KEY FACTS HAMERKOP SIZES '\ Length: About 2 feet. The male is slightly larger than the female. ~ ~i~~~~rmes ~ Scopidae Wingspan: 3 ft. Weight: About 1 lb. BREEDING Sexual maturity: 2-3 years. Breeding season: Varies according to locality. : 3-6, white. Incubation: 1 month. Fledging: 7 weeks. LIFESTYLE Habit: Usually seen singly or in • Range of the hamerkop. pairs. Sometimes small flocks. Diet: Small fish, amphibians, and DISTRIBUTION insects. The hamerkop is found throughout , south of the RElATED Desert. The hamerkop is the only member CONSERVATION of the family Scopidae. The hamerkop is not in danger of at present.

FEATURES OFTHf·HAMERKOP

Flight: Alternately flaps slowly and glides.

Plumage in flight: Orange-brown with Eggs: 3 to 6, white. lighter tail and wi ngtips. Incubated by both parents. Hatch after 30 days.

Bill: Black, heavy like a 's but hooked at the ti p.

Feeding: Eats small fish, and insects. Waits in shallows or on bank and scoops up prey in its bill. May also swoop The hamericop is a wading that is widespread throughout on prey from air. Africa. Using twigs and mud, it builds an enormous chambered nest that can measure more than six feet across. © MCMXCI IMP BV/IMP INC WILDLIFE FACT FILETM PRINTED IN U.S.A. 0160200461 PACKET 46 Left: An adult hamerkop DID YOU KNOW? searches for • Since the chicks are at prey beneath little risk from predators the mirror-calm surface ofa it is not clear why the ha• lake in . merkop builds such a large and protective nest. • A hamerkop's nest can bear a man's weight. Right: The • Some African tribes be• hamerkop is lieve the hamerkop has thought to pair for life. It rein• magical powers. Others forces this bond see it as an evil omen and with comical• leave their huts if it sits looking court• on a roof or flies above. ship acts. l Although the hamerkop is the only member of the ~ FOOD & HUNTING down. After a month, they are family Scopidae, it resembles a in flight, and it The hamerkop prefers a habi• Then it scoops up the prey in The hamerkop probably pairs tat with tree cover near rivers, its flattened bill. Sometimes for life. Its breeding season fully feathered. They are ready has a bill similar to that of a heron. Its name is the marshes, and estuaries. It pa• the hamerkop flies slowly over varies according to locality. to leave the nest 20 days later trols the banks or shallows on the water, searching out prey Both parents incubate the and disperse soon afterward. Afrikaans word for "hammerhead" and refers its long legs, using its keen eye• before spooning it up. eggs and feed their three to six The parents usually return to the same nest the following to the bird's distinctive brown crest. sight to spot the movements Below: Clean shallows yield fish, chicks. When they hatch, the of frogs, insects, and small fish. frogs, and insects. chicks are covered in grayish year to rear another brood. ~ H AB I TS Usually seen singly or in pairs, as comical. Most active in day• the hamerkop may also gather time, this bird is usually seen in small flocks. This bird has a in shallow water or in flight. habit of calling shrilly just be• When flying, the hamerkop fore rainfall. During courtship resembles a stork but moves it leaps and hops around its in• more slowly. tended mate in a ritual that is Below: The hamerkop has a loud, described by some observers raucous cry. ~ NESTING The hamerkop builds a huge structure, while the other pulls dome-shaped nest with an it from the opposite side. Once entrance tunnel and a small most of the sticks are in place, nursery room inside. Both part• one bird coats the nest with ners build the nest, usually in a mud. Finally, a lining of grass tree or on a cliff. The walls are is added. Such a nest is highly a foot thick, and the roof is prized by other such as over twice as thick. owls, who evict the hamerkop The pair works closely on if they can. the nest, which takes about Right: Built by both adults, the six weeks to build. One bird dome-shaped nest is a fortress of passes a stick through the sticks and mud. "'CARD 132 I KEY FACTS FULVOUS WHISTLING- SJ SIZES Length: 17-21 in. '(~------~ Wing length: 8-9 in. FAMILY ~ & SPECIES Weight: 20-30 oz. ~ ~ Dendroeygna bie%r BREEDING Sexual maturity: 1 year. Breeding season: Varies depending on location. No. of eggs: 8-1 6, pale buff. Incubation period: 4 weeks. Fledging period: 8-12 weeks. LIFESTYLE Habit: Sociable, freshwater dab• bling duck. Range of the fulvous whistling-duck. Diet: Aquatic vegetation, insects, and invertebrates. DISTRIBUTION Lifespan: Usually 3 years. In cap• Widespread in southern parts of North America. Also found in tivity, up to 20 years. South America, Africa, central Asia, and Southeast Asia.

RELATED SPECIES CONSERVATION There are 8 other species, including Despite its adaptability and mobility, the fulvous whistling-duck the Indian whistling-duck, Dendro• suffers from continuing habitat loss and local persecution. It has cygna javanica, and the white-faced become rare in India and in some other parts of its range. whistling-duck, D. viduata.

I Body: The head shape is very distinctive with a steep fore• head and a wedge-shaped gray bill . The general coloring is brownish yellow with streaks of white and black.

The fulvous whistling-duck is a long-legged and long-necked bird. This gooselike duck gets its name from the loud and somewhat shrill whistling call it makes when it is flying. © MCMXCII IMP BV/IMP INC WILDLIFE FACT FILETM PRINTED IN U.S.A. 0160200511 PACKET 51 Left: The ful• vous whistling• ~ BREEDING duck prefers to Untike most , fulvous for the large number of eggs live in groups rather than on whistling-ducks form a strong that they lay, and the fulvous its own. In the pair bond when they are about whistling-duck is no exception. early evening a year old; this usually lasts for Clutches of up to 16 eggs are the birds gath• life. Within the duck's range, the not uncommon and take more er in the shal• breeding season varies so that than two weeks to lay. The par• lows to feed, calling to each the ducklings hatch when food ents take turns incubating the other with their is most abundant. eggs for a month. Soon after distinctive The fulvous whistling-duck the ducklings hatch, they are whistling song. often nests in colonies close to led to the water, where they the water. The nest is made of swim in perfectly straight lines. aquatic vegetation, trampled Young ducks mature slowly and down by both parents. often remain near their parents Whistling-ducks are renowned until the next breeding season.

The fulvous whistling-duck is one of nine species ~ FOOD & FEEDING of whistling-duck that can be found throughout Early and late in the day, the ful• food at the shallow edges of vous whistling-duck feeds in lakes and slow-flowing rivers. the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. small groups. It dabbles, reach• At home on land, the fulvous ing with its bill to the bottom of whistling-duck stands and walks This duck is among the most widespread of all the water, and upends to eat like a small goose. It grazes and birds, and it is the only species of waterfowl seeds, leaves, and stems as well pokes about bankside vegeta• as various crustaceans and water tion. It also feeds on nearby to breed in all four hemispheres. invertebrates. It finds most of its crops, annoying farmers.

Right: Both Above: Most ~ HABITS parents build families of ful• The fulvous whistling-duck is a but it will readily take advan• the nest from vous whistling• the surround• ducks are larger very sociable duck that flocks tage of fresh feeding grounds ing vegetation. than the one with its own kind and readily or more suitable nesting sites. After gathering shown here, associates with other waterfowl The fulvous whistling-duck the materials, numbering up species. It is found on four con• produces loud, often harsh they trample to 16 chicks. tinents and inhabits a variety and metallic whistling calls the grasses The young down to form usually stay of freshwater habitats from when feeding and flying. A the nest shape. close to their marshes to lakes at altitudes up slow but able flyer, it is easily mother for to 5,000 feet. Most often it lives recognized in the air by its about a year. in the lowlands on open waters long neck, hunched shoulders, with dense fringe vegetation, and trailing feet.

DID YOU KNOW? Left: The ful• ~ FUlVOUS WHISTLING-DUCK & MAN vous whistling• The fulvous whistling-duck has With the use of safer chemicals, • The fulvous whistling-duck four continents, the fulvous duck is related is also known as the large whistling-duck is remarkably to the goose suffered a worldwide decline in however, the duck population whistling teal. Another name uniform in size and color. family. Its ele• numbers due to increasing pol• has been slowly rising. gant neck and is the Mexican or Texan • Female whistling-ducks lution of its habitats. In some Some farmers consider this its long legs parts of India the duck is now duck a pest and actively de• squealer-because it squeals may lay their eggs together make it look rare, and the increasing aridity stroy it. It is also hunted, but when it takes to the air. in "dump nests." One nest more like a • Although its range spans may contain over 100 eggs. goose than of sub-Saharan Africa has also its slow flight is unchallenging, a duck. led to a population decline. and its flesh tastes bad. ""CARD 133 I KEY FACTS TODY SIZES ,,______G _ R _ O _ U _ P _ 2 _ : _ B ~ IR ~ D ~ S __~ Length: 4-5 in. Weight: ~-y. oz. ORDER FAMILY GENUS Coraciiformes Todidae Todus BREEDING Sexual maturity: 1-2 years. No. of broods: 1 per year. Breeding season: May and June. Eggs: White, round; usually 2-4 per clutch. Incubation period: 20 days. Fledging period: 3 weeks. LIFESTYLE Call: Harsh, chattering sound. Habit: Territorial. Lives in pairs. Range of the tody. Diet: Bees, wasps, dragonflies, beetles, butterflies, and other in• DISTRIBUTION sects; also young lizards and small Found in and wooded mountains on the four largest . islands of the Caribbean: Jamaica, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Lifespan: Unknown. Hispaniola.

RELATED SPECIES CONSERVATION The 5 species of tody are closely re• Conservation measures do not seem to be necessary at the lated to the motmots of South and present time. Central America.

THE FIVE SPECIES OF TODY

Cuban lody: This species has a white breast and a patch of pink on its flanks.

Broad-billed Puerto Rican lody: Distinguished lody: Has a by a band of yellow on its flanks . faint pink-and• yellow coloring Narrow-billed and a shorter, lody: Has a fatter bill than rose pink color other species. on the breast and a longer, narrower bill .

Jamaican 10 . Known locally as Todies are small, brilliantly colored birds that are native to the larger Legs: The front three toes "robin redbreast." are fused together. The Has a slight hint islands of the Caribbean. The five species of tody are closely related legs are protected by horny of green on its to the South American motmots, another colorful family of birds. scales, like those of the kingfisher. breast .

© MCMXCII IMP BV/IMP INC WILDLIFE FACT FILETM PRINTED IN U.S.A. 0160200531 PACKET 53 ~ FOOD & FEEDING Todies eat flying insects such insect, catch it with its long as bees, wasps, dragonflies, bill, and then return to the beetles, and butterflies. They perch to consume its catch. also feed on young lizards and The upper part of a tody's other small animals, swooping bill has a serrated edge for down to the ground to catch crushing hard-bodied insects their prey. before they are eaten. When A tody usually plucks insects it feeds on a large-winged from the undersides of leaves. insect like a butterfly, a tody It may also perch on a branch swallows the body whole close to the ground and scan after tearing off the insect's the air, looking for prey. A wings by beating it against tody will dart out at a passing a branch.

left: A tody has a long that Right: After catching its prey, a is specially adapted for plucking tody returns to its branch before insects from the air. swallowing the insect.

All five species of tody are a striking iridescent green

with a bright red throat. The main difference between At the start of the breeding round, translucent white eggs season, a pair of todies digs a on the bare floor of the nesting the species is the color of their underparts, which may be tiny nest burrow, usually in a chamber. Both parents take white or pale gray with flashes of yellow on the belly and banked site near a stream or turns incubating the eggs, road. The burrow is in soft, which hatch after 20 days. pink on the flanks. But despite their distinctive coloring, moist earth about 12 to 18 The chicks are born naked, inches above the base of the pink, and blind, but their eyes todies are easy to overlook because of their tiny size. bank. Both sexes work on the open after about a week. They burrow, using their feet and are fed insects by both parents. long bills to dig a narrow tun• In feeding their young, breed• ~ HABITS nel about a foot long. The en• ing parents accept help from A tody spends much of the day chase away any other birds. trance is just wide enough for other pairs of birds. The chicks perched in a tree with its bill Todies live in forests and the birds to squeeze through. fledge in about three weeks pointed upward. Occasionally it wooded mountains, often be• After a sharp turn near the en• but stay close to their parents swoops out of the tree to feed side streams. They are called trance, the tunnel opens into a for a few weeks more until they on passing insects. by many different names, de• round nesting chamber about can catch their own food. The A tody has a harsh, chatter• pending on the species and the size of a man's fist. young birds lack the red throat ing call. In flight, it makes a its location. For example, the The female lays two to four patch of the adult todies. buzzing sound with its wings. Jamaican tody (Todus todus) It has a special flight is called "robin redbreast" in that produces a whirring noise Jamaica because it has a red DID YOU KNOW? when it flies. Both male and throat. Cubans call the Cu• • In displaying to a female, a of an adult's body weight. female make this noise during ban tody (T. multicolor) the male tody droops his wings • After todies breed, their the mating season. barranco-rio, which means and fluffs his feathers so he burrows are often taken Although it may live alone, "river gorge," because it of• looks twice his usual size. over by animals like mice. a tody usually lives with a ten digs its nesting cavity in • A chick is fed an average of • Todies are easy to tame mate. The pair keeps to a a steep riverbank. '40 times a day. but difficult to keep. One bird in the Bronx Zoo ate small, well-defined territory, Right: A tody perches on a branch, • A tody's eggs are very large which the male defends by waiting to swoop down on a pass• for such a small bird. Each almost half its weight in rattling his pointed bill to ing insect. weighs up to 39 percent food every day. "" CARD 1 34 I KEY FACTS TYRANT FLYCATCHER SIZES ,,~------~~~~~ Length: 2-20 in. Male usually lon• ... ORDER .... FAMILY GENERA ger than female. ~ Passeriformes ~ Tyrannidae Tyrannus, Conopias, Pitangus, etc. Weight: ~ -3 oz. Male usually heavi• er than female.

BREEDING Sexual maturity: 1 year in most species. No. of broods: Usually 1 . Breeding season: Spring and early summer. Eggs: 2-8, usually 3-4. White, often mottled brown. LIFESTYLE Range of tyrant flycatchers. Habit: Territorial. Diet: Insects, berries, and tropical DISTRIBUTION fruits. Larger species also eat small Found in open country, scrub, woodlands, and rainforests from fish, lizards, and snakes. Canada south to Tierra del Fuego; also in the West Indies and Call: Whistled or warbled notes. Galapagos Islands. Migratory species live farthest north.

RELATED SPECIES CONSERVATION There are over 300 species of Conservation measures do not seem to be necessary at this tyrant flycatcher. All of them are time, although some tropical species may be declining due found in the Western Hemisphere. to habitat destruction.

FEATURES OF TYRANT FLYCATCHERS

Chasing flight: -r Highlyaggres• sive in breeding season . Will chase much larger birds from Eggs: Most its territory. species lay from 2 to 8 eggs. Usually white, Crest: Shows Bee: The eastern often mottled only at times of kingbird 's fa• brown. stress or vorite prey. For agg ression . this reason , the kingbird is also known by the Tail: Long . Allows rapid changes of names "beebird " direction when chasing and "bee martin ." prey in the air.

EASTERN KINGBIRD (Tyrannus tyrannus) Tyrant flycatchers are a large family of perching birds with a range This common tyrant flycatcher that spans the Americas. Although they differ in habit and species nests in southern Canada and much of the United States. appearance, all of the species share a taste for insects. .9 MCMXCI IMP BV/IMP INC WILDLIFE FACT FILETM PRINTED IN U.S.A . 0160200481 PACKET 48 ~ FOOD &: FEEDING Most species of tyrant flycatcher of minute crevices in leaves and feed on flying insects. They of• twigs. Many pygmy-tyrants have ten wait on a branch and then spoon-shaped bills to help them quickly fly out to catch passing scoop up prey from the under• prey. Species that catch prey in sides of leaves. the air usually have long forked Most species also eat berries tails that enable them to sud• or tropical fruits, and larger denly change direction in flight. species eat lizards, small mam• By contrast, the shrike-tyrant of mals, and birds as well. The the Andes swoops down from greater kiskadee takes almost high branches to snatch insects any prey that is small enough and lizards on the ground. to eat. It prefers fish and tad• Species such as the ground• poles, however, and it swoops tyrant have narrow bills that are down and plucks them out of adapted for picking insects out shallow water.

Left: The sulphur-bellied flycatcher Right: The thick bill of the boat• is a migratory species that winters billed flycatcher lets it pluck prey in South America. from under leaves.

Left: The flam• Over 300 species of tyrant flycatcher have been recorded DID YOU KNOW? boyant crest • Many species of tyrant fly- • The short-tailed pygmy• and bright and named to date, but there are probably even more catcher are named for the tyrant is the smallest tyrant of the living in the remote parts of the South American sounds they make, including flycatcher in the world. At royal flycatcher are unusual the eastern phoebe and the 2 inches long and weighing rainforests. Some species have very long forked among tyrant great kiskadee. ;.4 ounce, it is about the same flycatchers. The • Large flocks made up of size as some hummingbirds. tails, and a few are brightly colored. But the most common many different species of • Over 1 0 percent of all the species are most common species of tyrant flycatcher are tyrant flycatcher inhabit rain• land bird species in South much more forests in the eastern Andes America belong to the tyrant drably colored. drab brownish gray or a dull olive color. and the Amazon basin. flycatcher family. ~ HABITS Tyrant flycatchers live in habi- America usually migrate to Cen• The breeding habits of tyrant the eggs. A clutch can have up tats that vary from evergreen tral and South America in late flycatchers vary with the spe• to eight eggs but usually con• forests in northern Canada to summer. Some species change cies. Some tropical species pair tains three or four. The white rainforests in South America. their habits when they are in for life and live in a permanent eggs, often mottled with red• They are found in great num• their winter ranges. For exam• territory, while others have more dish brown, hatch in 14 to 20 bers, although some species ple, the eastern kingbird, which than one mate. Migratory spe• days. Both sexes usually feed have a very restricted distribu• breeds in southern Canada and cies pair when they return to the young. tion. A few species live on the the United States, attacks birds northern breeding grounds. Most young soon find their ground, but most tyrant fly• that enter its breeding territory, The female usually builds the own territory and breed during catchers are tree-dwellers. even large species such as crows nest, which may be a woven the next season. But the young Some species pair for life and and hawks. But when wintering cup, hanging sphere, or simple of some tropical species stay are territorial year-round. Other in the Amazon basin, the east• structure in a hollow. The male with their parents until the fol• birds form flocks of up to several ern kingbird loses its aggressive protects her while she incubates lowing year. The young of the hundred mixed species when tendencies, and it joins other white-bearded flycatcher stay Left: Tyrant flycatchers' nests not breeding. tyrant flycatcher species in huge, for several years, helping to rear range from basic constructions The birds that breed in North nomadic flocks. to skillfully woven cups. subsequent broods. "'CARD 135 I KEY FACTS EURASIAN AVOCET SIZES Length: 16-18 in. Male larger than ,,~------~ female. ORDER FAMILY GENUS &: SPECIES Charadriiformes RecUlvirostridae Recurvirostra avosetta Length of bill: About 3 in. Wingspan: 2~ ft. BREEDING Sexual maturity: 2 years, some• times 3. Breeding season: April to May. No. of broods: 1 . Eggs: Usually 3 or 4. Incubation: 23-25 days. Fledging period: 5-6 weeks. LIFESTYLE Range of the Eurasian avocet. Habit: Sociable outside the breed• ing season. DISTRIBUTION Diet: Insects, worms, small crus• Found on salt marshes and lagoons in widely scattered areas taceans, and plants. from Great Britain east to central Asia and China, and in much Call: Loud protective yelp. of Africa south of the Sahara Desert.

RELATED SPECIES CONSERVATION Related to the American avocet, Numbers have dropped in most populations due to loss of Recurvirostra americana, Australian habitat from drainage. avocet, R. novaehollandiae, and Chilean avocet, R. andina.

FEATURES OF THE EURASIAN AVOCET

Eggs: Usually 3 or 4, yellowish Flight: Long legs with black blotches. Parents trail out behind take turns incubating them for body. Snowy 23-25 days. white underside with black wingtips .

Bill: Long, thin , and upcurved . Avocet sweeps bill from side to side , sifting small creatures and plants from the water to eat.

The Eurasian avocet is a graceful wading bird with a unique upturned Legs: Blue-gray. Long legs are ideal for wading quietly through water bill. While most waders probe the mud for food, the avocet uses its while searching for food. curved, sensitive bill to skim the water for plants and tiny animals. © MCMXCII IMP BV/IMP INC WILDLIFE FACT FILETM PRINTED IN U.S.A. 0160200491 PACKET 49 ~ FOOD &: FEEDING The Eurasian avocet is a large food. It opens its bill slightly long-legged . It lives in and sweeps it from side to side coastal salt marshes but will as it skims the water surface, fil• feed around inland lakes and tering out food. estuaries that are less salty. It The Eurasian avocet also up• eats mostly insects, worms, ends like a duck to search for and small crustaceans that live food in deeper water. A young in briny waters. avocet picks for food, however, The Eurasian avocet uses its until the distinctive curve of its curved, sensitive bill to locate bill develops fully.

Left: The juvenile Eurasian avocet Right: The avocet often feeds at the is easily identified by its pale brown water's edge, probing the sand plumage. with its long bill. The Eurasian avocet is a sociable bird that forms flocks DID YOU KNOW? ~ I of various sizes, ranging from six individuals to as • The Eurasian avocet was • The Eurasian avocet is most BIRDWATCH once called the "yelper" active at dawn and dusk but The Eurasian avocet can be The Eurasian avocet's long, many as several hundred. This bird lives and feeds because of the loud yelps it sometimes searches for food easily identified by the black• upturned bill is highly distinc• utters if an intruder gets too on moonlit nights. and-white stripes on its body tive. When it feeds, the bird in salt marshes and lagoons. It engages in an close to its nest and young. • When there are floods dur• and wings. In flight, when sweeps the water from side elaborate courtship and mating ceremony that • The British Royal Society for ing the nesting season, the observed from below, the to side with its bill. the Protection of Birds uses avocet builds its nest higher avocet is all white except for The avocet's loud protective usually takes place in shallow water. the avocet as its logo. to raise it above the water. its black wingtips. yelp is an easy call to recognize. ~ HABITS ~ BREEDING Of the four species of avocet, birds are occasionally seen on The Eurasian avocet's courtship defends it vigorously. Because the Eurasian avocet has the wintering grounds. Once pair and mating usually take place sites near food are limited, Eur• widest distribution. It is found bonds have been formed at in shallow water. The female asian avocets often breed in from Great Britain to Africa the beginning of the breeding leans forward, stretching her dense colonies. and the Far East. The avocet season, the bird becomes neck so her head is just above To make the nest, male and migrates from the coldest aggressive toward intruders. the water's surface. The male female take turns scraping out parts of its range to warmer The Eurasian avocet performs wades back and forth behind a hollow in the ground, which climates in winter, moving to an unusual hostile ritual known her, and gradually they fill with dead plant matter. Spain, Africa, and the Far East. as grouping. Pairs of avocets drawing closer until he brushes After the female has laid her In warmer areas, the bird does gather in a circle with heads by her tail. He then extends a eggs, the partners share the not migrate. down and bills pointing inward. wing over her back, and the incubation, which lasts 23 to The Eurasian avocet is socia• Sometimes this confrontation two birds mate. After mating, 25 days. Soon after hatching, ble for most of the year. It is only a threatening display, male and female run side by the three or four downy young forms flocks of 6 to 30 birds, but fighting can break out side for several yards. are active, and they are able to and flocks of several hundred between males. Many avocets find mates feed themselves. before they reach the breeding Either parent leads the chicks Right: The grounds in April and May. A to water to feed, guiding them plumage of the pair stakes out a territory on a with calls and body postures. adult Eurasian sandbank or in thick grass and The chicks are fully fledged at avocet has a five or six weeks, but some de• bold black• Left: Although vulnerable on the and-white ground, the eggs' speckled mark• pend on their parents for a pattern. ings help to conceal them. longer period of time.