Umbrellabird

Umbrellabird Classification and Evolution
The Umbrellabird is a large, tropical species of bird that is found inhabiting the rainforests of Central and South America. There are three different species of Umbrellabird which are the Long-Wattled Umbrellabird, the Amazonian Umbrellabird and the Bare-Necked Umbrellabird all of which live in slightly different areas. All three species are relatively similar in appearance with an umbrella-like crest on the top of their heads (for which they were named) and a pendant-shaped inflatable pouch on their throats. They are the largest species of perching bird (Passerine) in South America but populations are currently falling mainly due to habitat loss.

Umbrellabird Anatomy and Appearance
The most distinctive feature of the Umbrellabird is the large crest on the top of it's head. During mating, the males fan their crest out so that it nearly covers the whole of their head and they then begin to make rumbling sounds to attract a female. The long, curved feathers are then retracted, making the Umbrellabird more discreet the rest of the time. All three Umbrellabird species are similar in size and have coarse black feathers covering their bodies, but each subspecies does have it's own fingerprint. The Long-Wattled Umbrellabird has a wattle on it's throat that can grow up to 35cm long; the Amazonian Umbrellabird tends to be entirely black and the males are thought to be the largest of all three species; the Bare-Necked Umbrellabird is easily distinguished by the reddish, featherless patch of skin on it's throat.

Umbrellabird Distribution and Habitat
The Umbrellabird is found throughout the sub-tropical belt of Central and South America where they spend the majority of their time hopping between branches high up in the tree canopy. For most of the year, the Umbrellabird can be found inhabiting lowlands and mountain foothills, generally at altitudes less than 500 meters. During the breeding season however, they migrate higher into the mountains where the gather in groups known as a "Lek" where they can find a mate. These breeding sites are usually in cloud forests that are between 800 - 2,000 meters above sea level. The Umbrellabird is known as an altitudinal migrant as it migrates up and down the mountains rather than across the land.

Umbrellabird Behaviour and Lifestyle
The Umbrellabird is generally a solitary animal that is known to co-inhabit areas with other birds including other Umbrellabirds, and similar species such as Woodpeckers. Their large size does make flying more difficult for the Umbrellabird compared to other species meaning that it tends to hop from branch to branch, gripping with it's clawed toes. Although the Umbrellabird can indeed fly short distances, they tend to be relatively slow and clunky in the air. During the breeding season however, they migrate to higher altitudes where they gather in small groups so that they can choose a mate. Here the males perform courtship displays for the females to watch before they pick a partner.

Umbrellabird Reproduction and Life Cycles
Display territories tend to be occupied from March until June, and once having paired up, the female constructs a relatively large nest from twigs, moss and leaves inside a tree that is often far from the ground. This is thought to be to protect the nest from hungry predators that feed on the eggs of the Umbrellabird. The female then lays a single egg which is incubated for only a month before it hatches, with the chick then being fed by it's parents before it leaves the nest a couple of months later. Abandoned nests have been found alongside the current nest indicating that females may even return to the same tree to lay their egg every year. Umbrellabirds are thought to live for an average of 16 years in the wild.

Umbrellabird Diet and Prey
Like many of the world's tropical perching birds, the Umbrellabird is an omnivorous animal that feeds on the feasts high in the tops of the trees. Fruits and small animals are the Umbrellabird's primary sources of food, eating a range of invertebrates such as insects and spiders, along with small frogs and birds. The Umbrellabird uses it's strong toes to hold onto the branches whilst it picks fruits and berries with it's curved beak. The quite long, black beak of the Umbrellabird is similar to that of a Raven and allows the Umbrellabird to snap up passing insects with ease. The Umbrellabird plays a vital role in their native eco-system as they distribute the seeds from the fruits that they eat across the forest.

Umbrellabird Predators and Threats
The Umbrellabird spends the majority of it's time at the tops of trees so ground-dwelling predators pose little threat to this unique bird. Arboreal animals however, are a different story often preying on the eggs and younger individuals that are a more manageable size. Monkeys and Snakes are the primarily predators of the Umbrellabird, along with large Birds Of Prey such as Hawks and Eagles, that are able to hunt from the air. The biggest threat to the Umbrellabird however is Humans, who clear their native lowland forests, generally for agriculture. Although all three species are being severely affected by habitat loss, the Long-Wattled Umbrellabird is thought to be most under threat as it lives in only a handful of very specific areas.

Umbrellabird Interesting Facts and Features
The distinctive throat pouch of the Umbrellabird inflates on the males during the breeding season. The reason for this is because it is thought to make their rumbling calls louder, making a booming sound that is said to sound like a Hippo. The wattle is one of the characteristics that differs the most between the three species of Umbrellabird. The Long-Wattled Umbrellabird has long black wattle (as it's name suggests), where the Amazonian's is shorter, and the Bare-Necked Umbrellabird's is red in colour and much smaller than the others. The Umbrellabird was discovered by Sir Alfred Wallace, a companion of Charles Darwin's, in the 1800s whilst on an expedition to South America.

Umbrellabird Relationship with Humans
Due to the fact that the Umbrellabird lives high in the rainforest canopy and is rarely seen in open areas, it can often be hard to spot during the non-breeding season when it is in the lowlands. Higher up in the mountain cloud forests however, the breeding sites of the Umbrellabird have been known to be targeted by local hunters. It is the deforestation of the lowlands where they spend most of their time however, that has led to drastic declines in their population numbers. These areas are most commonly turned into pineapple and banana plantations that do not accomodate their arboreal lifestyle.

Umbrellabird Conservation Status and Life Today
Today, both the Long-Wattled Umbrellabird and the Bare-Necked Umbrellabird are considered to be Threatened species, where the Amazonian Umbrellabird has been classified by the IUCN as Least Concern. All three species are under threat, mainly due to the loss of significant chunks of their natural habitats, with most of the remaining populations now found in protected areas.

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Uguisu

Uguisu Classification and Evolution
The Uguisu is a small species of bird that is natively found throughout Japan, China and Taiwan, along with a number of other regions of the far east. The Uguisu is also commonly known as the Japanese Bush-Warbler, as it is named for it's beautifully distinctive song. The Uguisu is most closely related to other small songbirds including Bushtits and Nightingales which they are similar in appearance too, although the Uguisu is generally very slightly larger. Although they do not sing at night, the beauty of the Uguisu's song is said to have led to them also being known as the Japanese Nightingale. The Uguisu was first described as a documented species by Heinrich von Kittlitz in 1830.

Uguisu Anatomy and Appearance
The Uguisu is a small-sized bird that is known for it's fairly dull colouration, particularly in comparison with the beauty of it's song. They tend to be olive-green or light brown in colour with darker plumage towards the tips of their wings and tail. The tail of the Uguisu is relatively long in relation to it's body size and is comprised of straight feathers, making it similar in appearance to Long-Tailed Tits to which the Uguisu are thought to be closely related. Like other species of small perching bird, the Uguisu also has thin legs with long, clawed toes to help them grip onto branches more easily. The Uguisu has small dark eyes with pale stripes above each one, and a straight, tan coloured beak.

Uguisu Distribution and Habitat
The Uguisu is most commonly inhabits regions throughout Japan where it is found all year round, along with parts of the northern Philippines. The Uguisu is also native to southern Russia, China and Korea and is found in countries including Taiwan on a more seasonal basis. The Uguisu tends to be found in mountainous regions at the varying altitudes of both lowland hills and high up in the mountain forests, and are known to move further down the mountains during the winter. The Uguisu is found in seasonal forests and bamboo thickets where there is plenty of foliage to hide amongst, along with an ample supply of food.

Uguisu Behaviour and Lifestyle
In a similar way to Nightingales, the Uguisu is a relatively solitary bird with individuals only really coming together during the breeding season. The Uguisu is fairly quiet during the winter months making low chirping noises in the bare trees, but in early spring they break into song in order to try and attract a mate. The Uguisu is more heard than seen by many people due to their highly secretive nature, as they spend the majority of the daylight hours hiding deep in the shadows of the surrounding foliage. In some areas, the Uguisu are migratory birds flying between different countries with the changing seasons. This is most commonly to escape from the cold mountain winters, particularly on the large Japanese island of Hokkaido in the north.

Uguisu Reproduction and Life Cycles
The Uguisu breeding season begins in the early spring when the males break into beautiful song in order to try and attract a female to mate with. Like Nightingales, males and females are fairly similar in appearance although the female tends to be slightly smaller in size. The female Uguisu constructs a cup-shaped nest in a dense thicket out of twigs, leaves and moss where she lays up to 5 small eggs. The Uguisu female sits on her eggs to keep them warm and to protect them for between 2 and 3 weeks when the chicks hatch. The Uguisu chicks are fed and cared for by their mother until they fledge at around 2 weeks old. The Uguisu tends to live for between 2 and 5 years in the wild.


Uguisu Diet and Prey
The Uguisu is an omnivorous animal meaning that they feed on a variety of both plants and animals. Like other Warblers and Nightingales, the Uguisu has a predominantly insect-based diet feeding on Flies, Worms, Beetles, Moths and Grasshoppers in the forest. The Uguisu is also known to forage for fruits and berries to supplement it's diet. The need to find food is one reason why the Uguisu migrates in some parts of their natural range. During the winter months, not only is it much colder but the Uguisu also finds it more difficult to find food in such uncompromising conditions. By moving down to the lowlands, there is a higher chance that supper will not be in such short supply.

Uguisu Predators and Threats
The Uguisu is a very distinctive bird and it's calls can be heard throughout the mountainous forests of the far east. Their relatively drab colouration however, means that although the Uguisu can be easily heard they are in fact very difficult for predators to spot amongst the foliage. There are a number of animals that do manage to catch the Uguisu though with it's main predators including feral Cats and Dogs, along with Snakes, Lizards and Birds Of Prey. Uguisu's are also under threat from people who have cut more and more of the natural forest down to make way for growing towns and cities, meaning that the Uguisu has lost much of it's natural habitat.

Uguisu Interesting Facts and Features
The beautiful song of the Uguisu is thought to not only be to do with finding a mate, but it is also thought to be a declaration of territory to other individuals in the area. Oddly enough, the droppings of the Uguisu (known as guano) are now used as a product in certain face creams particularly, as it is thought to make skin softer and more radiant looking. Apparently this peculiar choice in moisturiser is thought to have been used by geishas and kabuki actors throughout Japan for centuries, and it is now sold as a commercial product. The Uguisu is seen as a sign of spring coming in Japan and is therefore also known by other names such as the Spring Bird and the Hanami Bird.

Uguisu Relationship with Humans
Throughout much of it's native Japan, the Uguisu has been depicted in both art and poetry because of the beauty of it's characteristic song. It is also due to this though that they were often kept as cage-birds and would sadly lead a very poor life. Due to the use of their guano as a skin enhancer they are now caged so that it can be more easily collected to ship all around the world. Growing Human settlements, along with land clearance for logging and agriculture, and rising pollution levels have all led to population declines throughout much of the Uguisu's natural range.

Uguisu Conservation Status and Life Today
The Uguisu has been listed on the IUCN Red List as an animal that is classified as Least Concern and is therefore not under imminent threat as a species in it's natural environment. This is because the Uguisu is found in a number of countries at varying altitudes and therefore habitats, and so is fairly widespread. Population numbers in certain areas are also stable, but they are declining in others primarily due to deforestation. They are now farmed in Japan so that their guano can be collected and used as a component in certain creams.

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African Bird 'Cries Wolf' to Steal Food

Fork-tailed drongos, glossy black African songbirds with ruby-colored eyes, are the avian kingdom’s masters of deception. They mimic the alarm calls of other species to scare animals away and then swipe their dupes’ dinner. But like the boy who cried wolf, drongos can raise the alarm once too often. Now, scientists have discovered that when one false alarm no longer works, the birds switch to another species’ warning cry, a tactic that usually does the trick.

“The findings are astounding,” says John Marzluff, a wildlife biologist at the University of Washington, Seattle, who was not involved in the work. “Drongos are exceedingly deceptive; their vocabularies are immense; and they match their deception to both the target animal and [its] past response. This level of sophistication is incredible.”

Since 2008, Tom Flower, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Cape Town, has followed drongos in the Kuruman River Reserve in the Kalahari Desert. He’s habituated and banded about 200 of the robin-sized birds, and, using food rewards, has trained individuals to come to him when he calls. After getting its snack, the drongo quickly returns to its natural behavior—catching insects and following other bird species or meerkats—while Flower tags along.

Drongos also keep an eye out for raptors and other predators. When they spot one, they utter metallic alarm cries. Meerkats and pied babblers, a highly social bird, pay attention to the drongos and dash for cover when the drongos raise an alarm—just as they do when one of their own calls out a warning. Studies have shown that having drongos around benefits animals of other species, which don’t have to be as vigilant and can spend more time foraging. But there’s a trade-off: The drongos’ cries aren’t always honest. When a meerkat has caught a fat grub or gecko, a drongo is apt to change from trustworthy sentinel to wily deceiver. In a previous study, Flower showed that the birds get as much as 23% of their daily food by emitting a false alarm and then stealing their victim’s meal. The meerkat that’s just caught a gecko, for instance, is likely to drop it and run for the nearest burrow when it hears a drongo’s alarm—whether true or false.

Drongos also imitate the alarm calls of numerous other species. Altogether, the birds can make as many as 51 different warning cries. Six are those that drongos themselves use to announce the presence of various types of predators; the other 45 are the alarms of other species. And all the species—including the meerkats and babblers—know and pay attention to one another’s warning calls, Flower says. “They’re all eavesdropping on each other. It’s like they speak each other’s language.”

But what benefit do drongos get by imitating the alarm calls of other animals? To answer that question, Flower and his colleagues carried out a series of playback experiments using pied babblers as the target species. The results showed that after hearing a drongo imitate a babbler’s or starling’s alarm cry, the babblers stayed away longer from a foraging area than when they heard the drongo’s warning call. The babblers also ignored alarm calls after they’d heard one type three times in a row. But when the third call was a warning that they’d not previously heard, they took flight. The experiments show that “it pays for drongos to have large alarm repertoires, to use their target’s alarm call, and to vary their calls,” Flower says.

Which is exactly what the birds do. By following 42 marked wild drongos, he and his colleagues observed 151 occasions when the birds repeatedly attempted to steal food from the same victim. In 74 of these attempts, the birds changed the type of alarm they were using. They were most likely to do so, the scientists found, when one type of false call didn’t do the trick. Moreover, when a drongo changed its call, it was more likely to succeed in stealing its target’s food, the team reports online today in Science.

“The drongos are producing their calls tactically. They’re changing their calls in response to the feedback they get from their target,” Flower says. “And that’s how they’re able to overcome the problem of crying wolf too often.”

“The birds’ tactical deception must reflect sophisticated cognitive abilities,” says Karl Berg, an ornithologist at the University of Texas, Brownsville, who was not involved in the work. Indeed, Flower and his colleagues note that some might be inclined to see the birds’ talent as suggestive of something like “theory of mind”—the ability to intuit what others are thinking, a skill that has definitively been found only in humans.

But Dorothy Cheney, a primatologist at the University of Pennsylvania, says that “simpler explanations,” such as associative learning, “are more likely” to explain “what the drongos are thinking when they produce their deceptive calls.” For example, she notes, it’s possible that drongos have learned two behavioral contingencies: “One, targets flee when they hear alarm calls,” and “Two ... switch alarm call type if the previous call failed” to send the victim fleeing. At the very least, the birds seem to have an understanding of cause and effect, notes Flower, who is now working on a new study to try to nail down what goes on in a drongo’s head.

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Talk is cheep: Do caged birds sing a key to language?

WHEN you watch Kazuo Okanoya on stage, bobbing up and down, chirping, you know he is passionate about his work. His lab at the University of Tokyo is alive with the sound of the birds that inspire his performance – row upon row of cages full of Bengalese finches. You can see why he is so taken by them. They are beautiful and good-natured, and they sing like a dream.

Okanoya was brought up in rural Japan surrounded by farm animals as well as his own menagerie of pet hamsters, turtles, hermit crabs, chipmunks and finches. "As a child, I loved animals more than humans," he says. That he ended up studying birds is hardly surprising. But what he has discovered certainly is. He set out to explore how singing cements the intense bond between pairs of Bengalese finches and underpins their devoted parenting. Instead, his experiments might have implications for one of evolution's most enduring mysteries: the emergence of human language.

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Birds of a Feather Counted Together at VINS

Quechee — Birds and humans alike last week took a keen interest in the suet and seed-filled feeders on the woodsy grounds of Vermont Institute of Natural Science. The people had a mission: record as many species as possible for the Great Backyard Bird Count. The birds? They were just plain hungry.

Started by Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society, the annual four-day event helps scientists study bird populations across the globe.

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58-Million-Year-Old Flying Seabird Discovered in New Zealand

An international group of paleontologists reported the discovery of a fossil seabird species that lived in what is modern New Zealand during the early Paleocene, around 58 million years ago. The bird, named Australornis lovei, is one of the world’s oldest species of flying seabirds.

The fossil bones of Australornis lovei were collected from the Waipara greensand deposits of North Canterbury, New Zealand’s South Island.

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Bird Data Confirms That V’s Help Save Energy

Birds of a feather may flock together, but why they fly together in V formations has never been known for certain.

Now, with the help of 14 northern bald ibises fitted with lightweight sensors on a 600-mile migration from Austria to Tuscany, researchers are suggesting that the explanation is one that was long suspected but never proved: The formation helps the birds conserve energy. \

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Wanted: Sam the Seagull

WANTED

Sam the seagull from Aberdeen Scotland is wanted for shoplifting. If you see this gull, better close your windows and hide your cheesy chips.

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Pigeon Envy

Imagine you are plucked out of your New York City apartment rooftop by a giant hand in the heavens and placed in a dark box. Suddenly the box opens 1,200 miles away on a random side street in Omaha Nebraska. Now walk home. And do it fast. Don’t think that’s possible? I got some city pigeon friends that can serve it up….. right in yo’ FREAKIN’ FACE!

You can take the bird out of the city but you can’t take the city out of the bird. Seriously. They will find their way back. Pigeons are an incredibly underrated little critter often referred to as “flying rats” or “gutter birds ” while possessing uncanny navigational abilities and have been absolutely critical to early social networking and information delivery services for humans. These birds placed in unfamiliar environments up to 1,200 miles away can reliably find their way to their home nest, and quite romantically, to their mate. Dating back 3000 years the ancient Egyptians, Persians and Romans all used pigeons to deliver information. They have delivered sensitive documentation during war time, were integral in forming the first air-mail service (stamps included) and informed Noah that he could climb out of that zoo of an ark he had been cooped up in for over a year. These birds were charged with proclaiming the winner of the early Olympic games, declaring stock prices between Brussels and Aachen for a young Mr. Reuter and helping to save people stranded at sea. Unfortunately for these loyal hard working birds, something called “the interweb” took their last paying job and put them out of business in 2002.

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What's Causing Early Bird Migrations? Global Warming A ‘Key Part’ of Understanding Population Declines

Scientists have previously documented how bird migrations around the world are happening earlier every year. Recently, researchers from the University of East Anglia’s Schools of Biological Sciences in the U.K. fingered climate change as the culprit for early godwit migrations in Europe.

“We have known that birds are migrating earlier and earlier each year – particularly those that migrate over shorter distances,”  Jenny Gill, a biologist from the University of East Anglia and one of the authors of a bird migration study, said in a statement, according to Red Orbit. “But the reason why has puzzled bird experts for years. It’s a particularly important question because the species that are not migrating earlier are declining in numbers.”

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Human Life Expectancy Is To Blame For Rise In Number Of Endangered Species

The number of animal or bird species coming under the endangered category is becoming a common affair now. Adding to the woes, a new study suggests, the number of invasive and endangered birds and mammals increases with the improvement in human life expectancy.

According to researchers at the University of California, human life expectancy is the greatest predictor of global invasions and extinctions.

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Conservationists deploy net-flinging cannons, GPS devices to aid restoration of endangered bird

To save one critically endangered bird population, a group of researchers are bringing in the big guns—literally. The researchers deployed a trio of cannons into areas of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where populations of the red knot, a robin-sized bird species, are roosting and fire nets from the cannons to trap the birds in order to collect feather samples and outfit the birds with geo-locator devices. By tracking the birds via the devices, the researchers hope to gather clues that might help them save this bird species from what some ornithologists say is a very likely extinction.

According to the research team, which included about a dozen participants, the red knot is one of a large number of shorebirds that are in trouble—70% of shorebird species are in decline, according to Lawrence Niles, a participant and the chief biologist at the Conserve Wildlife Foundation. The red knot’s problem is especially acute, though, in that some of its populations have withered by 75% since the 1980s.

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Amazonian Royal Flycatcher

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The Shoebill

Talk about conspicuous birds, the Shoebill is one heck of a bird with a strikingly huge, straw colored spherical bill with erratic grayish markings that can best live up to its name. Aside from the eye-catching bill, its height is distinctive among birds, that reaches up to about 5 feet, approximately 55 -60 inches and its massive weight as far as birds are concerned ranging from 8.8 to 15 pounds and a wide wingspan of 91 to 100 inches. Its feet are remarkably large with the middle toe protruding, reaching to about 6.6-7.3 inches in length making them capable to hunt on water while standing without getting wet.

A little closer to the pelicans but has characteristics that are much closer to storks and herons, shoebills love to hunt for prey in swamps, marshes and in floating vegetation areas, usually standing motionless while eyeing for the kill. This is one significant characteristic that not all known birds have – the ability to hunt by pretending to be immobile that is not a threat at all as compared to other predators. They usually stalk their prey slowly but surely and work at it solitarily in a lingering yet lurking fashion.

Most Shoebills are known to move very slowly and has the propensity to stay in one position for a long period of time, keeping still to the point of looking like a statue. This is the main reason why most notable descriptions of the Shoebill will always have the “statue-like” description as part of it.

Still and fixed, shoebills successfully forage and thrive at a minimum distance of 20 meters or 66 feet using solely their vision as compared to other predators that use the tactile hunting method. The Shoebill is one special kind of bird species that is considered to be part of the list of desirable birds in America.

The Shoebill Video

 

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Parrots

Parrots and the realities of urban life were the focus of the 2003 feature The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, a movie which told the tale of how a frustrated homeless musician managed to forge solid relationships with a number of wild parrots.

Based on a true story, the movie tells an inspiring story, one which touches up on how important companionship and reaching out can be, as well as delves into the particulars and peculiarities known to revolve around parrots.

The Avian Welfare Resource Center, a part of the Avian Welfare Coalition, has long asserted that parrots are not domestic animals, not like how cats or dogs are as domestic animals.

Though found in countless homes in different parts of the world, not all parrots are the same with others, with some not even capable of “talking”. Screeching or screaming, however, is something every parrot can do. Also, not all parrots are trainable, with most trained parrots owing their training aptitudes to the skills of trainers and experts.

However, parrots are naturally curious and active, which contributes to their attributed flair as sociable birds.

Many have taken in parrots as pets in the hopes of having an exotic pet that says funny things and does amusing tricks. As many expect these to come from parrots, many have also ended up being frustrated when “parrot realities” come up, with their pets being difficult to manage, biting, screeching and generally making a mess.

As such, it has to be said that parrots, as they were featured in The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, remain to be wild animals which thrive in their independence as creatures of Mother Earth.

Serious thought is then in order if you’re mulling about keeping parrots as pets.

Parrot Pictures

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Parrot image

Parrot Video

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Canary Wallpapers

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