This species lives in the Amazonian rainforest and has a range that extends across the Amazon Basin and includes Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Venezuela, and the Guianas.
The first documentation of the pompadour cotinga was in the 1764 auction catalogue of Dutch natural history collector Adriaan Vroeg which listed many species of birds and mammal specimens which were to be sold in glass cases.
[3] Birds of the family Cotingidae tend to share certain characteristics such as hooked beaks, strong sexual dimorphism, and mating displays performed by the males.
[4] The most recent phylogeny created in 2014 examined the family using genetic analyses of both nuclear and mitochondrial genes, and compared the results to the synapomorphies among birds of certain clades.
Males of this species have yellow eyes, stark white primary coverts with black wing tips, and a glossy, wine-red head and body.
[10] In the Northern Peruvian Amazon, they live in the varillal (white sand forest) regions and forage in groups in the Caraipa tereticaulis trees along the Nanay River.
[8] Members of the species forage in small groupings, and use frequent vocalizations of a “PURP!” noise to communicate with one another.10 Captive pompadour cotingas have been observed occasionally consuming larger prey.
Pompadour cotingas may supplement their frugivorous diet with meat during the breeding season when there is increased energy expenditure and young birds to feed.
[13] There are limited observations of the pompadour cotinga in the wild, with most accounts documenting the complex mating ritual of the species although the exact breeding season is unknown.
In an account by ornithologist Marcelo Barreiros, the female pompadour cotinga was very attentive to the single egg in the shallow nest that she had built for it, leaving only to forage for food.
In recent years, there has been advocation for improved methods of data collection in the rainforest with one researcher, Bruno Walther, proposing the use of cranes in the field to increase access to the canopy level.