Long-wattled umbrellabird

Cephalopterus penduliger

(Photo from Flickr)

Common name:

long-wattled umbrellabird (en); anambé-papudo (pt); coracine casquée (fr); paragüero corbatudo (es); langlappen-schirmvogel (de)

Taxonomy:

Order Passeriformes

Family Cotingidae

Range:

This South American species is only found in the Pacific slopes and adjacent lowlands of south-west Colombia and western Ecuador.

Size:

These birds are 38-51 cm long and have a wingspan of 66-71 cm. They weigh 320-570 g.

Habitat:

The long-wattled umbrellabird is found in both humid and wet forests, but also in second growth areas, appearing to be somewhat tolerant of degraded habitats and human activity. They are present at altitudes of 80-1.800 m.

Diet:

This species often eats fruits and seeds, being an important seed disperser within its range. They also eat amphibians, snakes, Anolis spp. lizards, spiders and various insects including butterflies and caterpillars, cicadas, grasshoppers and walking sticks.

Breeding:

These birds possibly breed all year round, with males forming leks where they perform elaborate displays using their crest and their huge wattle and making grunting vocalisations to attract a mate. After mating, the female is solely responsible for building the nest, incubating the eggs and brooding the chicks. The nest is an open, bulky cup made of dry sticks and lined with thinner twigs, epiphyte roots, tree fern twigs and mosses, placed at the top of a tree fern Cyathea sp. There the female lays 1 whitish egg with brown speckles, which she incubates for 27-28 days. The chick fledges 8-10 weeks after hatching.

Conservation:

IUCN status - VU (Vulnerable)

This species has a small and fragmented breeding range and a global population estimated at 10.000-20.000 individuals. The population is suspected to be facing a rapid and on-going decline. The main threats to this species are the high hunting pressure and the rapid habitat loss caused by deforestation. The intensive agricultural development, especially oil palm and banana plantations and livestock-farming, together with the rapid expansion of the road network, illegal coca plantations and gold mining are the main drivers of the current rate of habitat loss.

Black-headed ibis

Threskiornis melanocephalus

Photo by J.M. Garg (Wikipedia)

Common name:

black-headed ibis (en); ibis-de-cabeça-preta (pt); ibis à tête noire (fr); ibis cabecinegro (es); schwarzkopfibis (de)

Taxonomy:

Order Ciconiiformes

Family Threskiornithidae

Range:

This Asian species is found from Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka, through Bangladesh and Myanmar down to Indonesia, and along the Philippines and China all the way to Japan.

Size:

The black-headed ibis is 65-75 cm long and weigh up to 1,5 kg.

Habitat:

These birds are found in freshwater marshes, lakes, rivers, flooded grasslands, paddy fields, tidal creeks, mudflats, saltmarshes and coastal lagoons. They generally occur in lowland areas, but may occasionally be present up to an altitude of 950 m. They tend to be nomadic, in response to water levels and feeding conditions.

Diet:

They mostly eat fishes, frogs and aquatic arthropods, generally feeding in shallow waters where they use their bill to probe soft muddy substrates.

Breeding:

Black-headed ibises generally breed in July-March. They breed in colonies, sometimes together with other ibises, herons and even cormorants. Each pair builds an unlined cup-shaped stick nest in a tree, usually over water, where the female lays 2-4 eggs. The eggs are incubated for 23-25 days and the chicks fledge 36-44 days after hatching. Each pair produces a single brood each season.

Conservation:

IUCN status - NT (Near-Threatened)

This species has a very large breeding range and a global population estimated at 20.000 individuals. The population is suspected to be declining at a slow to moderate rate, owing to hunting, egg collecting, disturbance at breeding colonies, drainage and agricultural conversion.

Western tanager

Piranga ludoviciana

Photo by Juan Carlos Marín (Internet Bird Collection)

Common name:

western tanager (en); saíra-ocidental (pt); tangara à tête rouge (fr); tángara capucha roja (es); kieferntangare (de)

Taxonomy:

Order Passeriformes

Family Thraupidae

Range:

This species breeds across western North America, from Alaska down to the southern United States. They migrate south to winter in Central America, from southern Mexico down to Panama.

Size:

Western tanagers are 16-19 cm long and weigh 24-36 g.

Habitat:

These birds breed in open coniferous and mixed deciduous-coniferous forests, from sea level up to an altitude of 3.000 m. During the winter they are found in open mountain pine woodlands, second growth, and in parks and gardens.

Diet:

Western tanagers are mostly insectivorous, but also eat fruits and berries. They are known to take wasps and ants, beetles and woodborers, true bugs, grasshoppers and caterpillars. The fruits and berries eaten by western tanagers include hawthorn apples Crataegus spp., raspberries Rubus spp., mulberries Morus spp., elderberries Sambucus spp., serviceberries Amelanchier spp., and wild and cultivated cherries Prunus spp.

Breeding:

These birds breed in May-July. The female builds the nest cup, using twigs, rootlets, grasses, and pine needles. The female lays 3-5 bluish-green eggs with brown spots, which she incubates alone for 13 days. The chicks are fed by both parents and fledge 11 to 15 days after hatching, but remain with the parents for another 2 weeks.

Conservation:

IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)

This species has a very large breeding range and a global population estimated at 8,9 million individuals. This species has undergone a small increase over the last 4 decades and is not considered threatened at present.

Common greenshank

Tringa nebularia

Photo by Rajiv Lather (Birding in India and South Asia)

Common name:

common greenshank (en); perna-verde-comum (pt); chevalier aboyeur (fr); archibebe claro (es); grünschenkel (de)

Taxonomy:

Order Charadriiformes

Family Scolopacidae

Range:

These birds breed from from Scotland and Scandinavia, eatwards along the tundra and taiga areas of Siberia all the way to Kamchatka. They migrate south to winter in western Europe, the Mediterranean region, along the the coasts of Africa down to South Africa, then into southern Asia, in the Middle East, across the Indian sub-continent, in the Sunda islands and in Australia.

Size:

Greenshanks are 30-34 cm long and have a wingspan of up to 70 cm. They weigh around 280 g.

Habitat:

This species breeds in boreal forest, in swampy forest clearings, woody moorland, open bogs and marshes, and in eutrophic lakes with margins of dead and decaying vegetation. During wintering and migration they are found in a variety of freshwater, marine and artificial wetlands, including swamps, open muddy or rocky shores of lakes and large rivers, sewage farms, saltworks, inundated rice-fields, ponds, reservoirs, flooded grasslands, saltmarshes, sandy or muddy coastal flats, mangroves, estuaries, lagoons and pools on tidal reefs or exposed coral, although it generally avoids open coastlines.

Diet:

Greenshanks are carnivorous, eating insects and their larvae, crustaceans, annelids, molluscs, amphibians, small fishes like mullets Liza spp., clinids Clinus spp. and tilapias Oreochromis spp. Occasionally they also eat rodents.

Breeding:

These birds breed in May-July. The nest is a shallow scrape on open ground, where the female lays 4 yellowish-green eggs with speckles. The eggs are incubated by both parents for 24-25 days. The chicks are precocial and leave the nest within 24 h of hatching, but follow the parents until fledging, 25-31 days after hatching.

Conservation:

IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)

This species has an extremely large breeding range and a global population estimated at 440.000-1.500.000 individuals. The overall population trend is stable, although some populations have unknown trends. In the Chinese, North Korean and South Korean regions of the Yellow Sea this species is threatened by the degradation and loss of its preferred wetland habitats through environmental pollution, reduced river flows and human disturbance. The same types of threats also occur in other parts of their range, but on a much smaller scale.

Yellow-breasted apalis

Apalis flavida

Photo by Trevor Hardaker (Trevor and Margaret Hardaker)

Common name:

yellow-breasted apalis (en); apalis-de-peito-amarelo (pt); apalis à gorge jaune (fr); apalis de pecho amarillo (es); gelbbrust-feinsänger (de)

Taxonomy:

Order Passeriformes

Family Cisticolidae

Range:

This African species is patchily distributed from Senegal and Gambia to Ethiopia, and through Tanzania down to Mozambique, Angola, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa.

Size:

The yellow-breasted apalis is 12 cm long and weighs 8-9 g.

Habitat:

These birds are found in dry scrublands as well as in a variety of wooded habitats, including evergreen forests, arid riverine forests, Acacia and mopane savannas and even mangroves. They are found at altitudes of 150-2.200 m.

Diet:

The yellow-breasted apalis mostly gleans insects from the foliage of the canopy, taking cetoniid beetles, grasshopper nymphs, ants, mantids, scale insects and caterpillars. They also eat fruits and sometimes the nectar of the mountain aloe Aloe marlothii.

Breeding:

These birds breed in October-March. The nest is an oval ball with a side entrance, made of grass, bark, tendrils, dead leaves, lichen, flowers and seed pods, although it is sometimes constructed entirely of lichen. It is typically placed in a tree or shrub, often near Usnea lichens. There the female lays 2-3 eggs which are incubated by both sexes for 12-14 days. The chicks are cared for by both adults, fledging 15-17 days after hatching.

Conservation:

IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)

This species has a very large breeding range and, although the global population size has not been quantified, the yellow-breasted apalis is described as common. The population is estimated to be increasing following a recorded range expansion in Gambia.

Abbott's babbler

Malacocincla abbotti

Photo by Gaurav Bhatnagar (Flickr)

Common name:

Abbott's babbler (en); zaragateiro-de-Abbott (pt); akalat d'Abbott (fr); tordina de Abbott (es);

rotschwanz-maustimalie (de)

Taxonomy:

Order Passeriformes

Family Timaliidae

Range:

This Asian species is found from the foothills of the Himalayas, in Nepal and Bhutan, through northern India and Bangladesh, and into south-east Asia down to Indonesia.

Size:

Abbott's babblers are 12-13 cm long and weigh 25-30 g.

Habitat:

These birds are found in the understory of broadleaved evergreen forests, in forest edges, in areas of secondary growth and scrubland. They are found from sea level up to an altitude of 900 m.

Diet:

The Abbott's babbler does most of its foraging on the ground level, often among the leaf litter, taking various insects and other small invertebrates.

Breeding:

These birds breed in April-July. The nest is a bulky cup of plant materials, placed in a palm tree or on the undergrowth. There the female lays 3-5 bright salmon eggs with dark blotches and red lines. The eggs are incubated for 14-15 days and the chicks fledge 10-12 days after hatching. Each pair may produce several broods per season.

Conservation:

IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)

The Abbott's babbler has a very large breeding range and is described as fairly common in much of its range, although very rare and local in most of Nepal and rare in Bhutan. The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any current declines or substantial threats.

African rail

Rallus caerulescens

Photo by Callie de Wet (Oiseaux)

Common name:

African rail (en); frango-d'água-africano (pt); râle bleuâtre (fr); rascón cafre (es); Kapralle (de)

Taxonomy:

Order Gruiformes

Family Rallidae

Range:

This African species is occurs from Ethiopia, south through Uganda, Kenya, southern D.R. Congo, Tanzania, eastern Angola and Zambia, and into Namibia, northern Botswana, southern Mozambique and large parts of South Africa.

Size:

These birds are 28-30 cm long and weigh 160-170 g.

Habitat:

The African rail inhabits permanent and temporary swamps and marshes often at the edge of lakes, pools, rivers and streams, and also occurs in seasonally wet sugar-cane plantations and paddy-fields adjacent to natural marshes. It requires shallowly flooded areas with mud and floating vegetation for foraging, and shows a preference for habitats lined with reedbeds or dense species-rich vegetation with channels and runways linking patches of more open growth.

Diet:

These birds do most of their foraging in mud or shallow water along the edges of reedbeds, taking worms, crabs and crayfish, aquatic and terrestrial adult and larval insects, spiders, small fish, small frogs and some vegetable matter including seeds.

Breeding:

African rails are monogamous, solitary nesters and can breed all year round, but with a peak in September-February. They breed in seasonally inundated grasslands and sedge meadows, building a shallow saucer of leaves, sedge stems, bulrushes and grasses, typically concealed within or between grass or sedge tufts, usually over water. The female lays 2-6 eggs, which are incubated by both sexes for around 20 days. The chicks are precocial, leaving the nest soon after hathcing, but only become fully independent 42-56 days after hatching.

Conservation:

IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)

This species has a very large breeding range and is described as uncommon to locally common. The population trend is difficult to determine because of uncertainty over the extent of threats to the species, but the African rail is not considered threatened at present.