Hooded Pitohui The First Documented Poisonous Bird

The hooded pitohui (Pitohui dichrous) is a pitohui of New Guinea is one of few recognized poisonous birds in the world. Both male & female have black and orange patches in their plumage. This bird is normally placed in the family Oriolidae, and its close relatives are variable pitohui and rusty pitohui. The bird, hooded pitohui is about the size of a blue jay and is familiar to local villagers and ornithologists alike. But only now have scientists learned that the bird harbors a poison. Pitohuis are normally about 23 cm long with strong legs and a powerful beak.  

Therefore, the first known poisonous bird is “common quail” that cause coturnism. So, neurotoxin named “homobatrachotoxin”, found in the birds' skin and feathers, causes numbness and tingling in those touching the bird. It is believed, that bird has taken poisons from their diet, which is mainly comprises of Choresine beetles of the Melyridae family. These exclusive beetles are probably source of lethal batrachotoxins found in Colombia’s poison dart frogs. Moreover this species population is not quantified but believed not approaching thresholds for vulnerable. The hooded pitohui is common and widespread in New Guinea and is evaluated as least concern on the IUCN Red list of Threatened Species. 

This is unbelievable that a bird had never before found an example of a bird using a chemical defense against its enemies. However, fish, amphibians, insects, and reptiles are well equipped with noxious compounds that make them repugnant, but birds were thought to rely on fast flight to escape being eaten. Indisputably, there are other bird species that have chemical self-defense mechanisms to stop predators from eating them, but to date, this is the only bird found to actually be poisonous to humans. However, the natives of New Guinea do eat them, but tip off they must be prepared very prudently, including skinning. So the bird has been labeled to the venomous creatures of the earth.

The Fire-tailed Sunbird

Some birds are extremely eye-catching to see, and the first word you say “Wow”. The Fire-tailed sunbird is among those birds which have stunning colors of nature. The fire-tailed sunbird “Aethopyga ignicauda” is a species of sunbird in the Nectariniidae family mostly seen in northern parts of Indian subcontinent, and Himalayas and also in some adjoining regions in Southeast Asia i.e., occurs in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand and Tibet. Its natural habitats are temperate forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.

The male bird is 15 cm long, including their long tail, while female bird is about 2/3 in length. The Fire-tailed sunbird likes to live in conifer forests at altitudes upto 4,000 meters descending into the valleys during the cold season. The bird’s foods consist of insects, nectar, etc. and both parents take part in feeding the young. The birds population in large numbers and hence does not reach the thresholds for vulnerable and trend appears to be stable. Therefore, population has not been quantified, though only 10% reduction in last ten years. For these reasons the species is evaluated as least concern.

The Amazing Photos of Flying Peacocks

Some moments are extremely priceless, and you forget everything when you see such moments. Nature has full of incredible things, and a little number of peoples witness the peacock flying at their best. After all, they do have more than two hundreds colorful elongated feathers that entice not just their potential partners, but various people’s attention and cameras, too. 

But often their vibrant assets distract from their other capabilities. Few people get a chance to see these birds off a ground, but they can, indeed, fly. Therefore, normally peacocks do that in case of danger, rather than pleasure. While predators appear, birds start running and flutter into the air. 

Amazingly, the long feathers don’t affect their take-offs and the distance might be limited, but they can catch up speed up to 16 km/h! So with conviction peacocks are smarter than Kanye West and what a magnificent sight when this creatures is flying. Here at below you can some of best shot!

Spotted Kingfisher (Actenoides lindsayi) on Luzon, the Philippines by Djop Tabaranza.

The White-winged Fairywren (Malurus leucopterus) lives in the drier parts of central Australia. Photo: Peter Humphries.

Male Andean Cock of the Rock (Rupicola peruvianus) at a lek at Refugio Paz de las Aves in Ecuador by Nikhil Patwardhan.

Andean Cock of the Rock
Male Andean Cock of the Rock (Rupicola peruvianus) at a lek at Refugio Paz de las Aves in Ecuador by Nikhil Patwardhan.
Posted by Birds on Thursday, March 3, 2016

Greater Blue Eared Starling, The Gorgeous Mystery Bird

The greater blue-eared starling or “greater blue-eared glossy-starling” (Lamprotornis chalybaeus) are so spectacular to look at that the birder totally forgets about all identification clues as soon as he or she gets her bino’s onto the bird. The bird adopts seasonal migration and common species of open woodland bird.  When you see this bird, first you’ll look at his eyes, a vivid and psycho looking orange eye captivate your notions for a while. 

The bird is 22-cm long short tailed bird, and glossy blue-green bird with a purple-blue belly and blue ear patch its iris is bright yellow or orange. Both male and female are same however; juvenile is duller and has blackish brown underparts. Sometimes the bird is considered to be a separate subspecies, L. c. sycobius.  Therefore, the lesser blue-eared starling is alike to this species, nonetheless the blue of the belly does not extend forward of the legs. The starling blue eared bird has a musical or grating calls, however, the most familiar is a nasal squee-ar. Both male and female built the nests comprising of a simple pad of dry grass and feathers placed in a tree cavity, either natural or an old woodpecker or barbet hole.

The birds naturally have nests in holes in trees, either natural or excavated by woodpeckers or barbets. The nest normally have 3 to 5 eggs, mostly greenish blue with brown or purple spots and hatch in 13 to 14 days. The chicks leave the nest normally in 23 days after hatching. This attractive bird is parasitised by the great spotted cuckoo and occasionally by the greater honeyguide. Though the global population size has not been measured, but the species is reported to be common to abundant. 

Moreover, this greater blue-eared starling is highly outgoing and will form big flocks, often with other starlings. However, its roosts, in reedbed, thorn bushes, or acacia, may also be shared. The greater blue eared starling is an omnivore, taking invertebrates seeds and berries, particularly figs, but is diet is mainly insects taken from the ground. Furthermore, it will perch on livestock, feeding on insects disturbed by the animals and sporadically removing ectoparasites. The birds are native to the following countries, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegambia (Senegal and Gambia), Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Greater Blue-eared Glossy Starling resembles the related Lesser Blue-eared Glossy Starling.