias tricarunculatus
In Spanish: Campanero Tricarunculado (Pájaro Campana, Rin-Ran, Calandria)
- Resident
- Regional endemic
Monteverde's cloud forest, with a guide. It moves to lower ground part of the year.
Bonk. A hollow, wooden note from somewhere up in the canopy, the top layer of the forest. It is thought to be among the loudest bird calls on earth, and people hear it from more than 800 metres away, long before anyone finds the bird.
At Monteverde it is one of the two birds people ask us about, with the Resplendent Quetzal. It is a regional endemic, found only in this small corner of the world: Costa Rica and its neighbours. And it moves to lower ground part of the year.
Where to see it
- Hotspot page
- Named place
- Nearby lodge (numbers match the cards)
- Monteverde Cloud Forest Reservea hike with a guide is the best chance at it, and the Trapp Family Lodge trails lead straight into the reserve.
- Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserveour trips name it for this cloud forest, with the Collared Trogon.
- Curi-Cancha Reserve, Monteverdeone of the two birds to hope for on the morning walk, with the quetzal.
Nearby lodges
Within 20 km of a place on the map, in the same zone.
- 1
Trapp Family Lodge0.7 km from Monteverde Cloud Forest ReserveSee the lodge
How to recognise it
About 25 to 30 cm, roughly the length of a school ruler. The male is chestnut-brown on body, wings and tail, with a white head, neck and upper breast. From the base of his bill hang three wattles, thin strips of bare skin that can reach 10 cm, and those settle it. The female looks like another bird altogether: olive, streaked yellowish below, with a pure yellow vent, the feathers under the tail, and no wattles. Young males are often taken for females. The voice is that bonk, and the male learns his song rather than being born with it.
Where it lives
The cloud forest of the Costa Rican highlands, where it breeds. Our trips look for it in the Monteverde cloud forest: in the reserve itself, at Santa Elena, and on the Curi-Cancha trails. It moves to lower ground part of the year, so a trail that rings with it one month can be quiet the next.
When to see it
All year in Costa Rica, as a resident. It moves to lower ground part of the year, so tell us your dates and our guides will say where it is calling then.
Trips that find it
- Costa Rica Classic Birding, All Inclusive8 nightsSee the trip
- Birding in Costa Rica's Northern Zone11 nightsSee the trip
- Birding in Costa Rica's Top Three Destinations9 nightsSee the trip
Tell us when you are travelling and our team in Costa Rica builds the trip around the birds you want to see.
Plan my birding tripHow we know this 1 sources, each read on the date shown
- Wikipedia: Three-wattled bellbird read 4 November 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three-wattled_bellbird