palm cockatoo

Common name: Palm cockatoo
Scientific name: Probosciger atterimus

The Palm Cockatoo also known as the Goliath Cockatoo, is a large smoky-grey or black parrot of the cockatoo family and this species is unique in its kind. It is the only member in subfamily Microglossinae and monotypic genus Probosciger.
The Palm Cockatoo is distributed in rainforests and woodlands of New Guinea and northern Queensland, Australia. It measures around 55-60 cm (22-24 in) in length and weighs between 500-1,000 g. It is a distinctive bird with a large crest and has one of the largest bills of any parrots (only the Hyacinth Macaw’s is larger). This powerful bill allows Palm Cockatoos to eat very hard nuts and seeds that other species have difficulty accessing. The bill is unusual as the lower and upper mandibles do not meet for much of its length, allowing the tongue to hold a nut against the top mandible while the lower mandible works to open it. The Palm Cockatoo also has a distinctive red cheek patch that changes colour when the bird is alarmed or excited.
Berries are common fruit that the Palm Cockatoos consume.
The Palm Cockatoo makes four different kinds of vocalisations, including a “hellow” call that is surprisingly human-like. There are distinct dialects throughout the species’ range. It has a unique display where the bird (typically the male) drums a large branch against a dead bough or tree, creating a loud noise that can be heard up to 100 m away. It is possible that females can assess the durability of the nesting hollow by the resonance of this drumming display.
Palm Cockatoos lay only one egg per year and have one of the highest rates of natural breeding failure of all parrots.
This species is in high demand for the pet trade due to its unusual appearance.

Scientific Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Psittaciformes
Family: Cacatuidae
Subfamily: Microglossinae
Genus: Probosciger
(Kuhl, 1820)
Species: P. aterrimus

Palm cockatoo

Palm cockatoo

Palm cockatoo

Palm cockatoo

Lilac-breasted roller bird

Common name: Lilac-breasted Roller
Scientific name: Coracias caudataus

The Lilac-breasted Roller is a member of the roller family of birds. It is widely distributed in sub-Saharan Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula. Usually found alone or in pairs, it perches conspicuously at the tops of trees, poles or other high vantage points from where it can spot insects, lizards, scorpions, snails, frogs, small birds and rodents moving about at ground level.
The average size of the Lilac Breasted Roller is 14.5 inches. The washed green head is large, the neck is short, the greenish yellow legs are rather short and the feet are small. The beak is strong, arched and hooked-tipped. The tail is narrow and of medium length. The back and scapulars are brown. The shoulder of the wing, outer webs of the flight feathers and the rump are all violet. The bases of the primaries and their coverts are pale greenish blue and the outer tail feathers are elongated and blackish. The chin is whitish, shading to rich lilac of the breast. The underparts are greenish blue. The bill is black and the eyes are brown. It has large wings and strong flight.
It is a swift flier, indulging in acrobatics during the breeding season. They actually breed ‘on the wing’. Nesting takes place in a natural hole in a tree where a clutch of 2–4 eggs is laid, and incubated by both parents, who are extremely aggressive in defence of their nest, taking on raptors and other birds. During the breeding season the male will rise to great heights, descending in swoops and dives, while uttering harsh, discordant cries. The sexes are alike in colouration.
Rollers get their name from their impressive courtship flight, a fast, shallow dive from considerable elevation with a rolling or fast rocking motion, accompanied by loud raucous calls.

Scientific Classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Coraciiformes
Family: Coraciidae
Genus: Coracias
Species: C. caudatus

Showering in the rain

Lilac-breasted Roller

Lilac-breasted Roller

Lilac-breasted Roller

Lilac-breasted Roller

Take off

Bugun Liocichla

Common name: Bugun Liocichla
Scientific name: Liocichla bugunorum

An amateur bird-watcher has found the first new bird species to be discovered in India in over 50 years. The strikingly colored species was identified from feathers and photos taken in remote forests in the northeast part of the country. First spotted in 1995, it was described as a new species in 2006 by Ramana Athreya. The description was made without the collection of a type specimen as they were too few to risk killing one. It is thought to be an endangered species, with the only known population estimated to consist of 14 individuals and includes three breeding pairs.
The species was described in 2006 after being discovered in Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh, India, by a professional astrophysicist, Ramana Athreya. The species was first spotted in the sanctuary in 1995 but was not seen again for ten years. Athreya spotted them again in May 2006 but did not publicize it until he was able to confirm it to be a new species.
The Bugun Liocichla is a small babbler with olive-grey plumage and a black cap. The face is marked with prominent orange-yellow lores, and the wings have yellow, red and white patches. The tail is black with crimson coloured undertail coverts and red tips. The feet are pink and the bill is black at the face fading to pale white.
Measuring 8 inches (20 centimeters) in length, the bird is named after the Bugun, a native people who live on the edge of the sanctuary.
All sightings of the species are at an altitude of 2000 metres on disturbed hillsides covered with shrubs and small trees, with the exception of one sighting on the edge of primary forest.

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Timaliidae
Genus: Liocichla
Species: L. bugunorum

Yariguies Brush Finch

Common name: Yariguies Brush Finch
Scientific name: Atlapetes latinuchus yariguierum

A brightly coloured bird was discovered on a remote mountain range in South America. The Yariguies Brush Finch has striking black, yellow and red plumage, and represents a new avian species. The bird, which has the Latin name Atlapetes latinuchus yariguierum, differs from its closest relatives by having a black back and no white markings on its wings. The feathers of the breast, abdomen, and throat are yellow; those of the coverts, primaries, secondaries, scapulars, auriculars, lores, and tail are black; the crown feathers are russet. Its habitat is the remote cloud rainforest in the northern Colombia. The bird has been discovered in the remote Yariguies mountains in an expedition co-led by Thomas Donegan of Fundación ProAves and Blanca Huertas, a curator at the Natural History Museum in London. The bird is named after the Yariguies indigenous tribe who give their name to the mountain range where the bird was found.

Scientific Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Emberizidae
Genus: Atlapetes
Species: A. latinuchus
Subspecies: A. l. yariguierum

Bushbird

Common name: Recurve-billed Bushbird
Scientific name: Clytoctantes alixii

This male Bushbird was photographed by ProAves staff, Adriana Tovar and Luis Eduardo Uruena. The publication of these photos is the first time this globally Endangered species has been captured on camera. This Bushbird inhabits a relic dry pre-montane cloud forest and is a very unique area predominantly covered with bamboo forest. This Bushbird is found across the north of both Colombia and Venezuela but has a small distribution range. It is named for its extraordinary bill, which curves upwards. The Bushbird is 16.5 cm (6.5 inches) long and unmistakable. The male is slate gray, the female rufescent brown. It is insectivorous and a bamboo specialist. It has been seen in mixed flocks including the brush-finches following ant trails and occasionally opening bamboo stems with its beak in the manner of an axe, to extract caterpillars, spiders and other insects.

Bushbird

Scientific Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Thamnophilidae
Genus: Clytoctantes
Species: C. alixii

Hummingbird species

Common name: Gorgeted Puffleg
Scientific name: Eriocnemis isabellae

A new species of hummingbird discovered almost by accident in Colombia by two ornithologists Alexander Cortés-Diago and Luis Alfonso Ortega.The bird has an enlarged, bi-coloured iridescent throat patch (hence ‘Gorgeted’) in males and white tufts above the legs which are characteristic of ‘Puffleg’ hummingbirds. This species was discovered in 2005, but not confirmed as new until 2007. It faces the risk of extinction, and therefore a status of Critically Endangered has been recommended. Its only known habitat, the cloud forests of the Serrania del Pinche (Choco region), is under threat by agriculture, especially coca farming. The Gorgeted Puffleg measures between 90 and 100 millimeters (3.5 to 4 inches) in length. The name of the species is in relation to the gorget on the throat of the male, a patch of iridescent green and brilliant blue feathers, and from the puffs of white feathers at the thighs.

Hummingbird species

Scientific Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Trochiliformes
Family: Trochilidae
Genus: Eriocnemis
Species: E. isabellae