Blue Birds of Happiness #2

This post continues from last time, when I introduced the fabulous nature of blue in birds (and most other animals). It's a trick of the light, so to speak. The feathers aren't 'blue' in the sense that red or yellow feathers look like that because they contain red or yellow dyes. Rather the colourless feathers have highly intricate microstructures which reflect blue light only, while absorbing or trapping all other wavelengths. I won't reiterate the details here; you can check it out in last week's post here, where there are also lots more spiffy birds to admire!

 

Last time I focused on just two bird Orders which seem to have an inordinate number of blue species; this time I'm going to range much more widely, across 15 families, the majority of them being passerines - the songbirds or perching birds which comprise most of those we're likely to be familiar with in our yards. I'm going to go through them by family, just ordering them alphabetically - and unscientifically by common name! Please don't turn away in disgust - the birds are as special and as blue no matter what we call them!

 

One final observation. On going over these photos, it's striking how often blue is juxtaposed to black. I'm sure an artist could explain to me why this makes it more visible, but I don't need one to tell me that it's a very aesthetic combination!

And with that, let's head off into the blues! Starting with barbets; these actually comprise three related families, in the same Order as toucans, woodpeckers and some less widely familiar families. Each barbet family represents a continent - Asia, Africa and South America. Our representative barbet today is from the Family Megalaimidae, the Asian barbets.

Golden-naped Barbet  Psilopogon pulcherrimu Mt Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.
A typical barbet in being chunky and stout-billed, and a fruit-eater; this one is
endemic to Borneo. I love the bright blue forehead and throat.

Cotingas are next, a big family (Cotingidae) of songbirds, part of the huge and ancient New World tyrant flycatcher assemblage - though cotingas are fruit-eaters! They are found throughout South and Central America, and many of them are quite spectacular, not least today's example.

Turquoise Cotinga Cotinga ridgwayi San Isidro, Costa Rica.
This scarce beauty was perched above the police station and, in typical
Costa Rican style, the police amiably drove around us as we set up our
telescope on the road. (I hasten to explain that it was our local guide who did so!)

Crows might seem to be making an unlikely appearance here, since all five of our Australian species are completely black and seemingly indistinguishable. However elsewhere in the world members of the family Corvidae can be brightly coloured indeed. The jays of Eurasia and the Americas are the standouts here, and I can offer a few good blue examples (but not the famous Blue Jay). All of these jays were photographed hanging around settlements, doubtless hoping for (and having learnt to expect) handouts.

Azure Jay Cyanocorax caeruleus, Peruibe, south of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Jays are clever, bold, noisy and often blue, as reflected in their names.

Turquoise Jay Cyanolyca turcosa, Bellavista Lodge, north-east of Quito, Ecuador.
Very much a blue beauty.

Plush-crested Jay Cyanocorax chrysops, Iguazu Falls, Argentina.
I've met several birds which specialise in bright blue eyebrows,
and it always seems to work!

White-throated Magpie-Jay Calocitta formosa, Monteverde, Costa Rica.
This one really caught my attention; it travels in noisy mobs of big birds which are up to 50cm long.

White-tailed Jay Cyanocorax mystacalis, Chaparrí, north-western Peru.
I know it's a poor photo, but it's a stunning bird and not easily seen.
It's endemic to the Tumbesian Region of dry forests, in near-coastal
northern Peru and southern Ecuador.

Cuckoos for the most part aren't very brightly coloured (you need to be discrete if you're going to sneak in and leave an egg in someone's nest, though not all cuckoos are nest parasites) so not many are blue. The anis of the Neotropics aren't parasites but even not bright blue, in the right light they shine with bluish tints in dark plumage. 

Greater Ani Crotophaga major, northern Pantanal, Brazil.
In another light they look black. Another big bird, 50cm long, they
too hang out in big noisy groups and breed communally.

And while I can't offer you the bluebird (of happiness) I can offer you a (very ordinary) picture of one of the two species of fairy-bluebird, family Irenidae, which live in rainforests of south-east Asia.

Asian Fairy-bluebird Irena puella, Bako NP, Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo.
Regardless of the photo (almost) I couldn't very well leave an actual 'bluebird'
out of this series, could I?

Much more familiar to many of my readers are the fairywrens (family Maluridae) of Australia and New Guinea. Indeed I think I'm safe in asserting that there's nowhere in Australia, including the deserts, which doesn't have a species or two. Males are seasonally gorgeous, females stay sensibly less noticeable all year round. Blue features heavily in all but two of the eight Australian species. Here are three of them.

Superb Fairywren Malurus cyaneus Canberra; this lovely bird is familiar to any
bird-aware person in south-eastern Australia. In fact it features strongly in
polls of  'Australia's most popular bird'. The blues flash in the sun and even
the 'black' is navy blue in the right light.

Splendid Fairywren Malurus splendens, Alice Springs. Unfortunately I was a couple
of weeks early. He was just coming into his breeding splendour - you can just see the
first blue feathers appearing on his back. They'll be covering his whole body soon.

Variegated Fairywren Malurus lamberti, Tomaree NP, central coast NSW.
It's taken me many years to persuade this common but thicket-loving east coast
dweller to sit up for a photo, and it only happened last year.

It's a funny thing that, in Australia at least, many people who wouldn't claim to know a lot about birds confidently name any small bird as a 'finch'. While we have quite a few grass-finches or waxbills in Australia we have no true native finches (family Fringillidae) - in fact Australia is the only unfrozen continent in which finches don't naturally occur. Blue isn't a common colour among finches but I can offer one. (There is actually a Blue Finch in South America, but it's really a tanager... Never mind, South America's like that.)

Violaceous Euphonia Euphonia violacea, Peruibe, south of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Despite its common and scientific names, I reckon those are real blues on its
wings and tail. The stubby bill is typical of the seed-eating finches - only the
euphonias have adapted to an almost exclusively fruit diet.

Herons might seem an unlikely family to be considering here too, though some are certainly a blue-grey colour. However these two small South American herons both, for different reasons, not seen by very many birders, can certainly claim a blue star.

Lava Heron Butorides sundevalli, Galápagos. This heron is only found in the
Galápagos, though some would describe it as a subspecies of Striated Heron. Any birder there
will see it, but it's not an easy destination to reach.

Agami Heron Agamia agami, Napo Lodge, Ecuadorian Amazonia.
A strikingly beautiful heron, but restricted to dense rainforest waterways and not
easy to find. But when you do...!

Hummingbirds are among my very favourite bird groups - which certainly doesn't make me unique! - and while they are often brilliantly coloured it's not always easy to say exactly what colour they are, as their iridescence means they change with the angle. I could still have offered quite a few however, but here are two which qualify, both happening to be Ecuadorian.

Blue-mantled Thornbill Chalcostigma stanleyi, El Cajas NP, southern Andes, Ecuador.
This lovely and fairly modestly attired hummer was at 4000m above sea level. This
is typical of this species, which can live above the tree line.

Violet-bellied Hummingbird Chlorestes julie, Umbrellabird Lodge, southern Ecuador.
Blue or green? Blue or violet? Does it matter in the end? Looks blue enough to me
to include here, and if you're offended by its presence feel free to look away. 😀

From the same part of the world, the wonderful little manakins (Family Pipridae, and not to be confused with mannikins, waxbill finches) are real stars, though they tend to lurk in the forest shadows. Males display spectucularly and many are brightly coloured. Not many display blue though, and unsurprisingly one of these is the Blue (or Swallow-tailed) Manakin Chiroxiphia caudata.

Blue Manakin near Peruibe, south of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The Old World flycatchers (family Muscicapidae) comprise a huge family of over 300 species, many of which are fairly plain-coloured but many aren't. Here's one such. 

 

Malaysian blue flycatcher Cyornis turcosus, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.
This one was roosting at night; in daylight the blue is deeper.

 

In Australia we tend not to think of starlings as colourful (though our only native species, the green-sheened Metallic Starling of tropical Queensland, is pretty impressive). Elsewhere however there are some truly dramatic starlings, and Africa is something of a hotspot for them. Here are a couple of examples, both from the fabulous Serengeti NP in Tanzania.

Hildbrandt's Starlings Lamprotornis hildebrandti (with the red eyes)
and Superb Starlings Lamprotornis superbus (with white eyes)
taking advantage of the facilities at the entrance gate.

Rüppell's Starling Onychognathus walleri; an impressive
long-tailed starling found in East African grasslands.

Tanagers! Along with hummingbirds surely the standout big bird group of South and Central America. Nearly 400 species in a bewildering cluster of groups - 'bewildering' to professional ornithologists too, as many groups have been moved into and out of tthe family Thraupidae over the years. The dust is probably starting to settle now though. In addition to the tanagers themselves, groups such as various 'finches' and seedeaters (including the Galápagos 'finches'), flowerpiercers, saltators, honeyecreepers, cardinals and dacnises are all part of the family. (On the other hand some 'tanagers' are not, but let's not go there!) And yes, I may have gone a bit over the top here, but which ones would you have left out?

Azure-shouldered Tanager Thraupis cyanoptera, Trilha dos Tucanos, near
Sao Paulo, Brazil. It is endemic to the rich but endangered Atlantic Forests
of near-coastal Brazil.

Blue-grey Tanager Thraupis episcopus, near Machu Picchu, Peruvian Andes
By contrast with the previous closely-related species, this one is common and widespread
across Central America and northern South America.

Green-headed Tanager Tangara seledon, Trilha dos Tucanos again.
This name perplexes me as much as the bird delights me, but perhaps
you too think that the head is really green. Another one that you'll
have to go to south-eastern Brazil to see.

Masked Tanager Stilpnia nigrocincta, Sacha Lodge, Ecuadorian Amazonia.
I am, with difficulty, able to overcome my aversion to heights to venture up these
rainforest towers for the privilege of seeing canopy animals from above.
This lovely is found throughout much of Amazonia.

Blue-necked Tanager Stilpnia cyanicollis, near Machu Picchu.
I tossed up whether to include this photo and the next couple - I much prefer
not to use photos of birds on feeders - but in the end I decided you'd not
want to miss them. This one has a curious distribution along the tropical
Andes, and separately in the Amazon basin of Brazil.

Speckled Tanager Ixothraupis guttata, central Costa Rica.
A striking bird found south from here to northern South America.
It was on the verandah rail of a simple local open-air restaurant in the mountains.

Blue-winged Mountain Tanager Anisognathus somptuosus, Paz de las Aves, Mindo Valley,
northern Ecuador. A lovely tanager of the Andean forests.

Blue Dacnis Dacnis cayana, Trilha dos Tucanos again. Blue indeed!
And this really is a wonderful place; more about it here.

And our last tanager for today, but I think I'll come back to them for a tanager mini-series at some stage- there are many more of them that we've not seen here yet!

Masked Flowerpiercer Diglossa cyanea, Yanacocha Reserve, north of Quito, Ecuador.
Flowerpiercers are just that; they have sharp hooked beaks to pierce the base of
flowers and steal the nectar. A few of them, including this one, are impressively blue.
There are 18 flowerpiercers, all in the same genus and mostly found in the Andes.

Turacos are spectacular African endemics, 18 species comprising an entire Order. They are unique, seeemingly, for being the only birds to have a green pigment in their feathers. All others have yellow pigment overlaid with blue (and thus looking green) by the light reflection trick we've been talking about here. However some of them do blue quite well too - I lament that my only photo of a Great Blue Turaco is too distant to be of use.

Hartlaub's Turaco Tauraco hartlaubi, Mount Kenya.
A gorgeous bird of the mountain forests of east Africa.

And lastly the Waxbills, more often known as grass finches in Australia (though as mentioned earlier, they are not true finches). The family Estrildidae contains some 140 species of little grass-seed eaters, found across southern Africa and Asia, and throughout Australia. Blue doesn't feature in the family for the most part, except for the parrotfinches (and my only photo is not for public display) and, as you'd expect, for the three species of cordonbleus, in the genus Uraeginthus. Here I can offer you two for the price of one.

Red-cheeked Cordonbleu Uraeginthus bengalus and Blue-capped Cordonbleu
Uraeginthus cyanocephalus, Serengeti NP. You'll work out which is which.
(The one on the left is a youngster and could be either.)

And that will do us for now I think, before we're all blued out. I'm not sure whether to continue next time with a final instalment of blue skin, scales, beaks, legs, insect wings etc, or go on to something else. I'm happy to take advice or requests, but I won't hold my breath for it!

Previous post in this series here.

Next post in this series here.

NEXT POSTING THURSDAY 25 FEBRUARY.
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