Dark-eyed junco

Junco hyemalis

(Photo by from Wikipedia)

Common name:
dark-eyed junco (en); junco-de-olho-escuro (pt); junco ardoisé (fr); junco ojioscuro (es); junko (de)


Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Emberizidae


Range:
This species is found breeding throughout Canada, Alaska, the north-eastern united States and the western United States. The northern population migrate south to winter throughout the United States and northern Mexico.


Size:
These birds are 14-16 cm long and have a wingspan of 18-25 cm. They weigh 18-30 g.


Habitat:
Dark-eyed juncos breed in coniferous forests including pine, Douglas-fir, spruce, and fir, but also in deciduous forests such as aspen, cottonwood, oak, maple, and hickory, from sea level up to an altitude of 3.000 m. During winter and on migration they use a wider variety of habitats including open woodlands, fields, roadsides, parks, and gardens.


Diet:
They mostly eat the seeds of weeds such as chickweed, buckwheat, lamb’s quarters, sorrel, but will also eat wild fruits and arthropods, especially during the breeding season, when they are known to take beetles, moths, butterflies, caterpillars, ants, wasps, flies and spiders.


Breeding:
Dark-eyed juncos breed in April-August. The female builds the nest, a cup-shaped depression on the ground, lined with grasses, pine needles and hair. There she lays 3-6 white, grey or bluish-white eggs with brown speckles, which she incubates alone for 12-13 days. The chicks fledge 10-14 days after hatching. Each pair raises 2 broods per season.


Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has an extremely large breeding range and a global population of 260 million individuals. The populations has had a stable trend over the last 4 decades.

Brown-crowned tchagra

Tchagra australis

Photo by Troy Hibbitts (The Hibbitts)

Common name:
brown-crowned tchagra (en); picanço-assobiador-de-coroa-castanha (pt); tchagra à tête brune (fr); chagra coroniparda (es); dorntschagra (de)


Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Malaconotidae


Range:
This species is found in sub-Saharan Africa, from Guinea and Sierra Leone to southern Sudan and Kenya, and south to Namibia, Botswana and northern South Africa. Within this region they are only absent form the more dense rainforests of the Congo basin.


Size:
These birds are 17-18 cm long and weigh 33-36 g.


Habitat:
The brown-crowned tchagra is mostly found in dry savannas and dry scrublands, but also in dry tropical forests, second growths, arable land and rural gardens. They may occur from sea level up to an altitude of 2.500 m.


Diet:
They mostly eat adult and larval insects, which they hunt on the ground or from the base of plants. They are know to take Orthoptera, Lepidoptera, Coleoptera and Mantodea and very occasionally small vertebrates.


Breeding:
Brown-crowned tchagras breed in September-March. They are monogamous, solitary nesters, with both sexes building the nest, a shallow cup made of rootlets, fine twigs, coarse grass and leaf stems, cemented with spider web. the nest is usually placed in a fork or horizontal branch of a bush, well concealed by foliage. The female lays 2-4 eggs, which she mostly incubates alone for 14-17 days, while receiving food from the male. The chicks fledge 13-16 days after hatching, but remain with their parents for another 5 months.


Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and is described as locally common. The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats.

Dusky grouse

Dendragapus obscurus

Photo by Ian Maton (Internet Bird Collection)

Common name:
dusky grouse (en); tetraz-sombrio (pt); tétras sombre (fr); gallo de las Rocosas (es); felsengebirgshuhn (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Galliformes
Family Tetraonidae

Range:
This species is found in western North America, from south-eastern Alaska and the Northwest territories south to California, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado.

Size:
These birds are 39-53 cm long and weigh 750-1.300 g.

Habitat:
The dusky grouse is found in deciduous, mixed and coniferous forests, both in temperate and boreal areas. They are found from sea level up to an altitude of 3.600 m.

Diet:
They mostly eat leaves, flowers and conifer needles, namely fir and douglas-fir needles, occasionally also hemlock and pine needles, and also other green plants such as Pteridium, Salix, and the berries of Gaultheria, Mahonia, Rubus, Vaccinium. During summer, and especially the juveniles, also eat some insects, particularly ants, beetles and grasshoppers.

Breeding:
The males sing to attract females, but have no further part in the breeding process after mating. The nest is a shallow scrape in the forest ground, sparsely lined with dead twigs, needles, leaves, and feathers. There the female lays 5-10 creamy-white eggs with brown spots, which she incubates alone for 25-27 days. The chicks leave the nest shortly after hatching and are able to feed themselves, but rely on their mother for warmth and protection.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and the global population is estimated at 3 million individuals. The population has undergone a small decline over the last 4 decades, but it is not considered threatened at present.

Golden-faced tyrannulet

Zimmerius chrysops

Photo by Lior Kislev (Internet Bird Collection)

Common name:
golden-faced tyrannulet (en); poiaeiro-de-face-dourada (pt); tyranneau à face d'or (fr); tiranuelo cejiamarillo (es); goldgesicht-kleintyrann (de)


Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Tyrannidae


Range:
This species is found in northern Venezuela, western Colombia, Ecuador and across the border into northern Peru.


Size:
These birds are 10-11 cm long and weigh 8-10 g.


Habitat:
Golden-faced tyrannulets are mostly found in tropical and sub-tropical mountain forests and also in other moist forests and sometimes in coffee plantations. They occur at altitudes of 500-2.700 m.


Diet:
They eat both small arthropods and berries of mistletoes such as Antidaphne and Phoradendron.


Breeding:
These birds breed in March-June. The female builds the nest, a ball of moss and lichens with a side entrance, placed under on the side tree, under a branch, or in an epiphyte, around 5 m above the ground. There the female lays 1-2 cream-white eggs with brown spots, which she mostly incubates alone for 16-17 days. The chicks are fed by both parents and fledge 17-19 days after hatching.

Conservation:
IUCN staus - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a large breeding range and is described as fairly common. This population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats.

White-naped honeyeater

Melithreptus lunatus

Photo by Russell Cockman (Russell's Astronomy)

Common name:
white-naped honeyeater (en); melífago-de-nuca-branca (pt); méliphage à lunule (fr); mielero nuquiblanco (es); mondstreif-honigschmecker (de)


Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Meliphagidae


Range:
This species is endemic to Australia, occurring in two disjunct populations, one in the eastern and south-eastern parts of the country, from northern Queensland to eastern South Australia, and another in the south-western corner of the country.


Size:
The white-naped honeyeater is 13-15 cm long and weighs around 13 g.


Habitat:
These birds are found in temperate forests and woodlands, but also in dry savannas, dry scrublands, plantations and urban parks and gardens.


Diet:
They mostly eat the nectar of a wide range of flowers, but also manna, insects and insect products such as honeydew and lerp.


Breeding:
White-naped honeyeaters can breed all year round, but mostly in September-November. They breed communally, with both the parents and helpers looking after the young, although only the female incubates the eggs. The female builds a small open cup nest made of grass, bark and spider webs, placed high up in a tall tree, usually Eucalyptus. She lays 2-3 shiny buff-pink eggs with red-brown spots, which she incubates alone for 14 days. The chicks fledge 14-15 days after hatching. Each pair raises 1-2 broods per year.


Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and is described as common. The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats.

Rufous-breasted hermit

Glaucis hirsuta

(Photo from Guia das Aves do Pantanal)

Common name:
rufous-breasted hermit (en); balança-rabo-de-bico-torto (pt); ermite hirsute (fr); ermitaño hirsuto (es); rotschwanz-schattenkolibri


Taxonomy:
Order Apodiformes
Family Trochilidae


Range:
This species is found from Panama to Bolivia and south-eastern Brazil, and also in Trinidad and Tobago.


Size:
These birds are 10-12 cm long and weigh 5,5-8 g.


Habitat:
Rufous-breasted hermits are mostly found in rainforests, but also in swamp forests, dry savanna, dry grasslands and plantations. They are present from sea level up to an altitude of 1.100 m but may occasionally be found as high as 3.500 m above sea level.


Diet:
They mostly eat the nectar of flowers from the forest understorey, but can only visit flowers with a similar shape to that of their bill, namely Costus scaber, Heliconia standleyi and Heliconia stricta, Duroia hirsuta, Palicourea lasiantha, Psychotria bahiensis and Psychotria platypoda, Sanchezia peruviana, Drymonia semicordata and Cuphea melvilla. They also take small invertebrates such as spiders.


Breeding:
Rufous-breasted hermits breed mostly in May-November, but can breed all year round in some areas. Both sexes build the nest, a small cup made of plant fibres, rootlets, spider webs, dried leaves, very slender twigs, and lichens, which is attached to the underside of a leaf of a palm tree or fern, 1-10 m above the ground. The female lays 2 white eggs, which she incubates alone for 16-19 days. The chicks are fed by the female alone and fledge 20-25 days after hatching, but remain with their mother for another 3-4 weeks.


Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and is described as fairly common. It is suspected to be in decline owing to habitat loss and loss of suitable food plants, but overall the rufous-breasted hermit is not considered threatened at present.

Barred warbler

Sylvia nisoria

Photo by Mateusz Matysiak (Mateusz Matysiak Fotografia)

Common name:
barred warbler (en); toutinegra-gavião (pt); fauvette épervière (fr); curruca gavilana (es); sperbergrasmücke (de)


Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Sylviidae


Range:
This species is found breeding in eastern Europe and central Asia, from eastern Germany and Poland, north to southern Finland and south to the Baltic coast, Greece and Turkey. Then the species is distributed across central Asia all the way to south-eastern Mongolia and western China. They migrate to winter in eastern Africa, from Chad and Sudan south to Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.


Size:
This large warbler is 15,5-17 cm long and has a wingspan of 26-29 cm. They weigh 20-30 g.


Habitat:
The barred warbler is mostly found in temperate forests, both broad-leaved and mixed, especially near forest clearings. They are also found in scrublands, pastures, plantations and parks. During winter these birds occur in tropical dry forests and dry savannas.


Diet:
They mostly feed on adult and larval insects, spiders and sometimes snails. In late summer and autumn they will also eat berries.


Breeding:
Barred warblers breed in May-July. Some males are monogamous and help incubate the eggs and raise the chicks, while other have several mates and have no further part in the breeding process after mating with each female. The nest is a dense cup made of grass stems, stalks, twigs, rootlets and spider cocoons, and lined with hairs and fine plant materials. It is well hidden in the foliage of a small tree or scrub, not far from the ground. The female lays 3-6 eggs, which are incubated for 12-13 days. The chicks fledge 11-12 days after hatching.


Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has an extremely large breeding range and the global population is estimated at 2-6 million individuals. The population seems to go through marked annual fluctuations, at least within its European range, but it is not threatened at present.