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The flightless bird from New Zealand
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The kakapo is a strange little flightless bird native to New Zealand. Sadly there are now only 126 kakapo left in conservation areas, where they eat a range of plants. But researchers who have been studying ancient poo samples have recently found that around 900 years ago kakapo ate a lot of pollen from a root parasite known as Hades flower. The two no longer exist in the same place and Hades flower is also rare, which begs the question - were the birds responsible for pollinating it? Further research needs to be done, but it is an interesting conservation link. ...
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5801 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
Have you ever seen a pink-necked green pigeon?
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This is the pink-necked green pigeon ( Treron vernans) and it is honestly not Photoshopped. They\'re found in Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical mangrove forests, and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.
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7623 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
A baby macaw
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Here are some adorable images of macaw parrot chicks getting weighed and measured. The one on the left is just one week old, and the one on the right is seven weeks old. Researchers at the Tambopata Research Center have been studying the wild macaw populations for years and tracking the growth of the nestlings. By climbing up into the trees and gathering data on these macaws, the researchers are able to do a lot of interesting science and gather information critical to protecting these species. ...
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4796 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
The kiwi bird
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The kiwi is a flightless bird found only in New Zealand. They're around the size of a chicken, and lay the largest eggs in relation to their body size of any bird in the world. Their eggs can be up to 20% of the females body weight - the equivalent of a 130 pound woman giving birth to a 26 pound baby. ...
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5497 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
Anyone heard of a Hoopoe?
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A Hoopoe (pronounced who-poh, scientific name: Upupa epops) is a colourful African bird which has a distinctive ‘crown’ of feathers. The species is highly distinctive, with a long, thin tapering bill that is black with a fawn base. The strengthened musculature of the head allows the bill to be opened when probing inside the soil. The hoopoe has broad and rounded wings capable of strong flight; these are larger in the northern migratory subspecies. The Hoopoe has a characteristic undulating flight, which is like that of a giant butterfly, caused by the wings half closing at the end of each beat or short sequence of beats. Listen to it sing: ...
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3084 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
A bird with a moustache
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Inca terns are unique and beautiful birds—slender with white-tipped gray feathers, a white curly moustache, yellow lips and a bright orange-red bill. They have a distinctive call that sounds like a high pitched laugh, which is often accompanied by bowing gestures. Inca terns are natives of the western shoreline of South America and the islands located offshore. They are especially abundant in northern Chile and Peru in the summer. They migrate in winter, venturing to Ecuador and central Chile. Inca terns swoop down and pluck fish from near the water’s surface. They also sometimes get scraps left behind by whales, or flock to where sea lions are eating on rocks, to steal stray bits of food. A male who is interested in a female will perform aer ...
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2969 |
duddy |
11 years ago |
Feeding ducks bread could actually be harmful
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Feeding bread to wild ducks is incredibly harmful. Bread has almost no nutrients that are useful for the duck, so they become malnourished and more susceptible to disease. Compounding the problem is excessive bread in the water, which leads to high levels of E. coli and even botulism outbreaks. Wild ducks need to stay wild, and artificially feeding them causes them to lose their natural instincts for acquiring food. If you want to feed captive waterfowl, consider chopped vegetables, whole grains, or fruit instead. ...
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3025 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
One colourful bird
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Meet the fruit dove. These colourful, frugivorous doves are found in forests and woodlands in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Males and females of many fruit dove species look very different. For example, the female Many-coloured Fruit Dove shares the male’s crimson crown and deep pink undertail feathers, but is otherwise green, whereas the male has a crimson on the upper back and has areas of yellow, olive, cinnamon, and grey.
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4374 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
Fulmars -- not your average seagul
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Babies are typically among the most vulnerable creatures in nature, but the fulmar has evolved a top notch defense system. Chicks also spit at their parents, who are immune to the effects of the oil.
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3442 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
First poisonous bird discovered
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The hooded Pitohui was one of the first poisonous birds discovered. It has a toxin on its skin and feathers that can induce tingling or numbness when touched. It is a common bird in New Guinea.
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2287 |
savio |
10 years ago |
A beautiful Egyptian vulture
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Egyptian vultures not only feed on dead animals, but are opportunists who will also eat small or injured animals, and will even steal eggs of other birds and crack them open. The vultures are listed as endangered by the IUCN. In Asia, they have lost about a third of their population each year since the turn of the century. Hunting and accidental poisoning (ingesting insects that have been treated with a pesticide) are two of the main causes for their decline.
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2484 |
savio |
10 years ago |
Unusual defence mechanism
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While the video may look like a trick an owner could teach their animal to do, some birds actually do play dead to avoid predation. If they feel in danger, they will essentially 'play dead' since predators are more interested in live, healthy prey than dead prey.
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3411 |
savio |
10 years ago |
A parrot with a wicked hairstyle
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This is a Palm Cockatoo, also know as the Goliath Cockatoo. Palms are distinguished by their size, huge beak (second only to the Hyacinth Macaw among psittacines and largest proportionate to size), solid black feather coloration, large open crest, bare red cheeks, and red and black tongue. You have to see their tongues to believe the coloration. It's amazing. Palm Cockatoos are severely threatened. They are CITES Appendix I birds and are protected in Australia. As a testament to their rarity, typical prices in the U.S. for Aterrimus Palms are around $8000 and Goliaths around $14,000. Perhaps contributing to their rarity is the fact that, according to both Low and Forshaw, they lay only one egg per clutch. ...
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5917 |
savio |
10 years ago |
Ever seen a potoo?
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Potoos are a small New World family of solitary and nocturnal birds. Most are so poorly known they seem more fiction than substance, their gruff or wailing cries ghostly delusions of the dim nocturnal world they inhabit.
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2736 |
savio |
10 years ago |
One colourful duck
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The Mandarin duck is a sexually dimorphic species, meaning males and females differ in appearance. The male has a rich, colorful appearance, which includes brown cheeks and a long brown and white crown sweeping back from the top of the head. The chest is dark purple, with black and white strips, and the wings are brown with an iridescent blue-green edge. This striking coloration helps the male attract the less-colorful females, which display brownish-black plumage with white markings around the eyes and along the throat. ...
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3715 |
duddy |
10 years ago |
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