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.
Crane turned his head around to the young tiger following behind him, constantly looking up towards the sky, scanning for their target. He looked upward just as he’d done a dozen times before while they walked this long road, it was quite barren and flat in terms of terrain near a mountain range that had a long cluster of trees filling its entrance.
“No, but you were close considering that’s the wing shape of a golden eagle.” The avian had to squint as the golden eagle above them soared high above them in the clear blue sky. They were searching for a Mountain Hawk-eagle based on the description the villagers provided them, this bandit had been attacking farmers and stealing their crops while they tried to move them to the village for profit.
Tigress kept her sights glued to the sky as she walked closer to him and he couldn’t help but smile a bit, this was probably the most fun he’d ever seen her have on a mission. It was nice to be away from Shifu so they could all breathe, especially her.
“How are you able to differentiate them so well?” Her question brought him back to the real world, he was now aware he’d been staring at her under his tilted hat. Crane blinked thankful for the fact he could hide under the shadows of his attire.
“It’s just a matter of knowing yourself and well the experience above.” He moved away from the center of the dirt path and looked around the sides for a stick of some sort. “It’d be easier if I could show you.” His head turned every which way to the green grass that surrounded them.
“I’m sure an explanation would suffice.”
“It would but that’s not what I want to do…” Crane thumped his foot impatiently before giving up and moving back to the dirt road before waving towards his partner to come closer with his wing.
He’d found out rather quickly the distance she tended to put between them. It was that small gesture that tore her gaze away from the deep blue skies mysteries, and if he didn’t know any better he would have guessed that she hesitated in taking that step forward to him before straightening up.
“You have to pay attention to the wing and body shape…” Crane’s claws dug lightly into the dirt beneath them as he drew an outline of a bird's body and wings. “And then the tail. Is it forked, wedged, rounded or blunt?” Tigress’ shadow covered his picture and it was a bit jarring to see he was taller than her. Even by just a few inches, she always seemed so much bigger than he could ever be. “My tails rather short.”
Tigress bent down, and he could tell she was seriously scanning his messy piece to heart with the way her head was moving. “Can you draw a similar picture to the hawk we’re looking for?”
“Um, Sure.” The avian was shocked at how easily she fell into things such as this.
“Describe the wing and body span we’ll need to look for.” Her tone was as firm as Master Shifu’s during training and he only dared to look up at her intense gaze upon the ground with her paws together. “Would flight patterns also count? Such as diving or flying straight.”
“Yes, it would count.” She was smart, which was why she was the leader. There was no way he could theorize as fast as Tigress could. Much less create plans and give directions to others.
The tiger had them all carefully placed in specific roles that fit the field they needed.
“Mountain eagle’s wings are rather long so they shouldn’t be too hard to spot.” He was sorely reminded how limited his leg movement was when he attempted to draw the massive wingspan of this hawk. He hoped this could give her a good idea of what she needed to look for. “They glide mostly with shallow beats.”
“In contrast to how you flap then. Hmm.”
Crane turned his head once again to the tiger beside him, still crouched near his side. Did she watch him fly? He wasn’t sure how to process that thought. The fact she could tell the difference between flapping and gliding was also a rarity considering most land mammals were merely entertained by the sight of flying and not the specifics of it.
When he finished the tail it looked rather bad in his honest opinion.
Tigress stood up abruptly after he stopped and moved back away from the drawing, inspecting it from a new angle. “Would listening for sounds benefit us?”
Crane made a small noise while he thought about that, hawks weren’t the most social of birds from his experience at least to other species they mostly stuck to their own. Very rarely diverting to anyone else. “No, from what I know these types of hawks are silent.”
The avian moved his head around to his waist, catching the metal chain that hung alongside his purple sash to get to his water canteen. It was a simple silver metal canteen with no design upon it.
“If that’s the case then it will be difficult to find them in the forest.”
His canteen felt light borderline empty in his beak, he almost didn’t even want to open it considering how far they’d have to walk for more water. The avian let go of the metal chain and with a quickness, he was thankful to have developed from his years of training caught the flask into his raising talons. The lack of sound that came with a slight shake of his foot made him frown. ‘I really need to learn to conserve better…’
Link to the chapter: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30787592/chapters/77160683
A Short List of Doves In The USA That You May Confuse With Each Other
Mourning Dove Zenaida Macroura
Year-round native across most of the USA, with breeding populations up into Canada, and non-breeding populations extending into Mexico. Least Concern, plentiful, and often hunted for meat though hunting does little to lessen it's numbers. There is often a whistling sound heard when the mourning doves land and take off - it is not a call but rather a sound made by the feathers of the wings themselves.
Distinguishing features: Distinctive mournful woo-OOO-wooo, wooo, wooo call, occasionally, clean pale coloring of head and neck, darker wings with dark spots. Click here to hear!
Eurasian Collared Dove Streptopelia decaocto
European and Asian native, was introduced to North America, Japan and the Carribean. It is invasive in USA.
Distinguishing features: A quick, rolling sort of goo-GOO-goo call, similar to a rock dove coo. Also, they make a loud HAH sound when taking off or landing. Click here to hear!
White-Winged Dove Zenaida asiatica
White winged doves are native to the very southern parts of the USA and to Mexico and the Carribean.
Distinguishing features: Bright red eye surrounded by blue skin, brownish feathering with a dark stripe below the cheek on each side of the nect, the bold white stripe along the leading edge of the wings.
Common Ground Dove Columbina Passerina
Small dove species native to the southernmost parts of the following: California, Southern Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida in the USA, most of Mexco and Central America, and the northern parts of South America including Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, small parts of Peru and Ecuador and parts of northern Brazil.
Distinguishing features: Small size, overall brownish coloring with dark mahagony primaries and dark spots that glisten blue on the wings. Similar in some ways to the Mourning Dove but has a much shorter tail and is smaller.
Inca Dove Columbina Inca
Native to southern parts of California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, Mexico, and parts of Central America.
Distinguishing Features: Pale coloring overall with a distinctive "scale' like edge on the feathers of the body. Noticeably smaller than the well known Rock Dove/Pigeon, and shorter overall than the mourning dove.
oh woo i submitted red eyed vireo so early on cus i had like, just heard it (according to merlin) out on a walk for the first time that day!! what are some cool things people should know about those guys, if youd like to share??
I'm gonna link their All-About-Birds and American Bird Conservancy pages bc they will have infinitely more info than I could put but the basic summary is: theyre common, they're constantly singing, and I am full of love for them!!!
I got into vireos pretty quick when I started banding because theyre very different from the other small songbirds we'd catch, mainly warblers. Vireos have blue bills and feet/legs, and almost always have slight hooks to their bills, like a shrike. When we would take photos before release, vireos always seemed very intent on following your gaze rather than immediately attempting to fly away, which gave the impression that they were very conscious in watching me rather than panicking (flycatchers) or accepting their fate with a blank-face (warblers).
I have a soft spot for REVIs in particular because they dominated my second field season. It was 2020, we were hearing about birds having boom-years and were hoping it was related to humans hunkering down, and we caught over 1000 red-eyed vireos alone that fall. One was a 9-year-old recap, which is incredible considering most songbirds arw lucky to get to 7!
I'm not 100% sure they'll be in the poll since Im for sure including a different Very Common but Overlooked american bird and it would feel too biased to have two of them, but have no fear- a different vireo was also submitted!!
A tireless songster, the Red-eyed Vireo is one of the most common summer residents of Eastern forests. These neat, olive-green and white son
The Red-eyed Vireo is one of the most common songbirds of eastern and central U.S. forests during the summer months.
crows have been documented holding ‘funerals’ for many years. however, researchers suggest that they may not be mourning; evidence indicates that crows may be examining the body & surrounding area for potential threats to the rest of the flock.
Egg binding is a common issue in smaller female parrots such as cockatiels and budgies. It occurs when the egg takes longer than usual to pass and/or cannot be laid. This condition is very serious and can swiftly end a birds life.
Symptoms Include:
- Swelling of the abdomen--you might be able to feel or see the egg shape.
- Constipation.
- Fluffed up feathers. One of the most common signs of illness in birds.
- Straining to pass the egg.
- Limpness. Sometimes, the egg can put pressure on the birds nerves causing her legs to become limp.
If your bird is egg bound, get her to a vet ASAP. This condition as stated before is very serious and needs to be treated by a vet.
