Aves Anonymous

🐦“Little sailor”

🇧🇷Biguá-das-chatham/Corvo-marinho-das-chatham

🇳🇿Chatham Islands Shag

📖(Leucocarbo onslowi)

Ahoy mates! Time has come again to explore this whole wide world through the discovery of another incredible bird! The next stop in our never-ending cruise of bonheur (as the French would say) is this lovely blue-eyed sailor from the Chatham Islands, in New Zealand. Yes, New Zealand, yet again, but what can I say? They do have amazing birds to discover every time. These funny little shags live in large colonies along the coast, but most of their breeding and social behaviours remain a mystery to us. And they risk disappearing before we even learn much else about them, for our little sailor is considered to be critically endangered by the IUCN Red List. They are highly disturbed by increased human activities and introduced predators on the island. Although little is known of their breeding habits, we do know that they settle in colonies and incubate a clutch of 2 - 4 eggs for about 30 days. But the timelines are messy, it varies from colony to colony, and some even say that the colonies living in the Te Whanga Lagoon breed months earlier before the other colonies! Their chosen place of habitat (along the coastal line) is directly linked to their diet, for these birds mainly feed on fish and other marine animals such as squids and octupus… octopieces… Octo-pie? Octopuses? Octoplenty!

Plenty of fun with these amazing shag-divers I am sure!

Sources:

https://youtu.be/WyypX3Ne3RI?si=yJOv2_d1OnLcrZAL

https://www.nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/chatham-island-shag

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatham_Islands_shag

https://ebird.org/species/chisha1

https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/chatham-islands-shag-leucocarbo-onslowi

🐦“Mr. Matchmaker”

🇧🇷 Galo-das-pradarias-grande

🇺🇸 Greater prairie-chicken

📖(𝘛𝘺𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘶𝘤𝘩𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥𝘰)

Booming season is just over, guys... Those chickens were out there doing their thing, pumping up their yellow neck patches and calling out their mates. "Love is in the air", as they say and now it's time for baby prairie-chicks to thrive. When I first read their latin name, I honestly burst out laughing. I could not imagine Linnaeus checking this bird out and being “yo, this is the most romantic animal I’ve ever seen, imma call it cupido”. Hilarious, right? It does have a reason, though. Apparently, its erectile neck feathers are similar to Cupid’s wings. Similarly, their mating ritual is what they’re famous for. A small town in Minnesota actually adopted Mr. Matchmaker here as their official animal and built the biggest Greater prairie-chicken statue in the whole wide world. To be fair, I don’t believe the competition is very fierce. The statue portrays an adult male, because only them have the inflatable yellow patches to woo the ladies. These fierce territorial boomers mainly feed on seeds and fruits, but they can also eat some insects, if it comes to that. Our love-chickens were actually widespread across the United States, populating the prairies by the thousands. Alas, like many other bird stories we tell here, their numbers have massively dropped due to habitat loss (over 95% of prairies in the US have been turned into agricultural lands) and hunting. During the 19th century, you could see those chickens everywhere, dude. It went from huge population to near extinction in the 1930’s. They are also challenged by the introduction of exotic predators and nest competitors, like the Common Pheasant. Since we’re talking about nests, once the booming season is successfully concluded, the hens lay 5 to 17 eggs that take a bit over 3 weeks to hatch. Our chick Boomers reach sexual maturity around the age of 1, when the booming cycle starts again. By the way, if you live in the states, you can check out their display around sunset time between late March and April!

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_prairie-chicken

https://www.nature.org/en-us/get-involved/how-to-help/animals-we-protect/greater-prairie-chicken/

👻“Ghost-bird”

🇧🇷Urutau/Mãe-da-Lua

🇬🇧Common Potoo

📖(Nyctibius griseus)

In honor of this awesome square month (february 2026!) and its Friday the 13th, we decided to present to you guys the mysterious voice of the night, the nightmare of bugs and frogs, the scary cry of the dawn, your one and only: The Ghost-Bird! Seriously though, have you heard them vocalizing? Chills, literal chills. Maybe that explains the insane amount of Amerindian folklore surrounding this amazing bird, starting with its name “Urutau”. I really wish I had come up with that name (because it obviously rules), but the credit goes all to the indigenous people of South America, for their name means “ghost bird” in tupi. Legend is that a tupi girl fell in love with a guarani boy and they couldn't be together for their tribes were mortal enemies, so the girl ran into the woods and the loss of her great love turned her into a bird that sings its pain into the night, a painful “hu hu hu”. The urutau is fairly common across South America, but its population is decreasing both to habitat loss and also to stupid people thinking it is actually a bearer of misfortune. Lonely creatures of the darkness (omg batman?), they capture bugs and moths on flight, with a single TOOTH that helps catch the prey. During the day, they mostly stay on a branch, motionless and thanks to their THREE EYELIDS MAGIC EYE SYSTEM they can close their eyes and still see everything! Dope. Monogamous creatures, the couple cares equally for a single egg with lilac spots laid inside a branch. Anyway they are such awesome creatures with big beautiful yellow eyes. Big. Yellow.

Sources:

https://www.wikiaves.com.br/wiki/urutau

https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urutau-comum

https://www.oiseaux.net/oiseaux/ibijau.gris.html

🐦“Phoenixissaurus”

🇧🇷Jacu-cigano/Cigana/Catingueira

🇬🇧Hoatzin

📖(Opisthocomus hoazin)

You know how people say birds are basically modern-day dinosaurs? Well this is particularly true when it comes to this oddly weird (and smelly) South-American bird. The Hoatzin is this awesome phoenix-like dinosauric bird that is born with CLAWS! Yes, you read it right: the younglings are born with claws on their wings like a freaking pterodactyl, so that they can hop on branches (they fall off the nest quite a lot). The oddness does not stop there; in fact they are so unique, that after a recent genetic study, they have been placed in a separate order altogether! If you thought it was over, they come and amaze you all again: this bird does not digest food like its fellow avians. Instead, they digest their beloved leaves and sprouts for a looooong time (45h or so) in a symbiotic process with bacteria on their crop. Like a cow. This crop is 50 times bigger than its stomach. I’m not joking. That’s actually why they’re also called “stinky” (Catingueira) in Portuguese, for their poop can smell real bad. They tend to be clumsy in flight, but fairly good swimmers. The Hoatzin live in small groups of roughly 50 individuals and apparently the community does co-parenting? Omg, it really does take a village. The hatch is usually composed of 2 - 5 eggs and the baby dinos need full-time care. In addition to being clumsy, they are quite noisy, which makes them quite easy to spot along the Amazonian rivers. In summary: they are birds that have claws like dinosaurs, eat like cows, croak like frogs and swim like fish. If birds were pokémon, the Hoatzin would be the final master form.

Sources:

https://portalamazonia.com/amazonia/dia-das-aves-entenda-a-importancia-a-cigana-da-amazonia/

https://youtu.be/yzSIP5NkY8I?si=NPzPOGS-CGxZrzzC

https://www.wikiaves.com.br/wiki/cigana

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoatzin

🐦 “Writer of the snow”

🇧🇷Escrevedeira das neves

🇺🇸Snow Bunting

📖 (Plectrophenax nivalis)

Well here we are. It's almost summer in the northern hemisphere and as a reminder of the good ol’ winter days, we will present to you an Arctic specialist, the Queen Elsa of the birds, the most northerly passerine bird in the world. This snowy fairy princess nivalis bird (nivalis as in latin for “snow-white”) is present all across the circumpolar Arctic under 4 different subspecies. Much like Elsa, when she gets her full-on makeover, the snow bunting also changes its style during breeding season: the male is mainly white, with black wingtips and back. The female, much more stylish in my humble opinion, has a brownish touch to her plumage, on the top of the head, cheeks and chest. During the non-breeding season, they’re quite similar, with brownish plumage a bit diffuse over the white. They actually get rid of their brownish plumage by repeatedly rubbing its feathers in the snow! Quite the singers, those guys, they rely a lot on their vocalizations for communication, mating and protection of their territories, each male having its own unique vocalization. I can already imagine them whistling “Let it go” when they think no one is listening. When winter comes, they all migrate a bit south, using their awesome geomagnet superpowers to orientate themselves. They eat a whole variety of seeds and weeds and small invertebrates, especially right before the breeding season starts, when their overall mass must increase by up to 30%! That’s how they survive those very low Arctic temperatures. In fact, males actually return to the Arctic to find good nesting spots when the temperatures are still very very low! We're talking -30°C, seriously! Females only join them about 4 weeks later. It worries me deeply to think about the future of this species, in sight of climate change.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_bunting

https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escrevedeira-das-neves

https://www.biodiversity4all.org/taxa/117059-Plectrophenax-nivalis

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Snow_Bunting/overview

🐦“Sad Martin”

🇧🇷Mainato-de-mascarilha-amarela

🇬🇧Common myna

🇫🇷Martin triste

📖(Acridotheres tristis)

That's it. We finally did it. We discovered the reason why this little guy is so sad. Abandoned. Given up on. Helpless (yay hamilton ref). Sounds pretty much like my college semester if I might add… Sorry about going so long without Bird Info™‼️But we're back and ready to birdnerd all over the place!

I imagine my bro Martin must have gone through a lot of goodbyes and sorrows, hence the name. So relatable. Today we draw inspiration from their French name “Martin triste”. Drama queen behavior much? This bird is native to South Asia but is causing lots of problems in a bunch of different places around the world. Their mega territorialist behavior alongside a great adaptation to the urban environment makes them not the best choice to introduce as an exotic species (not that someone should ever do that, please be noted). These burglars evict other birds from their nests and are listed as one of the worst threats to native Australian species. To top it all up, these guys are omnivorous, so definitely not picky with food at all, which helps with invading basically any habitat ever. Being from the same family as common starlings (Sturnidae), they have pretty insane vocalizations and are able to mimic lots of different sounds. Very social birds, you can notice roost behavior (them flying around the sky together doing crazy air tricks) after sunrise and during sunset. Must be quite a show, one I would like to see.

Fun fact: this bird has many names in Sanskrit (they're actually native to India), which include कलहप्रिया (kalahapriyā), “one who is fond of arguments”, given their beefy behavior and insane vocalization abilities. The other one is चित्रनेत्र (chitranetra), “pretty eyes”, which i find to be very accurate.

Sources:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S037663571630273X

https://www.oiseaux.net/oiseaux/martin.triste.html

https://journals.co.za/doi/abs/10.10520/EJC96625

🐦💂🏻‍♂️“South English Police”

🇧🇷Polícia-inglesa-do-sul

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿White-browed meadowlark

📖(Leistes superciliaris)

It’s been a while since we last introduced you to a fellow bird. But what better bird to present than the South English Police??? His call is literally a whistle. If you’re looking for it in the open south american rice fields, you might feel like the cops are close, it’s a very high-pitched short whistle-like sound. They are quite vocal dudes, especially in the morning. As it often happens with Brazilian birds, these guys have a bunch of different names according to the different regions, one funnier than the other. My favorites are: “ox-heart” and “rice-hurricane”. They love to stay near open fields, especially rice plantations (how Brazilian of them) and are quite adaptable, found from northeast Brazil all the way to north Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia. These sexually dimorphic passerines feed mainly on grains and insects. They make low cup-shaped nests on the ground and lay 3 to 5 eggs. The south english police is the cutest bird ever and I’m absolutely positive they would make the nicest cops, doing none of those atrocities that we all know of. Go out and support your local bossy birds in their enterprises!

IUCN : Low concern

Sources:

https://www.wikiaves.com.br/wiki/policia-inglesa-do-sul

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-browed_meadowlark

https://ebird.org/species/whbbla2

https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leistes_superciliaris

🐦”Açaí dove”

🇧🇷 Pombo-da-fruta-magnífico

🇦🇺Wompoo Fruit Dove

📖(Ptilinopus magnificus)

Well I know there is no such thing as açaí in Australia, but as soon as the bright purple from this bird hit my eyes, I knew I would forever call it Açaí dove. Which is great, because I LOVE açaí. And doves. Congrats to Australia (and New Guinea too, in this case) for having the most beautiful silly birds. This one is indeed, as its latin name indicates, magnificus. Despite all those bright colors, they are very shy, discreet individuals, difficult to spot in the thick rainforest. They don't like to fly very high, they don't talk much, they don't wander around far… These birds mainly care about eating their fruits peacefully and getting on with their lives. OH BUT WE HAVE TO TALK ABOUT HOW THEY EAT! No manners at all, they just swallow these huge fruits whole, they're like the pacman of doves. They looove figs. I guess it’s appropriate, given their color. And they make such a mess!! Fruits fall all over the place, which at least is a good indicator for avid birders to spot them. Fun fact: they can't digest seeds, unlike many pigeons, which is excellent news for the forest, since they will just poop the tree seeds all over the place! To be fair, columbiformes aren't exactly known for their tidiness, and when it comes to nest building skills, it's the same with this dove. They make the most flimsy nest ever and lay one single white egg. The Wompoo fruit dove is currently considered vulnerable by the NSW state, due to increasing fires and habitat destruction.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wompoo_fruit_dove

https://birdlife.org.au/bird-profiles/wompoo-fruit-dove/?srsltid=AfmBOooqpv_HbcfQQVNGpPLNuO3qD4NkaFa2750ezXcQlkTAWERUf6W3

https://threatenedspecies.bionet.nsw.gov.au/profile?id=10707

🐦“King Midas”

🇧🇷Papa-mel filigrana

🇦🇺Regent Honeyeater

📖(Anthochaera phrygia)

Take a good look at this nature’s work of art. The regent honeyeater is one of Australia’s most endangered species, viewed as an emblematic symbol of woodland conservation in the Victoria and NSW region. Its yellow pattern is carefully entwined in its black body and gives the impression that its feathers are embroidered with gold. Perhaps that’s where it gets its scientific name “phrygia” from, as Phrygia was a kingdom from antiquity,  famously known for making beautiful pieces of embroidery with gold. I wonder if they could be another victim of Midas the king (who comes from Phrygia btw), if they were touched by him and just learned how to stop the process of turning into gold.  These birds used to be found more abundantly in eastern and south Australia, but habitat reduction made the population decrease drastically and rapidly. They are great agents of pollination, especially linked to some eucalyptus species! They live, nest and feed in those trees, centering their diet mainly on its  nectar, but they can also enjoy some insects and their honeydew. They are so endangered that they are actually losing their native calling. Instead, some younglings learn to mimic other Honeyeater species callings because of the lack of adults to learn from. This makes them the only Honeyeater species to "mimic" others. Their calling has a metallic aspect and they are curiously way more vocal during winter. Fun fact, in some places in Australia, they were actually known as “Embroidered Honeyeaters”.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regent_honeyeater#Conservation_status

https://birdlife.org.au/bird-profiles/regent-honeyeater/?srsltid=AfmBOoqo1BE9HgzwOOmCugOuTQXiZwXY07tyE_AJ_IOXQKtEav_BalQM

https://taronga.org.au/animals/regent-honeyeater

https://www.zoo.org.au/fighting-extinction/local-threatened-species/regent-honeyeater/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrygia

https://wwf.org.au/blogs/a-reflection-of-regent-honeyeaters/

🐦“Cat’s soul”

🇧🇷Alma-de-gato

🇺🇸Squirrel cuckoo

📖(Piaya cayana)

Imagine if a cat and a squirrel co-parented a baby bird together. Now imagine this chick being a cuckoo chick. It would result in the most silly, mischievous bird ever. Which of course exists and it’s the Cat’s soul (squirrel cuckoo). In Portuguese this cuckoo has more common names than Fernando Pessoa’s heteronyms, all mostly related to its long tails, its “kip! wheeeeu” chant or its big nose, but it was their habit of hopping on trees and jumping from branch to branch that was greatly captured under their “squirrel cuckoo” name. Unlike most cuckoos species who infamously just abandon their eggs to other birds’ nests, they actually make their own nests AND care for their chicks for a few weeks (incredible! cuckoo parents of the year award fr). They build an open cup-shaped nest with leaves and twigs up in the trees and take turns incubating the eggs and caring for the babies. They feed their nestlings and themselves with caterpillars (even the big hairy dangerous ones), cicadas and other insects, which they looooooove. Not very keen on fruits though. Chicks follow the parents' example and hop right out of their nests before they can even fly. Which they do, sometimes, soaring in the air with stability thanks to their loooong beautiful tails. I must admit that I’m now a sucker for those very big red eyes. Big. Red. ok i’ll stop my LOTR references now i promise.

Sources:

https://bioone.org/journals/bulletin-of-the-british-ornithologists-club/volume-138/issue-3/bboc.v138i3.2018.a4/Nesting-biology-of-Squirrel-Cuckoo-Piaya-cayana-at-two-localities/10.25226/bboc.v138i3.2018.a4.full

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squirrel_cuckoo

https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alma-de-gato

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Squirrel_Cuckoo/overview

🐦“Saraheals-three-bowls”

🇧🇷Saracura-três-potes

🇬🇧Grey-cowled wood rail

📖(Aramides cajaneus)

Shoutout to my mom for introducing me to this bird. During COVID, while we were at my grandma's house, she would spend her days birding, mostly. And she taught me how to identify the saracura by its singing, which resembles its name (as if it's singing “três potes”). And oh boy, they sure are loud, especially at evening and dawn. That particular vocalization is a duet they make with their partners. They’ll occasionally invite their neighbors to the karaoke party, just ya know, to be nice. According to Brazilian lore, when they sing, rain is on its way. This odd red-eyed chicken-like bird loves to be near damp regions, just scratching the ground and minding their own business. They are not big fans of flying, though. They’ll try to escape running first and if that doesn’t work, then they’ll very clumsily fly away. They are omnivorous birds, and will eat just about anything. Seriously. From berries and crabs to giant otters’ shit (yes, poop!). And strangely enough, they feed at night. When breeding, they tend to be a very “Joey-doesn’t-share-food” kind of bird. The pairs are monogamous and both parents incubate the clutch of 3-7 eggs. I highly recommend checking out their sound, you’ll definitely hear “três pote, três pote, três pote”.

Sources:

https://www.wikiaves.com.br/wiki/saracura-tres-potes

https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saracura-tr%C3%AAs-potes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey-cowled_wood_rail

https://www.oiseaux.net/oiseaux/rale.de.cayenne.html

🐦 "Gang-swallow"

🇧🇷Andorinha-de-bando

🇬🇧Barn Swallow

📖(Hirundo rustica)

Every bird has something unique to teach us, and this particular one reminds me of the power of belonging to a group. Having a gang to call your own and protecting each other. In Portuguese we say that “one swallow alone doesn't make summer” (uma andorinha só não faz verão), we need the strength brought by collectiveness. And those birds sure know how to use that power, together they fly all over the world. The barn swallow is found under 6 subespecies, all over the planet and across all continents (spotted even in Antarctica!). Funny thing about birds, they have UNHINGED collective names and a group of swallows is called… a kettle of swallows! I immediately imagine them going like WHIIIIIEEE as white smoke comes out of their beaks. You can spot a kettle of swallows that goes up to thousands of individuals, migrating south together when the winter comes. The female and the male adults are very similar, though the latter have longer tails. They are exclusively insectivorous, catching their yummy lunch (mainly flies) in the middle of the flight. Though they have a good relationship with human activity (they avoid dense forests and prefer open spaces, often using human-made structures to nest), the use of pesticides threatens them deeply and so does climate change, making their migratory journey even more dangerous.

Fun fact: the males will reduce parental care with the chicks if they suspect the kids are not his (men, huh?)

Sources:

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirondelle_rustique https://www.audubon.org/magazine/barn-swallow-slowly-conquering-world

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barn_swallow

https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirundo_rustica

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003347288800599

🦜"Clown of the mountains"

🇧🇷Quia

🇳🇿Kea

📖 (Nestor notabilis)

Oh how I wish I had come up with this nickname! The only alpine parrot in the world is actually known as “clown of the mountains” because of their highly social, curious and friendly behaviour. Well, perhaps not very friendly, because they will absolutely steal your stuff if you’re not careful. Being this social, they like to live in large groups and suffer when alone in captivity. And the plot gets even better, because not only are they clowns, but a collective of Kea is actually called a CIRCUS! A circus of Kea. I’m not even joking. I mean, isn’t this the best parrot ever? The Kea is an endemic alpine bird of New Zealand, an endangered species under protection, mainly because of human activity, trafficking and hunting. They’re omnivores, eating plants, insects and mammals, including sheep carcasses, which historically pisses off the farmers quite a good deal. Though not all of them eat sheep, it’s not enough to prevent people from shooting and killing them. Unlike most of the Psittaciformes, they’re polygamous (big fiesta lol). Their name comes from the Maori language and it’s very similar to their calling (“keee-aaa”). The Waitaha tribe considers Kea to be guardians of their people.

Psittaciforme is one of the most endangered orders of birds in the world. Their bright colors, longevity (most of them living up to 60 years!) and incredible intelligence makes people think they have the right to capture them and keep them as pets. I personally believe that there’s nothing better than spotting a bird in nature while going on an adventure!

Sources:

https://teara.govt.nz/en/nga-manu-birds/page-6

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kea#

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parrot

🐦“Large-tailed-kiss-flower”

🇧🇷Beija-flor-de-cauda-larga

🇬🇧Broad-tailed hummingbird

📖(Selasphorus platycercus)

You are looking at a fellow from the mountains there. This “kiss-flower” is essential to the pollination of some highland hummingbird-flowered species, such as the Rocky Mountain Iris (Iris missouriensis). Without its kiss, the flowers wouldn’t pollinate and thrive and their kissers wouldn’t get any nectar, of course. Codependency and reliability in nature is actually really cute. They are not only nectarivorous, though, they can also feed on some small insects. Measuring 10 cm of pure awesomeness and weighing about 3.5g, they are considered to be a medium hummingbird (can you imagine the little ones??). They are a sexually dimorphic species and the females are paler and slightly larger than the males (girl power yay!). Males defend their territory using the whistle of their wings and to impress the ladies, they do aerial backflips and dope loops in the sky. As all hummingbirds, they have iridescent feathers, which means that they reflect the light and can appear to change colors according to the angle. That’s why you can spot some photos where they seem to have black throats. They don’t. It’s pink. Trust me. As a partially migratory hummingbird, their breeding occurs in the western part of the USA and they’re residents in Mexico and Guatemala. Some populations don’t even migrate. And insane: they can actually stop their kidneys from functioning at night to prevent dehydration!

I love hummingbirds and it’s so impressive how fast they fly and how fast their heartbeat is!

Sources:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003347283802243

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broad-tailed_hummingbird

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/mec.12614

https://avianconservationpartners-nm.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Broad-tailed-Hummingbird.pdf

🐦“Little-roll-of-the-flatlands”

🇧🇷Rolinha-do-planalto

🇬🇧Blue-eyed Ground-Dove

📖(Columbina cyanopis)

I was delighted to discover this wonderful bird, yet not surprised, since the Brazilian Cerrado holds so many unknown treasures it’s only natural that this amazing dove comes from there. First discovered in 1823, this blue fellow was thought to be extinct from 1941 until 2015, when Brazilian ornithologist Rafael Bessa spotted the first “Little-roll-of-the-flatlands” in years, living in a very particular area of the Cerrado. This species is considered critically endangered by the IUCN list, the reason being the massive destruction of the Cerrado biome by the agribusiness industry. Its scientific name literally means “blue-eyed dove” and I think that’s beautiful. In 2017, only 27 individuals were accounted for in the world (this bird being endemic to the Cerrado biome). This 15cm blue beauty feeds mainly on grains and has a very constant “whoap whoap whoap” kind of call (sorry about my terrible attempt at reproducing it). Both male and female are very similar, but the latter is paler than the former. Considering this blue-eyed preciousness disappeared off the radar for 75 YEARS, we still have loads to learn about them. I just hope we can do it before it’s too late. The cerrado must be protected.

Sources:

https://www.wikiaves.com.br/wiki/rolinha-do-planalto

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2530064421000201?via%3Dihub#sec0010

🐦“Pre-pope”

🇧🇷Cardeal do norte

🇺🇲Northern Cardinal

📖(Cardinalis cardinalis)

Ok, I have to be honest, I couldn’t let this one pass without a funny name, but literally translating wouldn’t do, for its name is already the Portuguese translation. I took advantage of the fact that a certain conclave was approaching back when I first wrote about them and tried to stay on theme. These 25cm birds are called like this because their vivid red plumage resembles Catholic cardinal’s outfits. A gorgeous red color that comes from metabolising carotenoids acquired from their diet. Being a sexually dimorphic species, the females are reddish-green with a red tuft on their heads. In some cases, the brighter a male is, the less he helps with nest duty (sounds familiar?) and the ladies are faced with the choice of either good genetics or a helpful hand with the nest. Occurring from the south of Canada, all the way across eastern USA, Mexico and a bit of central america, this bird is very abundant in North America and represents 7 USA states! They basically feed on grains and fruits, but can also eat small insects. Very territorialist individuals, they defend their land with… the power of their beautiful songvoices! But apparently they have a strong bite, so in case you missed the vocal warning, they won’t hesitate. Maybe that’s why they served as inspiration for the main guy from Angry Birds.

If you have bird suggestions for the next ones, we’ll gladly take them!

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_cardinal

https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardinalis_cardinalis

https://www.oiseaux.net/oiseaux/cardinal.rouge.html

https://animalia.bio/index.php/pt/northern-cardinal

Birds of a Feather Talk Together podcast ep. 10