Southern Ground Hornbill

Southern Ground Hornbill - Spec. Name: Bucorvus Leadbeateri

Description
The largest member of the hornbill famliy, the southern ground-hornbill makes its home in Gorongosa National Park’s savannas, woodlands, and grasslands. These pre-historic-looking birds are black with white flight feathers and a red wattle. You can recognize females by the blue patch on their red wattle. Males have bare facial skin and a wattle that can expand. These neck wattles are used to make booming or grunting sounds, often just before dawn, which can sound like lions roaring in the distance.

Southern ground-hornbills are carnivorous—eating lizards, frogs, snakes, snails, and insects. They are able to fly, but spend the majority of their time on the ground.  They hunt in groups by walking (instead of hopping), probing, pecking, and digging at the ground.

These birds live in cooperative breeding groups made up of a dominant pair and several  subordinate adult males.  This dominant pair successfully breeds only once every nine years, with only one surviving chick per nest.

Southern Ground Hornbill

They have established territories, and neighboring groups chase each other in aerial pursuits. Ground hornbills can live to 50 years old and are revered locally for their medicinal properties and their traditional role in producing rain. 

Conservation

Although the southern ground-hornbill have decreased in numbers in other parts of Southern Africa, (including nearby Kruger National Park) due to the slow development of their young and their extremely slow breeding cycle, this bird is thriving in Gorongosa National Park.  Because of the protections that the national park provides, the species is not susceptible to poison from agricultural areas and other habitat disruptions that affect the bird’s survival in more populous regions. 

During the long civil war in Mozambique, the park’s wildlife was severely diminished.  Today, Gorongosa National Park presents an area with little competition for food and a lack of predators, particularly of the nests and the young.  We will continue to monitor the health and size of the park’s southern ground-hornbill population.

Photograph © H.J. Ruiz “My Backyard Visitors”

Transcription from information given by: Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique

Green Heron

Green Heron - Spec. Name: Butorides Virescens

Green Heron

This is a small heron of North and Central America. It was long considered conspecific with its sister species the Striated Heron (Butorides striata), and together they were called "Green-backed Heron". Birds of the nominate subspecies (no matter which taxonomic arrangement is preferred) are extremely rare vagrants to western Europe; individuals from the Pacific coast of North America may similarly stray as far as Hawaii.

The Green Heron is relatively small; adult body length is about 44 cm (17 in). The neck is often pulled in tight against the body. Adults have a glossy, greenish-black cap, a greenish back and wings that are grey-black grading into green or blue, a chestnut neck with a white line down the front, grey underparts and short yellow legs. The bill is dark with a long, sharp point. Female adults tend to be smaller than males, and have duller and lighter plumage, particularly in the breeding season. Juveniles are duller, with the head sides, neck and underparts streaked brown and white, tan-splotched back and wing coverts, and greenish-yellow legs and bill. Hatchlings are covered in down feathers, light grey above, and white on the belly.

The Green Heron's call is a loud and sudden kyow; it also makes a series of more subduedkuk calls. During courtship, the male gives a raah-rahh call with wide-open bill, makes noisy wingbeats and whoom-whoom-whoom calls in flight, and sometimes calls roo-roo to the female before landing again. While sitting, an aaroo-aaroo courtship call is also given.

Photographs © H.J. Ruiz "My Winged Pals"
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details.
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

Weekly Photo Art

Blue-headed Vireo

Blue-headed Vireo, Vireo Solitarius

Blue-headed Vireo

This is a small songbird. Adults are mainly olive on the upperparts with white underparts and yellowish flanks; they have a grey head, dark eyes with white "spectacles" and white wing bars. They have a stout bill and thick blue-grey legs. This bird, along with the Cassin's Vireo and Plumbeous Vireo, were formerly known as the "Solitary Vireo"

Their breeding habitat is open mixed deciduous and coniferous woods in Canada east of the Rockies and the northeastern United States. They make a bulky cup nest suspended from a fork in tree branch. The male helps with incubation and may sing from the nest.

These birds migrate to the southern and southeastern United States south to Central America.

They forage for insects in the upper parts of trees, sometimes flying out to catch them. They also eat some berries, especially in winter.


Photographs © H.J. Ruiz "My Winged Pals"

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details.
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

Did you know?...

Toxic chemicals found in peregrine falcon eggs

Researchers studying peregrine falcon eggs in Spain and Canada have found that chemicals commonly added to fabrics and plastics as flame retardants have been transferred to the eggs of these majestic birds.

Flame retardants generally contain highly toxic chemical compounds that are designed to stop plastics, materials and other products from easily burning by inhibiting or resisting the spread of fire. Ethel Eljarrat, a scientist based at the Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Studies and co-author of the study says that ''the presence of 'dechlorane plus' and other related, chlorinated compounds used as flame retardants have been detected for the first time in the European biota''.

One of the reasons for choosing the peregrine falcon as the species for this particular study was because they are known to accumulate the substances and compounds eaten by their prey. The peregrine falcon has only just recovered from a period of being endangered in the northern hemisphere due to the widespread use of organochlorine pesticides, particularly DDT.

The study looked at eggs that had failed to hatch in falcon nests around Spain and Canada, including the Great Lakes Region. It was discovered that the levels of chemical compounds were higher in the eggs of birds living in coastal environments. It is thought this is due to the fact that coastal falcons would feed on birds that had eaten fish which were likely to be highly contaminated. The researchers confirmed that these toxic chemical compounds are now bio-accumulating throughout the food chain.
The egg samples taken from Canadian nests had significantly higher concentrations of the flame retardants. Scientists believe this is because much of the industry where these compounds are manufactured is located around the New York State area close to where the falcon nests are found.
Researchers have also confirmed the presence of these particular chemical compounds in fish and sediment in Spanish rivers. Other flame retardants have been proven to be toxic endocrine disruptors which have led to their use being banned in Europe and America in some commercial mixes. Discovering the presence of the toxins in the eggs of peregrine falcons is one step towards understanding the effects these chemicals are having on falcon development as well as the surrounding environment.

©  by Lucy Brake for Earth Times

Common Raven

Common Raven - Spec. Name: Corvus Corax


This bird is also known as the Northern Raven, is a large, all-black passerine bird. Found across the northern hemisphere, it is the most widely distributed of all corvids. There are at least eight subspecies with little variation in appearance— although recent research has demonstrated significant genetic differences among populations from various regions. It is one of the two largest corvids, alongside the Thick-billed Raven, and is possibly the heaviest passerine bird; at maturity, the Common Raven averages 63 cm(25 inches) in length and 1.2 kg (2.6 pounds). Common Ravens typically live about 10 to 15 years in the wild, although lifespans of up to 40 years have been recorded. Young birds may travel in flocks, but later mate for life, with each mated pair defending a territory.

Common Raven

The Common Raven has coexisted with humans for thousands of years and in some areas has been so numerous that it is considered a pest. Part of its success comes from its omnivorous diet; Common Ravens are extremely versatile and opportunistic in finding sources of nutrition, feeding on carrion, insects, cereal grains, berries, fruit, small animals, and food waste.

Some remarkable feats of problem-solving have been observed in the species, leading to the belief that it is highly intelligent. Over the centuries, it has been the subject of mythology, folklore, art, and literature. In many indigenous cultures, including those of Scandinavia, ancient Ireland and Wales, Bhutan, the northwest coast of North America, and Siberia and northeast Asia, the Common Raven has been revered as a spiritual figure or god.

Photograph © H.J. Ruiz "My Winged Pals"

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details.
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

Kori Bustard

Kori Bustard - Spec. Name: Ardeotis Kori 


This is a large bird native to Africa. It is a member of the bustard family. It may be the heaviest bird capable of flight.

The Kori Bustard is mostly grey in color, with a black crest on its head and yellow legs. Kori Bustards are often found with bee-eaters riding on their backs as they stride through the grass. The bee-eaters make the most of their walking perch by hawking insects from the bustard's back that are disturbed by the bustard's wandering. This is a large and heavy bird, and it avoids flying if possible. It spends most of its time on the ground, foraging for the seeds and lizards which make up most of its diet.

Kori Bustards are omnivorous birds, although they tend to be more carnivorous than other species of bustards. Insects form a large portion of their diet, especially when they are chicks. They also eat a variety of small mammals, lizards, snakes, seeds, and berries of plants. They have been observed eating carrion. They are purported to eat the gum from the Acacia tree. Discrepancy exists however, as to whether they are eating the gum itself, or the insects that might be stuck to the gum. Kori Bustards are one of the few species of birds that drink water using a sucking motion rather than scooping it up as most birds do.

Kori Bustard

Photograph © HJ Ruiz