Blue-Footed Booby
Blue-footed boobies take great
pride due to their marvelous feet. During mating rituals, male birds normally
show off their feet to prospective mates with a high stepping strut. The
blue-footed booby (Sula nebouxii) is a marine bird in the family Sulidae, which
includes ten species of long-winged seabirds. Therefore the bluer the feet, the
mate considered more attractive. The
booby species are thought to take their name from the Spanish word (bobo),
means “stupid, clown, and Fool”. Because
the blue-footed booby is clumsy on land regarded as foolish for their apparent
fearlessness of humans. Blue feet also indicate the current health condition of
a booby, thus, the feet are rapid and honest indicators of a booby's current
level of nourishment. The blue feet are signs that reliably point toward the
immunological and health condition of a booby, coloration is favored through
sexual selection.
These impressively beautiful feet
birds live off the western coasts of central and South America. The Galápagos Islands population includes
about half of all breeding pairs of blue-footed boobies. The female bird is
somewhat larger than the male and can measure up to 90 cm long with a wingspan
of up to 1.5 m. Similar to other boobies the blue-foot nest on land at night. The
boobies are flew in search of seafood, may fly far out to sea keeping an eye
for schools of small fish in cooperative groups such as sardines, anchovies,
mackerel, and flying fish. These
seabirds are exceptional divers, fold their long wings back around their
streamlined bodies and plunge into the water from as high as 24 meters and
swimming underwater in search of its prey. Even, they can also dive from a
sitting position on the water’s surface. These birds hit the water around 97
km/h and have ability to go to depths of 25 meters below the water surface.
Both sexes start breeding between
1 to 6 years. The blue-footed booby usually lays 1-3 eggs at a time, and
they’re very caring to their chicks, use their webbed feet to cover and keep
them warm. Both male and female take turns incubating the eggs, and the
incubation period is falling between 41–45 days. Both male and female birds
share parental responsibilities. The male will provide food for the young and
chicks feed off the regurgitated fish in the adult's mouth. The boobies’
natural breeding habitats are tropical and subtropical islands of Pacific
Ocean. The blue-footed booby wings are brown color, neck and head are light
brown with white streaks, belly and underside full white plumage. The boobies’
are having distinctive yellow color eyes with excellent binocular vision.
The blue-footed booby's hunts singly, in
pairs, or in larger flocks. Blue-footed boobies make raucous or polysyllabic
grunts or shout and thin whistling noises and their ritual displays are also a
form of communication, hence mates can identify each other by their calls. The
blue-footed booby population appears to having trouble breeding and thus is
slowly declining. The decline is feared to be long-term, but annual data
collection is needed for a firm conclusion that this is not a normal
fluctuation. Food problems may be the cause of an observed failure of the birds
to even try to breed.
The Golden-Breasted Starling
The golden-breasted starling has
been called the most beautiful starling in the world. The golden-breasted starling (Lamprotornis
regius) is a medium-sized, up to 35 cm long, passerine in the starling family.
The Golden Breasted Starling is also known as royal starling and a social
animal, living in groups of 3 to 12 individuals. The bird diet comprises mostly
of insects and termites and some fruit of Commiphora and Dobera, though adult birds catch insects in flight and
dig up termite mounds to find prey. They spend most of their time on the
ground, running or hopping in their hunt for insects. To catch termites, they
use rapid flicks of the bill to dig down to their tunnels. When disturbed, they
will fly to the next bush. They infrequently fly above three metres.
The golden-breasted starling
molts once a year, after the breeding season. The female usually lays between 3
to 5 pale green color eggs with red speckles. The birds habitually make nests in tree holes
which are made from leaves, roots, straw and other vegetation. Moreover the
whole family groups cooperate in raising young by gathering food and nesting
materials. The bird likes the rainy season for breeding, i.e. March to May and
November to December. Therefore, during the hotter daylight hours, golden-breasted
starlings will chatter away in a subdued voice with their mates. Their flight
or contact call is cheeo cheeo. When signaling danger, they use chiar chiar.
The stunning golden-breasted
starling is widely distributed in the grassland, savannah and shrub-land of
East Africa, from Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and northern Tanzania. Furthermore,
this species and L. unicolor sometimes placed in a separate genus, appears
inseparable from birds in rest of species' range. Moreover, just like all
starling species, golden-breasted starlings are highly social birds, noisy and
garrulous when together. They gather in pairs or groups of up to a dozen.
Though, during breeding season, group members assist with nest building and
feeding.
The both sexes are similar; however
the young are duller than the adult. The adult bird has a metallic green head
and upper back, bright golden yellow breast and belly, dark bill and legs,
white iris and metallic violet blue on wings, back, neck and its long tail
feathers. The global population size has not been quantified, but the species
is described as locally common. The population trend appears to be stable, and
it is widespread throughout its habitat range; hence does not approach the
thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion. The bird is evaluated
as being of least concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Unluckily
due to its stunning colorations makes it easy for the wild bird trade to create
a market for it. So, “Cosmopsarus regius” populations have come under pressure
in some areas due to large-scale capturing.
The bird tail is 60% of bird
length would usually be its main feature, however starling coloration and vivid
golden yellow covers the rest of the underparts including the thighs and under-tail
coverts. Legs are black. This species is also known as the superb starling. Source: Charismatic Planet
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