Throughout the month of February, which I am calling “Feral February,” I am going to do something a little bit different – I’m going to create a series of theme posts every week day about my favourite things in the world: Animals.

Today’s animal is the hoatzin.

The hoatzin is not as flashy as the other birds found in the Amazon, like the toucans or macaws, but every animal has its unique quirks and adaptations – and the hoatzin is no exception.

This bizarre-looking bird has a rather funky mohawk crest along its head, a neon-blue face, red eyes, large wings and a fan-shaped tail. Its feathers are brown, black and cream coloured, giving it the appearance of a very oddly put together bird.

Hoatzin. Photo courtesy of E. B. Pivorun. Source.

The small bird, roughly the size of a small turkey, dwells in the trees and swamps of the Amazonian river basin, and feeds almost entirely on leaves. Few species of birds can accomplish this, due to the gastrointestinal requirements needed to extract nutrition from plant matter. But thanks to its large stomach, it digests leaves like cows feed on grass. The hoatzin is also known as the “stink bird” because it gives off a distinct manure-like smell, created from the leaves it eats and how it digests them – using bacteria in their stomach like a cow.

Because of the space needed in their bodies for a huge stomach and crop to help digest the leaves, their flight muscles are small for a bird their size and have difficulty flying even short distances. To compensate, hoatzin live in groups of up to a dozen animals, but groups as large as 40 do occur.

Daily dose of trivia:

Hoatzin chicks have tiny claws at the end of their wings, similar to that of Archaeopteryx, that are used to climb through vegetation. Nests are over water, so that the young, if there is danger, can dive into the water, swim to safety and use their wing claws to climb a tree and make their way back to the nest.

Also, no one is sure where the hoatzin belongs taxonomically. It has wing claws as a chick like Archaeopteryx, looks like a pheasant, has similar traits to the cuckoo and more. So, for now, they have their own organizational family called Opisthocomidae (meaning “those with long hair behind” in Greek).

Throughout the month of February, which I am calling “Feral February,” I am going to do something a little bit different – I’m going to create a series of theme posts every week day about my favourite things in the world: Animals.

Today’s animal is the shrike.

I have had many discussions over the years about which animals I like better than others, and while I like them all, everyone has their favourites – even me. And as fascinating as birds are, they aren’t my favourites, except for condors, vultures and other birds of prey (like eagles, falcons, etc.). But then I found out about shrikes.

Shrikes are small-to medium-sized birds (averaging 12 inches or 30cm in length) that don’t look like anything beyond your normal perching bird, like finches, warblers and the like. But they have a catch, and their hooked bill gives the first hint, with its toothlike point at the end of the upper part. They also possess strong legs and incredibly sharp claws, which mean they are predators.

Shrikes hunt insects, small lizards, birds and rodents like any other predators, but it is what they do afterwards that is so extraordinary. If the prey is too big to eat in one bite, several shrike species will transport the prey to a larder (a place to store food) made up of thorns or barbed wire, which they will then use to impale their prey. This allows the bird to secure the prey and rip it into manageable pieces, giving rise to the nickname “butcher bird” that all shrikes have.

A great grey shrike with an impaled mouse. Photo courtesy of Marek Szczepanek. Source.

Most shrikes live in Europe, Africa and Asia, with two species occurring in North America – the great grey and loggerhead shrikes – and during courtship; the male will perform a mating dance, which includes mimicking skewering prey on thorns.

Daily dose of trivia:

Some shrikes, like the great grey shrike, impale insects that have noxious chemicals inside. Eating such an insect or animal would make the bird sick and leave it open to predation itself, or even death. However, the shrike leaves the prey impaled for a few days, allowing the chemicals inside the dead animal to degrade enough that the meat becomes safe to eat. The great grey shrike has even been observed attacking poisonous toads and skinning them in order to protect the meat from becoming contaminated by the toxic skin secretions.

Throughout the month of February, which I am calling “Feral February,” I am going to do something a little bit different – I’m going to create a series of theme posts every week day about my favourite things in the world: Animals.

Today’s animal is the secretary bird!

The secretary bird of Africa is, at first glance, an oddity. It has a body similar to birds of prey (also known as raptors, such as eagles, falcons and condors), but the legs of a stork or crane. These birds can reach over 4 feet tall with a wingspan of over 6 feet or 1 and 2 metres respectively, making them one of the largest raptors in the world.

Secretary bird. Photo courtesy of Yoky. Source.

Unlike other birds of prey, secretary birds spend most of their time on land, hunting large insects, small mammals, frogs and snakes. They also hunt in small family groups or monogamous pairs, helping each other hunt for food.

The secretary bird hunts by stamping on vegetation to draw out potential prey. Once exposed, the bird will employ its unique hunting strategies to capture its prey – it will either run they prey item down to quickly bite and swallow it whole, or the bird will stomp on the prey with its powerful legs, stunning it long enough to injure and eat it.

As well, if a fire breaks out in its habitat, the secretary bird waits on the edge of the flames and picks off small animals that try to escape the heat.

Your daily dose of trivia:

The origin of their name, secretary bird, is not well-known. The research I have done seems to indicate that it was once thought that it came from the birds resemblance to a secretary with multiple quill pens stuck behind the ears. Others say that it actually derives from the Arabic word saqr-et-tair, which means ‘hunter-bird.’

What do you think?

Photo courtesy of Keven Law. Source.

Throughout the month of February, which I am calling “Feral February,” I am going to do something a little bit different – I’m going to create a series of theme posts every week day about my favourite things in the world: Animals.

Today’s animal is: The Booted racquet-tail!

The animal featured today in Feral February is an iridescent green hummingbird located in South America that has one extremely notable feature – can you spot it?

Booted racquet-tail (Ocreatus underwoodii). Photo courtesy of Joseph C. Boone. Source.

The male booted racquet-tail has two extremely elongated feathers emerging from its tail, which end in shapes that resemble racquets (like you would use for badminton or squash), hence the name. Like most splendidly adorned birds, these additions are not for camouflage, to help itself feed or protect itself from predators – but to help it court a female. The male racquet-tail holds up its leg feathers during mating, and quickly flicks them up and down to produce a sound similar to a whip cracking.

Like other hummingbirds, the racquet-tail makes a distinct humming noise while in flight, flapping its wings repeatedly to stay aloft. You can listen to sounds the booted racquet-tail makes, including mating calls, calls during foraging to keep in contact with one another, the humming sound they make while in-flight, and more here.

Daily dose of trivia:

Did you know that most hummingbirds let their body temperature fall to almost the temperature of the surrounding air at night? This state, called “torpid,” is because hummingbirds are so tiny, and require so much energy to keep their metabolism up, that if they tried to retain their normal body heat throughout the night, they would starve.