Owls; the ultimate night riders

I've been meaning to do a post on owls for some time now, but always felt that I didn't have enough decent photos to make it worth while. At this stage I'm probably not going to be able to improve on that any time soon, so rather than go on ignoring these wonderful birds I'll go with what I've got, rely on the owls to carry it, and hope you'll be tolerant!

Australian Boobook Ninox boobook, Nowra, NSW south coast. This roosting bird shows
the basic owl characteristics including very large eyes which can function at incredibly
low light levels, powerful bill, legs and claws, and feathered legs. All owls are carnivorous. 
The body and wing feathers are very soft and fringed to allow almost totally silent flight.
The fourth toe is very flexible, and can either face back (for a two forward/two back setup),
or forward (for three-forward/one back). You'll see both options in the photos which follow.
(There has been a lot of good work done recently on the complex of boobook species which
are found from eastern Asia, through the numerous islands north of Australia to
Australia itself and New Zealand.
Until recently it was called Southern Boobook N. novaeseelandiae, but the English name was
changed when previously included populations from the Lesser Sundas (including Timor),
Tasmania and New Zealand were all recognised as different species.)

One of the key things about owls is that they are, of course, mostly nocturnal (there are a few diurnal ones, but we can generalise to start with). This means that you either have to photograph them at night, while not hurting or scaring them with flashes, or find them in the daytime, when they're almost certainly going to be tucked away in foliage, away from the daytime birds which will harry them mercilessly if they can. Other people manage perfectly well of course, part of which might be due to better equipment, but mostly just better skills! A spinoff of this is that, while I can usually offer you photos of aspects of bird behaviour, pretty well all my owl photos show them roosting or staring down from a branch, and in a photo those two things look pretty similar I must admit!

The owls are a very successful group of hunting birds, with some 250 species found throughout the vegetated continents and they have occupied every habitat from the Arctic to the tropical rainforests. They are also an old group, with the oldest known fossil owl dating back 60 million years from a site in Wyoming. Owls comprise their own Order, with no obvious close relatives, though perhaps the daytime birds of prey (hawks etc) might be the closest. Within the Order there are two Families, the barn owls and the 'typical' or hawk owls, but the latter group totally dominates, with some 230 species to the barn owls' combined 20 or so. In Australia however the 10 breeding species are split evenly between the two Families.

Eastern Barn Owl Tyto javanica, Alice Springs. This is a 'rescue' owl at the excellent
Alice Springs Desert Park, free-flying but unable to be released. While it has the general
owl characteristics described above (here two toes forward and two back)
there are some obvious differences. The iris is dark, while in the majority of typical owls it is
pale, often yellow (the observation holds for all Australian species).
There is an obvious heart-shaped facial disc, fringed with stiff feathers, 
which acts as an external 'ear' to direct sound to the ear openings, hidden by the feathers.
(Other owls also have such a disc, but in most cases it is not as well developed as the barn owls' are.)
Not so obvious here is its lighter build and longer legs, or the difference in calls.
While typical owls in general have a call which is a variation on hooting,
barn owls have a rasping shriek or hiss.
(As with the boobook group discussed earlier, there have been major recent advances in
understanding barn owls relationships too. Until recently there was just one
Barn Owl Tyto alba recognised throughout the world, but now there are three.
'Ours' is found from Australia to southern Asia, while another is in Europe and
much of Africa, and the third in the Americas.)

Another very important owl characteristic isn't really shown in these photos either, and can only be properly seen from front-on.

American Barn Owl Tyto furcata Santa Cruz, Galápagos. This bird was roosting
in a rock crevice, trees being scarce commodities in most of the Galápagos.
Unlike nearly all other birds, its eyes are in the front of its face, enabling it
to have binocular vision; in most birds the eyes are on the sides of its
head, so the only way it can have the sort of 3D vision than an owl (and we)
regard as normal, is to turn the head from side to side.
This Sulphur-crested Cockatoo exemplifies the contrast.

I have sometimes wondered if owls are often described as 'wise' because we share this facial characteristic with them; ie they look a bit like us so must be wise! I wouldn't put any arrogance past us...

A couple more observations on barn owls and their differences from the 'main' owl Family, before a bit more on what makes owls so special, then going on to focus on the hooting majority. I'm very confident that the pale undersides of the Western Barn Owl (Tyto alba), its hair-raising screeches, silent flight and habit of roosting in church towers in Europe are the basis of many ghost stories. Members of the barn owl Family usually roost by day in hollows (presumably buildings were used by the Western Barn Owl when hollows were no longer available), whereas other owls make themselves as inconspicuous as possible within or behind foliage. Barn owls often don't defend a territory at all, and when they do it is usually by silent display. 'Typical' owls do so fiercely, and proclaim ownership with long hooting sessions.

Owls in general have other adaptations too that are of interest. For instance an owl can spread the bones of the lower mandible outwards, to extend the gape and enable large prey items to be swallowed whole. Like most carnivorous birds they regurgitate pellets of indigestible bones, feathers, fur and scales (which are invaluable in determining their diet).

Pellet from a Powerful Owl Ninox strenua which became a celebrity when it lived
in the Australian National Botanic Gardens in Canberra for a few weeks in autumn 2007.
It left when it had exhausted the supply of Ringtail Possums and Sugar Gliders;
this pellet is clearly composed of fur and bones.

Owls have never evolved echolocation to help them hunt at night, so have remarkable vision, with very large eyes relative to their skull size. This leaves little room for muscles to move the eyes, so they have developed extremely flexible necks, with twice as many neck vertebrae as we do, and special adaptations to prevent blood flow from being constricted when they swivel their head through about 270 degrees. In addition to the overall size of the eyes, they have a very large maximum pupil size, to enhance light gathering when there isn't much of it. They also have a preponderance of rod cells over cone cells in the retina; rod cells are much more light sensitive, while cone cells are good at colour vision. Hence an owl can see well at low light levels, at the expense of distinguishing colour.

The very large eyes of this Tropical Screech Owl Megascops choliba are evident.
We were actually sitting patiently waiting for an Ocelot (that never appeared for the
two nights we were there) at a bait station in the Pantanal of south-western Brazil,
but this was a nice compensation. (The lighting allegedly doesn't bother the Ocelot,
but we saw no evidence of that! Luckily it didn't seem to faze the owl either.)
The screech owls form a group of some 23 species found throughout much of the
Americas; this species is found widely in South America.

Some of the most impressive owl adaptations however are in their hearing, and many cases they are known to swoop and catch prey that they can't see at all. In an experimental situation Western Barn Owls could catch mice in a totally darkened room by homing in on the rustle of their feet on the floor. Even in light, other owls can grab unseen mice from grass clumps or under snow. They hear roughly the same range of frequencies that we do, but hear ten times as well in the frequencies that correspond to rustling noises in grass or leaves. Their ear openings, like their eyes, are unusually large and are covered loosely by special feathers which don't interfere much with sound. The facial disc, which we mentioned earlier as being especially well-developed in barn owls, is another important factor in gathering and focusing sound. 

This Short-eared Owl Asio flammeus is not a barn owl, but has a facial disc which is
equally well developed. This beauty was perched by the roadside near Lake Titicaca in the
high, cold mountains in the far south-east of Peru late one afternoon. That would have been
enough for us, but our very experienced local guides had never seen one in this part of the world.
The nearest it comes to here normally is on the north coast of Peru, and that rarely.
This medium-large owl hunts mostly by night, but also is regularly active in the daytime
and evening, concentrating on small mammals. It is found right across the Northern
Hemisphere and the southern half of South America, making it not only the most
widely-distributed owl in the world, but is arguably the most widespread of any land bird

 

As an another example of that last comment, here is a Short-eared Owl of the Gálapagos
sub-species, roosting in a chasm on Genovesa, in the Pacific 1000km from South America.
Note that because this one isn't gripping a perch, it's spread its toes widely.

But back to owls' superpowers. One way owls use their hypersensitive hearing is to turn the head until the sound reaching each ear is at exactly the same volume - which of course occurs when the object/prey is exactly in front of the owl. But there's a second, even more amazing, mechanism in play too. If the source of a sound is off to the right, it not only sounds marginally louder on that side but arrives at the right ear fractionally sooner than it gets to the left. By turning the head again until the sound reaches both ears simultaneously, again the owl knows that the prey is now right in front. But, even without moving its head (which could alert the prey) it can locate the prey precisely within a 60 degree arc. And to achieve all this, the owl can distinguish a time difference between one ear and the other of just 30 millionths of a second! My brain threatens to shut down when I try to process that information.

In Australia all owl species nest in tree hollows, except the generally uncommon Eastern Grass Owl Tyto longimembris (which nests on the  ground). Elsewhere however there are owls which breed on cliffs or in old bird nests, and hardly any of them bother even to line the nest site. 

 

One of my favourite owls, the little Burrowing Owl Athene cunicularia, actually nests underground, mostly in burrows provided by rodents or badgers - or at least that's what most of the information says. On looking into it however I've realised that this mostly refers to North America and ignores the fact that probably more Burrowing Owls live in South America. (North Amercan bias, surely not?😀) On going through my South American field guides, I discover that in fact most South American Burrowing Owls dig their own, which makes sense as burrowing mammals such as ground squirrels and badgers are absent there; skunk burrows might be the best bet for South America owls, but they're not abundant.

Young Burrowing Owls at the mouth of their burrow, Sipan archaeological site,
north-western Peru.

Adult Burrowing Owl in the same arid area. One of my favourite Burrowing Owl
stories is their habit of collecting dried mammal dung and leaving it near the
burrow to attract edible dung beetles! Tool use, surely?

As you'll have already noticed, most owl plumage is subtly (and beautifully) mottled and camouflaged, presumably to reduce the degree of daytime harassment by mobbing birds. Chicks however begin life with very fine down feathers for the first week or so, which is replaced by a thicker down called a mesoptile through which full feathers eventually grow.

Crested Owls Lophostrix cristata, Tortuguero, east coast of Costa Rica. The chick is still
wearing its mesoptile down. This handsome owl can be 40cm tall (female owls are bigger
than the males) and is found in tropical rainforests in South and Central America. Quite a few
owls have these 'ears', which have nothing to do with hearing, and everything to do with display.
This distinctive owl is the only member of its genus.

Here is a slightly better portrait of a pair of this lovely owl at
Sacha Lodge in the Ecuadorian Amazon

I thinks that's about enough of facts and figures. For the rest I'm just going to introduce a small range of owls from four continents, and see what stories might arise. I'll start with a few Australian species, noting that my photo coverage of them is woefully inadequate.

Australian Boobook at a cave entrance, Undara Lava Tubes NP, north Queensland.
Owls lurk around the tubes waiting for bats to emerge at dusk. This subspecies,
which is found across the western two thirds of Australia, is paler and redder
than the south-eastern subspecies in the first photo of this post. I can't
explain which this one's eyes look dark rather than the expected yellow.

Here is the celebrity Powerful Owl Ninox strenua in the National Botanic Gardens in
Canberra in 2007 that I mentioned earlier. The largest of the boobook group of owls
(and the largest Australian owl) it stands an imposing 60cm high, and is found in tall
forests along the south-east coast and hinterlands of Australia. However it is reasonably
comfortable in suburbia too and in Sydney is known to prey on big fruit bats which form
colonies there, and regularly on stray cats. Otherwise its regularly takes prey as big as
Ring-tailed Possums and Greater Gliders, Pied Currawongs, cockatoos and even lyrebirds.
I first heard its deep slow resonant 'whoo whoo' decades ago bouncing off the cliffs at night
in Gariwerd (Grampians) National Park in western Victoria, and have never forgotten it.

Rufous Owl Ninox rufa, Atherton Tableland, north Queensland. Another big owl, not
much smaller than the Powerful Owl. This one is solely tropical, found scattered across
northern Australia and New Guinea. It has a similar diet to the Powerful. A well-known
pair roosts in the Darwin Botanic Gardens, but I've never had the pleasure.

Barking Owl Ninox connivens near Townsville, north Queensland. I really did hesitate
before posting this awful photo (a scan of an old slide) but in this case I decided that it
was (just) better than nothing. Bigger than a Boobook, this is a woodland owl
found across virtually the whole continent, especially in woodlands and open
forests. Its call really be mistaken for a barking dog, especially when a pair
is duetting.

Tawny-bellied Screech Owl Megascops watsonii, Amazonia Lodge,
near Cusco in southern Peru. Like the Tropical Screech Owl we met earlier
(and all others in the genus) this one has prominent ear tufts. Note how it's
just opened its left eye a slit, to keep track of me.

A familiar group of owls to anyone who's birded in South and Central America is the pygmy owl genus Glaucidium. They are mostly active in the daytime and guides regularly use their call to attract other small birds which mob them. However while the Americas are their stronghold, there are also members of the genus in North America, Asia, Europe and Africa. Here are four species of pygmy owl, three from the Americas but also an African one.

Austral Pygmy Owl G. nana, from the icy Patagonian southern cone of South America,
here alongside Perito Merino Glacier in Argentina. The largest female weighs barely
100g, but they have been recorded taking birds as large as 160g, though insects
form a large part of the diet.

Ferruginous Pygmy Owl G. brasilianum, Chapada dos Guimarães, south-western Brazil.
(Despite its scientific name, it is found widely in South and Central America).
They mostly feed on insects but like the other pygmy owls they are feisty hunters
who are undeterred by the size of a potential lunch.

The same bird as above, with the back of its head facing us. These 'false eyes' are
characteristic of several pygmy owls, presumably to make the mobs of small birds
think they're always under observation, though it doesn't seem to deter them.
Below is closer view of a pair of these pretty little owls, this time from the Pantanal
in south-western Brazil.

Pacific Pygmy Owl N. peruanum, Olmos area, central northern Peru.
It is found along the dry Pacific coast from Ecuador to the northern tip of Chile, and is
the only pygmy owl found in the lowlands west of the Andes. Until fairly recently this pygmy
owl was lumped in with the Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, but their calls are very different.

Pearl-spotted Owlet G. perlatum, Tangarire NP, Tanzania. This is one of four
African pygmy owls, except that they're called owlets there. It's a fairly familiar
little owl, found very widely across sub-Saharan Africa; even I've seen it in four
different countries. Like its neotropical relatives it is often active by day.

The scops owls form a big genus (some 60 species, the largest owl genus) of Old World owls, mostly Asian though a few are found in Africa and Europe as well. Until fairly recently the American screech owls were also included, though that is now agreed to have been erroneous, especially with regard to their calls. Like screech owls they are medium small owls with prominent ear tufts. They are mostly quite nocturnal.

African Scops Owl Otus senegalensis, Tarangire NP, Tanzania. Like many
owls, scops owls have lovely camouflage. This one mostly eats invertebrates.
(Sorry about the stick!)

Madagascan (or Rainforest) Scops Owl Otus rutilus, Ankarana NP, Madagascar.
It is widespread on the island, but not a lot seems to be known about it.

This lurking behaviour is typical of owls which are totally nocturnal (or nearly so). As I've mentioned before they are fiercely attacked by large numbers of daytime birds of many species, which respond to the calls of others to join in the mob.

Buffy Fish Owl Ketupa ketupu, Kinabatangan River, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.
Both scientific names are based on a Javanese name for this species. It is one
of half a dozen large owl species in Asia and Africa which are primarily fish-eaters.
This one may swoop from a perch to take fish from the surface,
or stand by the water, or even wade into it.

Until recently this was included in the genus Bubo, but it turns out that this was also a false grouping. Bubo still exists, as a genus of 10 species of horned owls (in the Americas) and eagle-owls (in Eurasia and Africa). These are seriously big owls, some of them considerably larger than our Powerful Owl! The Eurasian Eagle-Owl Bubo bubo can stand 75cm tall and weigh up to 4.5kg.

McKinder's Eagle-Owl, a subspecies of Cape Eagle-Owl Bubo capensis, central Kenya.
(Be kind, it took me some time to get an angle that showed even part of its face!) It was hidden
in a fig against a cliff face; the species is strongly associated with rocky areas across southern
Africa and in scattered populations in east Africa.

Our guide in this instance was an impressive young local man who's dedicated his life to studying owls - he'd been following this individual for seven years - and working with local communities, educating and advocating against the traditional persecution of owls, a serious problem all over the world.

Great Horned Owl Bubo virginianus, El Cajas NP, 4000 metres above sea level in
southern Ecuador. This huge owl is found throughout North America and much of
northern and eastern South America. We found this one by chance, sitting quietly
as one of our party poked about in a thicket. (Thanks Steve!)

Stygian Owl Asio stygius, Morro del Calzada Reserve, northern Peru.
A pair of these very imposing dark, brooding owls was roosting in the open
in this little forested montane reserve. They are scattered in central and South America
and the Caribbean, with a large range centred on southern Brazil. Despite being
large and widespread it seems that not a lot is known about them.
It is in the same genus as the Short-eared Owl that we met previously.

Spectacled Owl Pulsatrix perspicillata, Pantanal, south-western Brazil.
This large solitary owl is found in lowlands in Central America and throughout the
north-eastern half of South America. It has a wide range of habitats;
this one was in open woodland and grassland, and the only other one
that I've seen was in the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador.
The genus is a small solely Neotropical one.

The final genus in this little owl discovery tour is one familiar to Europeans and North Americans - think of the Tawny Owl and Barred and Great Grey Owls respectively. However, as is often the case, my offerings are South American, and there's a twist...

Mottled Owl Strix virgata, in a hotel garden in San José, Costa Rica.
This pair were tucked away in a massive stand of bamboos that must have
been over ten metres high. Another one that is found widely in Central and
northern South America, often around humans. It's mostly a perch-and-pounce hunter.

Black and White Owl Strix nigrolineata, Caño Negro, northern Costa Rica.
Another medium-sized owl from Central America and the far north-west of
South America. I find this one particularly striking.

And that brings us to a bird that belongs to a short list of birds that I most treasure having seen.

This owl was at San Isidro lodge on the eastern side of the northern Ecuadorian Andes,
at 2000 metres above sea level, and is only known from the vicinity of San Isidro.
It looks very like the Black and White Owl, and also like the closely related
Black-banded Owl (Strix huhula - how I love that name!) from the lowland rainforests
to the east. However the Black and White is only known from the western slopes of the Andes, and
the Black-banded is rarely found higher than 500 metres, and never above 1500.

In plumage and, reportedly, in voice, it seems midway between both those species. Indeed the general approach to it is to tentatively regard it as an isolated sub-species of Black-banded, though it seems to me there is little basis for that. It is widely known in birding circles as the 'mystery owl'. Obviously we need DNA (without the traditional method of obtaining it, of course!). Perhaps feathers from under a roost or eggs that have hatched would do? Of course that's easier said than done, though I'm surprised that no-one has succeeded yet - there are some brilliant bird guides in that part of the world. My bet would be on it being a new species, but it seems we must be patient for a while yet! Meanwhile I love the story and am very fortunate to have seen the bird.

Well it's been a long post, and one that I've been meaning to do for some years. If you've read this far, my thanks for doing so, and I hope it means that you're as fascinated by owls as I am. I hope too that I've been able to add something small to your knowledge and enjoyment of them.

NEXT POSTING THURSDAY 19 SEPTEMBER

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Red-and-Black; for the bird who really wants to be noticed!

This three-part series, on birds which flaunt red, started here with the focus on feathers, and continued here with a bit of a look at other red body parts. As promised, after a brief hiatus I'm completing the series by looking at birds which highlight their redness - already pretty striking - by contrasting it with black. We should of course never presume that animals such as birds which do see colour, unlike most mammals, see the same palette as we do. In fact we know that they don't. We (and birds) see colour with the cone cells in the retina - that's very simplistic, but it'll do for now. However where we have three colour pigments in the cone cells, birds have four and in some cases five - and moreover they are all different from ours! Obviously we can't know just what a bird sees when it looks at the same subject as us, but it can't be the same. However we must assume that the black and red combination (like black and white, and black and yellow, both popular combinations in nature as well) is striking for them too, given how prevalent it is.

Crimson-breasted Shrike (or Gonolek, or Boubou) Laniarius atrococcineus, Witsand NR,
northern South Africa. A truly stunning bird indeed, seen behind the park visitor centre
as we were about to leave and I blame it for the fact that I left my field guide on the roof
of the car, an oversight that I didn't recognise until it was far too late to remedy it!
It's the national bird of Namibia (though I've also read that it's been demoted because
its appointment was on the basis of the association with the flag colours of Germany,
the former colonial ruler, but I'm finding conflicting information).

I'm not sure if this combination of colours is used because it really is even more striking than red alone would be, or if it's because such profligacy - expending the energy to extract enough carotenoids from its food to dye all its feathers, and storing them in the liver it until the next moult when they're needed again - would put too much strain on the bird. Melanins on the other hand, which produce black, can be manufactured by the bird relatively cheaply and easily.

I've noticed in selecting the photos that in each case the black comes from feathers, while the red can be on various body parts, as illustrated in the previous posts. I'm not sure if this is significant. There are photos in the previous posts that I could have also used in this one - I haven't duplicated, so if you'd like to see more that's another reason to go back to the first two in the series.     

 

Most of the rest of the post will be a sort of photo essay, just admiring some lovely and sometimes dramatic birds. I'll start with those which juxtapose red feathers (as opposed to other body parts) with their black ones, which are the majority of those featured, and set the scene with some Australian examples.Unsurprisingly many of the examples feature male birds only - in fact of the eight Australian species which follow only the females of the pitta, and to some extent the black-cockatoo, exhibit the red and black pattern.

Male Mistletoebird Dicaeum hirundinaceum, Bundjalung NP, north coast NSW.
The black contrasts with the red breast from both below and above.

Rainbow Pitta Pitta iris, Darwin. It seems a somewhat unlikely place for a colour
combination which is surely intended to be seen, but I've read that when displaying
the bird stands erect, either on the ground at the territory boundary (when it bows down
then stretches up again) or on a branch with outspread wings,
which would show the red/black off nicely.

Red-backed Fairywren Malurus melanocephalus, Julatten, north Queensland.
Perhaps the most spectacular of all fairywrens, this little chap really glows even in dim
light. Like other fairywrens most males only retain their bright plumage during
the breeding season, so moult twice a year.

Red-winged Parrots Aprosmictus erythropterus, Gulf Country, north Queensland.
He's the one who needs to catch her attention, so only he wears the full outfit.
Another very impressive bird.

Scarlet Honeyeater Myzomela sanguinolentam, National Botanic Gardens, Canberra.
More usually seen at the coast, but a few come inland to here fairly regularly.

Male Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo Calyptorhynchus banksii, Bourke, northern NSW.
The female's tail panels are orange rather than red..

The next two are more ashy grey than black, especially the Gang-gang, but it's just a question of degree and the principle's the same.

Flame Robin Petroica phoenicea, high in Namadgi NP, above Canberra.
He too glows, in the misty mountains in summer, and in open
country around Canberra in winter.

Male Gang-gang Cockatoo Callocephalon fimbriatum, National Botanic Gardens, Canberra.
This delightful small cockatoo, with its distinctive creaky call and bouncy flight,
is the official bird emblem of the Australian Capital Territory.

And here are some overseas - mostly South American - examples of red/black contrasting feathers, from a range of different families, starting, as many things birdy do in the Neotropics, with some tanagers.

Brazilian Tanager Ramphocelus bresilius, Peruibe, south of Sao Paulo, Brazil

Crimson-collared Tanager Ramphocelus sanguinolentus, central Costa Rica;
found throughout Central America.

Masked Crimson Tanager Ramphocelus nigrogularis, Ecuadorian Amazonia.
This one, closely related to the previous species, is common throughout the Amazon basin.

Yellow-billed Cardinal Paroaria capitata, Pantanal, south-western Brazil.
Despite the name, these 'cardinals' are actually tanagers too!
There's a lot of that sort of thing in the Neotropics...

The manakins form another spectacular family of Neotropical birds, though aren't nearly as easy to see as the tanagers. If you can find a male display post in the darkness of the forest though, you're having a very good day indeed!

Blue Manakin Chiroxiphia caudata, near Peruibe, south-eastern Brazil.
One of many species restricted to the highly threatened Atlantic forests
of this part of Brazil and neighbouring Paraguay and Argentina.

Wire-tailed Manakin Pipra filicauda, Amazon rainforest, north-east Peru.
His courtship dance, where he competes with other males in a lek in lowland
tropical rainforest, is simply amazing. Have a look here.

Another, better-known, Neotropical bird, also competes in leks for the attention of females.

Two males Andean Cocks-of-the-rock Rupicola peruvianus, Manu NP, Peru.
These extraordinary birds compete in leks of 15 or so males, in Andean forests.

The last four examples of black/red-feathered birds are all from different families. 

Long-tailed Meadowlark Leistes loyca, Torres del Paine NP, Chilean Patagonia.
Windblown, as everything is in Patagonia, this male's brown back is edged
with black to provide a contrast with the gorgeous red underside and brows.

Northern Red Bishop Euplectes franciscanus, Murchison Falls NP, Uganda.
One of the many species in the mainly African weaver family, the gorgeous males perform a
display flight to attract females, and build elaborate woven nests to impress her. Once it's
worked though he loses interest in her and his eggs and chicks, and leaves
the rest up to her.

Pale-billed Woodpecker Campephilus guatemalensis, Carara NP, Costa Rica.
Found throughout most of Central America, this is one of a genus of 11 large
New World woodpeckers with red heads contrasting with a black-and-white body.

Darwin's Flycatcher Pyrocephalus nanus, Santa Cruz, Galápagos.
Now recognised as a Galápagos endemic, this was formerly included
in the widespread mainland American Vermilion Flycatcher P. obscurus.
Not many of the New World flycatchers are colourful, and these two
species really stand out from them.

Another seemingly popular option for birds who want to emphasise a red feature against black feathers (the anthropomorphism is ironic by the way!) is to have a red bill, though there is nothing about a red bill which makes it more efficient at its primary purpose. Here are some impressive examples, a couple of which also flaunt red legs. This selection is split evenly between waterbirds and land birds, and ranges across 8 families. I've tried to choose as diverse a range as possible, though in the end I've included two oystercatchers because I wanted an Australian example in this section, and couldn't leave out the other beautiful example.

Blackish Oystercatcher Haematopus ater, Pisagua, northern Chile. Note also
the stand-out red eyes, and those lovely pale pink legs. It is found along much
of the west coast of South America and the far south-east coast.

Sooty Oystercatchers Haematopus fuliginosus, Gooloowah NP, northern NSW.
This is a seriously black oystercatcher, an Australian endemic, which shares the previous
species' bright red bill and eyes.

    

Black Skimmer Rynchops niger, Pantanal, south-west Brazil. One of three skimmer species
(the other two being in Africa and Asia), members of the gull and tern family. They use
their remarkable bill (which itself is black-and-red) to trail the lower mandible in the water
as they fly just above it. It snaps shut when it contacts small prey animals, especially fish.
They can be found throughout South America, either coastally or following inland rivers
(as here) except for the Andes and the far south.

Inca Tern Larosterna inca, surely the world's most beautiful terns, here at Pucusana,
south of Lima, Peru. They are found along much of the continent's west coast,
and I am utterly delighted by them.

Saddle-billed Stork Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis, Amboseli NP, Kenya.
At 1.5 metres, this is one of the tallest storks in the world. I just love the great
red-black-red beak against the inky black head and neck, and the yellow
saddle on the bill. And the delicate pink knees!
This is a female, with yellow eyes (the male's are black).

The other five red bills featured today are of land birds, each from a different family.

Bateleur (sometimes with 'Eagle' appended, though it's not really) Terathopius ecaudatus,
Serengeti NP, Tanzania. This is another 'beak and legs' (and face) example.
Highly distinctive, 'bateleur' is French for a tumbler or acrobat, which is supposedly
to reflect its slow, rocking hunting flight, though I don't really understand that.
In fact it is often claimed to also mean a tightrope walker, which would
make better sense - except that as far as I'm aware, this is not the French word for that!
This bird is carrying a prey item, but I can't identify it.

Black-throated Grosbeak Saltator fuliginosus in the Atlantic Forests near Sao Paulo,
Brazil. Another tanager which is called something else! Little is known of its
feeding habits in the canopy, though this bill is surely that of a seedeater.

Green Wood Hoopoe Phoeniculus purpureus, Lake Nakuru NP, Kenya.
Not hoopoes, but they are in a related family; there are 9 species of
wood hoopoes and scimitarbills in the family, all African.

Rhinoceros Hornbill Buceros rhinoceros, Sepilok, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.
What an extraordinary bird, nearly a metre long, and unsurprisingly the national bird of Malaysia.
Juxtaposing red and yellow is effective too, as evidenced by this and the next species, and
the stork earlier.

And speaking of extraordinary birds... Toco Toucan Ramphastos toco, Pantanal, Brazil
The largest toucan, the bill alone is nearly 25cm long. Note too the bright red vent.
It is notable also in being the only toucan found in open country.

We talked about birds with red skin last time too, and here are some where this skin is directly contrasted with the black plumage.

Brush Turkey Alectura lathami, Cairns, north Queensland.
And yes, the red skin of the bare neck and head is actually narrowly separated from the
black body by the yellow wattle, but the effect is the same, or even enhanced.

Guanay Cormorant Leucocarbo bougainvilliorum, Pucusana, south of Lima, Peru.
Just a ring of red skin around the eye, as we saw in some examples last time,
but this is perhaps rendered even more effective by being alongside black feathers.

Swallow-tailed Gulls Creagrus furcatus, South Plaza, Galápagos.
The world's only nocturnal gull (and indeed only nocturnal seabird as far as I know),
this delightful little gull breeds almost exclusively in the Galápagos.
I well remember my first sight of them when I went up on deck in the night,
and saw one flying alongside, in the glow of the boat's lights.

Wattled Jacana Jacana jacana, Pantanal, Brazil. Here the red skin is in the
form of wattles on the face, which show up well against the sooty head and breast.

Male Magnificent Frigatebird Fregata magnificens, North Seymour, Galápagos.
The amazing inflatable red throat pouch is an adapted air sac, part of a bird's
incredible respiratory system, just under the skin. He inflates it to display to
females flying over, and surely it must work!

And finally, a very handsome pair of red legs to set off a black (or at least blackish) ensemble.

Blackish Rail Pardirallus nigricans, Atlantic Forests near Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Like most rails a shy bird, not easy to get a good look at.

Well I've had fun putting together this three-part series, though it's probably not caught as many people's attention as I might have hoped. However, you're reading it and that makes it all worth while! Thank you.

NEXT POSTING THURSDAY 29 JUNE

 

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