Monday, 17 April 2017
28-3-2017 VILLA LAPAS, COSTA RICA - GREEN KINGFISHER (Chloroceryle americana)
The green kingfisher (Chloroceryle americana) is a species of "water kingfisher" in the subfamily Cerylinae of the family Alcedinidae. It is found from southern Texas in the United States south through Central America, in every mainland South American country except Chile and Trinidad and Tobago.
The green kingfisher inhabits wooded shorelines of streams and freshwater ponds and lakes. It favors still or slow-moving water, and though it requires low vegetation for hunting perches it generally prefers relatively open habitat rather than dense forest. It is a year-round resident throughout its range but roams a territory that may be as much as 1 km (0.6 mi) or more of river.
The Green kingfisher usually hunts from a perch from which it dives into water for its prey. The perch is typically about 1 to 1.5 m (3 to 5 ft) high; it may be directly over water or within a few meters of its edge. In a study in Amazonia about half of the perches were bare snags and the rest were a mix of leafless and leafy trees and bushes. It usually shifts perches after each foray. Occasionally it hovers before diving, sometimes from as high as 6 m (20 ft). Pairs often defend feeding territories from other green kingfishers but seldom from other kingfisher species.
The prey is mostly small fish but includes crustaceans such as shrimp and also adult and nymph aquatic and terrestrial insects. The size of the fish taken varies, apparently with availability and the presence of other species of kingfishers. Studies have published sizes as 8 to 80 mm (0.31 to 3.1 in), as averages of 19.4 mm (0.76 in) and 41.1 mm (1.6 in) at different sites, and as "seldom exceeding a length of two inches".
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The green kingfisher's breeding season varies geographically. In Central America it is during the dry season of spring and early summer. In Suriname and Guyana, it usually extends to August and occasionally to December or beyond. Breeding dates further south have not been documented. Both members of a pair excavate a nest burrow, almost always in an earthen bank of a stream or river. It is up to 1 m (3 ft) long with a small nest chamber at the end. The clutch size varies from two to six. The incubation period is 19 to 21 days; usually the female incubates at night and the parents alternate during the day. The young fledge 26 to 27 days after hatching and the parents chase juveniles from their territory about 29 days after fledging.
28-3-2017 VILLA LAPAS, COSTA RICA - FIERY BILLED ARACARI (Pteroglossus frantzii)
The fiery-billed aracari or fiery-billed araçari (Pteroglossus frantzii ) is a toucan, a near-passerine bird. It breeds only on the Pacific slopes of southern Costa Rica and western Panama. The binomial commemorates the German naturalist Alexander von Frantzius.
Small flocks, usually consisting of up to 10 birds, move through the forest with a rapid direct flight. This species is primarily an arboreal fruit-eater, but will also take insects, lizards, eggs, and other small prey.
The fiery-billed aracari is a common resident breeder in lowland forests and clearings. The two white eggs are laid in an old woodpecker nest, 6–30 m high in a tree. Both sexes incubate the eggs for about 16 days, and the toucan chicks remain in the nest after hatching. They are blind and naked at birth, and have short bills and specialised pads on their heels to protect them from the rough floor of the nest. They are fed by both parents, assisted by up to three other adults, probably from a previous brood, and fledge after about 6 weeks, with feeding by the adults continuing for several weeks after leaving the nest.
The aracaris are unusual for toucans in that they roost socially throughout the year, up to five adults and fledged young of this species sleeping in the same hole with their tails folded over their backs.
The fiery-billed aracari is a common resident breeder in lowland forests and clearings. The two white eggs are laid in an old woodpecker nest, 6–30 m high in a tree. Both sexes incubate the eggs for about 16 days, and the toucan chicks remain in the nest after hatching.
30-3-2017 HOTEL BOUGAINVILLEA,COSTA RICA - TIGER LONGWING BUTTERFLY (Heliconius hecale)
Heliconius hecale, the tiger longwing, Hecale longwing, golden longwing or golden heliconian, is a heliconiid butterfly that occurs from Mexico to the Peruvian Amazon.[1] Hecale, was an old woman who gave shelter to Theseus on his way to capture the Marathonian Bull.
Newborn humans take years to become adults - but for butterflies, the miraculous process takes just a few weeks.
Growing up doesn't take long when you're a butterfly. Going from egg to caterpillar to mature adult can be the work of a month, over in the blink of an eye.
The life of a butterfly is a brief but beautiful one. And the whole process can be seen in the Museum's Sensational Butterflies tropical house.
This year, the grandchildren of the first tiger longwings to arrive are about to unfurl their wings and take flight. It has been roughly three months since the first butterflies arrived in the house.
Vivid orange and black, tiger longwings are masterful copycats, using their bright colours to survive.
Butterflies display a remarkable diversity of wing patterns, caused by evolution, interbreeding and the mixing of genes.
Tiger longwings (Heliconius hecale), can be found in Central America and further south in the Amazon. They are part of the most important tropical butterfly group for the study of diversity and genetics.
There are around 40 species in the Heliconius group, and they all have long wings with a variety of simple, striking patterns, often with a black background.
Longwings copy the patterns of more poisonous butterflies.
Each wing pattern has been tweaked by evolution to help the creature survive. Many of the longwings copy the patterns of related butterflies.
All the species thrive in the same range of environments and geographical areas. And the tiger longwings protect themselves from predators by mimicking the patterns of other, poisonous species very closely.
This mimicry changes depending on geographical area, but the tiger longwings are known to copy the ithomiine butterfly (Tithorea tarricina). Another black and orange species, it carries alkaloids in its body that make it distasteful to predators.
Birds end up avoiding both species because they are unable to spot the differences between them.
17-4-2017 BARCELONA CITY, SPAIN - EURASIAN MAGPIE (Pica pica)
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The Eurasian magpie or common magpie (Pica pica) is a resident breeding bird throughout the northern part of the Eurasian continent. It is one of several birds in the crow family (corvids) designated magpies, and belongs to the Holarctic radiation of "monochrome" magpies. In Europe, "magpie" is used by English speakers as a synonym for the Eurasian magpie: the only other magpie in Europe is the Iberian magpie (Cyanopica cooki), which is limited to the Iberian Peninsula. Despite having a shared name and similar colouration, it is not closely related to the Australian Magpie.
The Eurasian magpie is one of the most intelligent birds, and it is believed to be one of the most intelligent of all non-human animals. The expansion of its nidopallium is approximately the same in its relative size as the brain of chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and humans. It is the only bird known to pass the mirror test, along with very few other non-avian species.
26-3-2017 CATIE CENTER, COSTA RICA - NORTHERN JACANA (Jacana spinosa) COURTESY MRS VALERIE FISHER
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The northern jacana or northern jaçana (Jacana spinosa ) is a wader which is known as a resident breeder from coastal Mexico to western Panama, and on Cuba, Jamaica and Hispaniola in the Caribbean. It sometimes known to breed in Texas, United States, and has also been recorded on several occasions as a vagrant in Arizona. The jacanas are a group of wetland birds, which are identifiable by their huge feet and claws, which enable them to walk on floating vegetation in the shallow lakes that are their preferred habitat. In Jamaica, this bird is also known as the 'Jesus bird', as it appears to walk on water. Jacana is Linnæus' scientific Latin spelling of the Brazilian Portuguese jaçanã, pronounced, from the Tupi name of the bird. See jacana for pronunciations.
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The northern jacana has a dark brown body with a black head and neck. In addition its bill has yellow patches and its forehead has a yellow wattle. Its bill has a white base. 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. The greenish colour of the wing feathers is produced by a pigment, rather rare in birds, called zooprasinin, a copper containing organic compound.
24-3-2017 RANCHO NATURALISTA, COSTA RICA - WHITE NECKED JACOBIN (Florisuga mellivora) COURTESY MRS VALERIE FISHER
The white-necked jacobin (Florisuga mellivora) is a medium-size hummingbird that ranges from Mexico south through Central America and northern South America into Brazil, Peru and Bolivia. It is also found in Trinidad & Tobago.
Other common names are great jacobin and collared hummingbird.
The nominate subspecies of white-necked jacobin, F. m. mellivora, is found from southern Veracruz and northern Oaxaca, Mexico, through southern Belize, northern Guatemala, eastern Honduras and Nicaragua, eastern and western Costa Rica, and Panama into South America. In that continent it is found in much of Colombia and Ecuador, eastern Peru, northern Bolivia, most of Venezuela, the Guianas, the northwestern half of Brazil, and the island of Trinidad. F. m. flabellifera is found only on the island of Tobago. The nominate has been recorded as a vagrant in Argentina and on the islands of Aruba and Curaçao.
The white-necked jacobin inhabits the canopy and edges of humid forest and also semi-open landscapes such as tall secondary forest, gallery forest, and coffee and cacao plantations. It is usually seen high in trees but comes lower at edges and in clearings. In elevation it usually ranges from sea level to about 900 m (3,000 ft) but has also rarely been seen as high as 1,500 m (4,900 ft).
The white-necked jacobin breeds in the dry to early wet seasons, which vary across their range. The nest is a shallow cup of plant down and cobweb placed on the upper surface of a leaf where another leaf provides a "roof". It is typically 1 to 3 m (3 to 10 ft) above ground and sometimes near a stream. Males display and chase in the canopy and along edges during the breeding season. Females use a fluttering flight to distract predators.
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24-3-2017 RANCHO NATURALISTA, COSTA RICA - MONTEZUMA OROPENDOLA (Psarocolius montezuma) COURTESY MRS VALERIE FISHER
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The Montezuma Oropendola (Psarocolius montezuma ) is a New World tropical icterid bird. It is a resident breeder in the Caribbean coastal lowlands from southeastern Mexico to central Panama, but is absent from El Salvador and southern Guatemala. It also occurs on the Pacific slope of Nicaragua and Honduras and northwestern and southwestern Costa Rica. It is among the oropendola species sometimes separated in the genus Gymnostinops. The English and scientific names of this species commemorate the Aztec emperor Moctezuma II.
The sexes are very different in size; the male is 50 cm (20 in) long and weighs 520 g (18 oz); the smaller female is 38 cm (15 in) long and weighs 230 g (8.1 oz). In total body mass, the males are 100% bigger than the females, which is a 2:1 body-to-mass ratio and makes the Montezuma oropendola one of the most sexually-dimorphic birds in the world. Webster et al. says that the size difference in males and females is probably directly related to differences in foraging habits. The females often forage on thin branches, eating insects out of curled up leaves, while the males often perch on thick branches and forage in epiphytes and bromeliads.
24-3-2017 RANCHO NATURALISTA, COSTA RICA - BROWN JAY (Psilorhinus morio) COURTESY MRS VALERIE FISHER
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The brown jay (Psilorhinus morio ) is a large American jay which has the habitus of a magpie, but is slightly smaller and with a shorter tail, though the bill is larger.
It occurs from Mexico south into Central America on the Gulf slope. The northernmost extent of the bird is in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.
Brown jays vary in plumage geographically: there are two main groups. Northern birds are almost completely dark brown, with lighter brown on the underparts. Southern birds are white-bellied and have bright white tips to the outer tail feathers. The intergrade zone is in Veracruz, Mexico.
23-3-2017 TROGON LODGE, COSTA RICA - ACORN WOODPECKER (Melanerpes formicivorus) COURTESY MRS VALERIE FISHER
The acorn woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus) is a medium-sized woodpecker, 21 cm (8.3 in) long, with an average weight of 85 g (3.0 oz).
The adult acorn woodpecker has a brownish-black head, back, wings and tail, white forehead, throat, belly and rump. The eyes are initially dark in fledglings, turning to white within a few months. There is a small part on the small of their backs where there are some greenish feathers. In most subspecies, adult males have a red cap starting at the forehead, whereas females have a black area between the forehead and the cap. The white neck, throat, and forehead patches are distinctive identifiers. When flying, they take a few flaps of their wings and drop a foot or so. White circles on their wings are visible when in flight. Acorn woodpeckers have a call that sounds almost like they are laughing.
The acorn woodpecker's habitat is forested areas with oaks in the coastal areas and foothills of Oregon, California, and the southwestern United States, south through Central America to Colombia. This species may occur at low elevations in the north of its range, but rarely below 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in Central America, and it breeds up to the timberline. Nests are excavated in a cavity in a dead tree or a dead part of a tree.
Acorn woodpeckers, as their name implies, depend heavily on acorns for food. Acorns are such an important resource to the California populations that acorn woodpeckers may nest in the fall to take advantage of the fall acorn crop, a rare behavior in birds. Acorns are stored in small holes drilled especially for this purpose in "granaries" or "storage trees"--usually snags, dead branches, utility poles, or wooden buildings. Storage holes--always in dead tissue such as bark or dead limbs--are used year after year, and granaries can consist of thousands of holes, each of which may be filled by an acorn in the autumn. Access to acorn crops influences the composition of acorn woodpecker communities. In one study in New Mexico, there were about 90% of non-breeding adults per social unit in 1976, a year of a poor acorn crop. The following year, 1977, there was a significant increase in acorn production and a correlating decrease in non-breeding adults per unit.
Although acorns are an important back-up food resource, acorn woodpeckers primarily feed on insects, sap, and fruit. They can be seen sallying from tree limbs to catch insects, eating fruit and seeds, and drilling holes to drink sap.
The woodpeckers then collect acorns and find a hole that is just the right size for the acorn. As acorns dry out, they are moved to smaller holes and granary maintenance requires a significant amount of the bird's time. The acorns are visible, and a group defends its granary against potential cache robbers like Steller's jays and western scrub-jays.
In some more tropical parts of its range the acorn woodpecker does not construct a "granary tree", but instead stores acorns in natural holes and cracks in bark. If the acorn crop is poor and birds cannot find enough to store, the woodpeckers will move to other areas over the winter.
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