#central american birds

[proton-wobbler]

Warbling Vireo

[image ID: a drab, singing songbird. the crown is gray-brown, as is the back and wings. the face, throat, and belly are white. the eye is dark, with a thin eyeline running through. the bill and feet are gray-blue. end ID]

Song:

Scientific Name: Vireo gilvus

IUCN Rating: Least Concern

Habitat & Location: breeds throughout most of deciduous North America and overwinters in Mexico and northern Central America

Fun Fact: their constant singing has been described as "a happy drunk making a conversational point at a party"

[image ID: a map of North America where almost all of the United States is colored red (except the deep South), as well as the western Providences in Canada. a blue strip runs from western Mexico down through the south, to Nicaragua. there is a small section of yellow between these two zones. the red is breeding range, blue is overwintering range, and yellow is migratory range. end ID]

Image Sources: bird (Michael Stubblefield); map (birds of the world)

[animalsandanimals]

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A post shared by Fernando Lara (@tferka.photography_)

Fernando Lara

Russet-naped wood rail

[colorsoutofearth]

Yellow-tailed oriole (Icterus mesomelas)

Photos by Fernando Burgalin Sequeria

[lonelywretchjervistetch]

For context...

King Vulture (Sarcorhampus papa)

Order Accipitriformes, Family Cathartidae

I adore this bird. They're condors technically, which is to say that they're New World vultures found in Central and South America, going from Mexico to Argentina. They're fairly common, and gorgeous birds at that. Both males and females look like that, which is typical for the birds in this order. And, as vultures, they're scavengers rather than hunters, which is why I hesitate to call them raptors or birds of prey...'cause they're not. In fact, they're called kings not just because they're regal-looking (and were worshipped as holy by the Maya), but also because they make the first cut in a fresh carcass, and other vultures come in to feed after the king has arrived.

Why are they colorful? Not entirely sure, to be honest. Probably an honest signal about health and fitness, which is good for attracting members of the opposite gender. But that's a best guess, nothing more. The featherlessness is for the same reason that all vultures have mostly bald heads: to prevent blood and flesh from gathering in their feathers as they feed.

As for other fun-facts...

They're mute! Vultures aren't exactly noisy in the first place, since they're more hissers and grunters, but king vultures in particular are voiceless!

They're rainforest and savannah dwellers, mostly taking advantage of areas where there's a high concentration of potential prey items. Not huge prey like livestock, though; king vultures tend to stay away from development and agriculture.

Longest living accipiter in a zoo is a king vulture! Vivian from the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco, Texas is 71 years old as of this post, set to turn 72 this year!

And finally, like other vultures, kings practice urohidrosis, an evaporative cooling behavior in which the vultures...y'know what, look it up. It's somewhat gross for the uninitiated, though, so fair warning on that front. It's a bird thing that they do in place of sweating.

Anyway, that's the King Vulture! Let me know if you're interested in more bird stuff; it's literally my profession and passion (outside of comic books and movies, which fall under the category of the latter).

[have-you-seen-this-animal]

may I request the calliope hummingbird?

Of course! If I was a bird I might be one of these :)

Photos thanks to Syler Peralta Ramos & Jim McCormac.

[na-bird-of-the-day]

BOTD: Harpy Eagle

Photo: Luciano Massa

"Truly impressive birds, Harpy Eagles' legs are as thick as a person's arm and their talons are three to four inches long — the same size as a grizzly bear's claws! This eagle is one of the few diurnal (day-hunting) raptors that have a facial disc, a trait they share with owls such as the Crested Owl. This feathered, concave area directs sound to the eagle's ears, a useful feature as they hunt under the dim rainforest canopy."

- American Bird Conservancy

[dougdimmadodo]

White-Tipped Sicklebill (Eutoxeres aquila)

Family: Hummingbird Family (Trochilidae)

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

The distinctive elongated, downwards-curving and perhaps just slightly goofy-looking beak of this small, dull-coloured hummingbird is an adaptation that allows it to feed on the nectar of plants with curved, tube-like flowers, particularly “lobster claws” in the genus Heliconia, which in turn rely heavily on sicklebills for pollination. Found mainly in evergreen forests across southern Central America and northern South America, White-Tipped Sicklebills, like other hummingbirds but unlike the vast majority of other bird species, utilize an insect-like manner of flapping that allows them to hover and move in any direction while in flight in order to carefully position themselves in a suitable place to extend their beaks and long, flexible tongues into flowers in order to feed, with a diet of sugar-rich, easily digestible nectar being necessary to meet the immense nutritional requirements associated with the extremely rapid flapping that makes their style of flight possible. Unusually for a bird White-Tipped Sicklebills are believed to breed multiple times each year, with males gathering together during the breeding seasons, producing harsh, high-pitch calls to attract females to their location and battling for the attention of mates in mid-air in a form of synchronised competitive courtship known as lekking. After mating, female White-Tipped Sicklebills build nests out of mammal fur, plant roots and spider webs (often hanging from or near Heliconia leaves, allowing for easy access to flowers) into which they lay 1-2 tiny eggs.

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Image Source: Here

[haveyouseenthisbirdpoll]

Photo source

Map source

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Central American Pygym Owl

By Shawn McCready

[campodefiori9]

2 eastern Kingbirds show their crowns and attack a wet Crow. Harlem meer, Central park.

[birdyverdie]

dude a Mexico-inspired blog reblogged the Auraboa art that I rb a bit ago........do they know it's not Quetzalcoatl

[proton-wobbler]

Brown-capped Vireo

[image ID: a drab songbird. its back, crown, and eyeline are brown and the eye is large and dark. its throat, as well as the eyebrow and some of the face, are white. the bill is pale gray and the feet are blue. end ID]

Song:

Scientific Name: Vireo leucophrys

IUCN Rating: Least Concern

Habitat & Location: resident of montane forests from eastern Mexico down through Peru and Bolivia

Fun Fact: with a song that sounds incredibly similar to the Warbling Vireo, some people believe these species to be conspecific (the same)

[image ID: various cental mountainous areas (including the Sierra Madres and the Andes) across Mexico and South America are colored in purple to show the bird lives there year round. end ID]

Image Credits: Bird (Manuel Pérez R.); map (Birds of the World)

[arthistoryanimalia]

#ToucanTuesday:

Bird Pendant (Toucan) Costa Rica, Central Region, 4th–7th c. Jadeite H. 2 5/8 x W. 3/4 x D. 1 7/8 in. (6.7 x 1.9 x 4.7 cm) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1979.206.1138

"Tropical Costa Rica is the habitat of an enormous number of bird species, many of which acquired symbolic dimensions in depictions in stone. This pendant, made of a jadeite of great clarity, features a toucan. Yet its upright stance and folded arms indicate that the figure is anthropomorphic, implying perhaps that it is a masked or transformation figure. Adding to the complexity of the image is a trophy head where the figure's feet should be. Disembodied heads are frequent in Precolumbian Costa Rican art. This pendant is said to be from the Atlantic Watershed region, one of the two primary areas of jade use in ancient times. The other is the northwestern province of Guanacaste. Each area is generally associated with characteristic stylistic features in jade and other antiquities."

[pleistocene-pride]

The northern jacana, also known as the American jacana and the Jesus Bird, is a species of wading bird in the family Jacanidae which in native throughout Panama, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Jamaica, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Arizona, Florida, and Texas. They are famous for their huge feet and claws, which enable them to walk on floating vegetation in the shallow lakes, swamps, marshes, and ponds that are their preferred habitat. Here they feed upon insects, snails, worms, crustaceans, fish, mollusks, and seeds. Jacana are themselves preyed upon by snakes, crocodilians, snapping turtles, and various large birds mammals. Both sexes of northern jacana average around 8 inches (240mm) in length with a 20 inch (508mm) wingspan, however females are nearly twice as heavy at 5- 6oz (140- 170g) in weight compared to males at 3-4oz (85- 113g). The northern jacana has a dark brown body with a black head and neck. Its bill has a white base with yellow patches and its forehead has a yellow wattle. The legs and feet are a greenish grey. When a jacana is in flight, its yellowish-green primary and secondary feathers are visible. Also visible are yellow bony spurs on the leading edge of the wings, which it can use to defend itself and its young.  Particularly unusual among birds, this species sports a polyandrous society in which female jacana maintain harems of males. Said females compete with each other through elaborate calls, displays, and acts of physical, often aerial, aggression. The winner of these fights gets to maintain a territory where she will pair bond and mate 1-4 males. Breeding occurs in the rainy season during which time males construct floating nests out of whatever plant matter they can find. Where the female will lays a clutch of four brown eggs with black markings. Which are then incubated by the males for 28 days. After hatching they are cared for by all parents, fledge at around 8 weeks of age and become fully independent after a year.

[justbirdsallthetime]

[have-you-seen-this-animal]

Can I request an ocellated turkey please