The species occurs in both terra firme (without flooding) and várzea (seasonally flooded) tropical rainforest types, as well as semi-deciduous forest, gallery forest and cerrado (dry savanna woodland). It reaches coastal lowlands in the north of its range. A strong preference is noted for strips of forest within 100 m of rivers, both in Amazonia and French Guiana. It has been recorded up to 500 m in Colombia, 1,000 m in Venezuela and over 2,000 m in Bolivia; the latter is likely to refer to birds searching for fruiting trees. Palm fruits are its preferred food, and it is also known to feed on Tababuia flowers, figs and snails. The species generally breeds during the rainy season, starting in August and September in Peru, with eggs having been found in February and May in Colombia. Its nest is built of twigs in dense canopy vegetation (del Hoyo et al. 1994).

Pipile cumanensis has a wide range in northern South America. It is still locally abundant in Suriname and in Guyana (Restall et al. 2006), but in French Guiana it is rare and very local. Its abundance is described as local in Colombia and Amazonas, Venezuela. In Ecuador the taxon was estimated to occur at densities of over 20 birds/km² in its preferred habitat in 1994 (del Hoyo et al. 1994), but is now considered uncommon (Restall et al. 2006). In Peru, it remains common in the south, but is rare and in some danger of local extinction in the north-east. The range reaches northern Bolivia, while in Brazil the taxon is common in north Roraima, but it is scarce around cities (Tefé, Manaus) and there have been no recent records from the state of Amapá.