#trochilus

[herpsandbirds]

Red-billed Streamertail (Trochilus polytmus), male, family Trochilidae, order Apodiformes, endemic to Jamaica

photograph by Sam Woods

[arthistoryanimalia]

For #WorldCrocDay + #ManuscriptMonday :

Nile Crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus) having its teeth cleaned by the "Crocodile Bird" (Trochilus), from a 1615 copy of the Kitāb al-Ḥayawān (The Book of Animals) by al-Jāḥiẓ (c. 776–868/869 CE). Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan, MS D140inf.

[snarp]

Trochilus (crocodile bird) - Wikipedia

I guess if some species of bird really did regularly voluntarily go into Nile crocodiles' mouths to clean their teeth, we'd have a lot of video evidence of that... I didn't realize until just now that I'd never actually seen such a video. Epistemological crocodile crisis. Bill and Pete were not real.

[effulgentpoet]

mythology aesthetics

TROCHILUS

In Greek mythology, Trochilus was the demi-god or hero of the mill-wheel and a deity of the Eleusinian Mysteries. Trochilus’ name means "Of the Wheel".

[herpsandbirds]

Red-billed Streamertail (Trochilus polytmus), male, family Trochilidae, order Apodiformes, endemic to Jamaica

photograph by Stanley Jones

[herpsandbirds]

Red-billed Streamertail (Trochilus polytmus), male, family Trochilidae, order Apodiformes, endemic to Jamaica

photograph by Dave John Aljo Limpangog

[herpsandbirds]

Red-billed Streamertail aka Scissortail Hummingbird (Trochilus polytmus), male, family Trochilidae, Montego Bay, Jamaica

photograph by Joaquin Garcia

[herpsandbirds]

Red-billed Streamertail (Trochilus polytmus), male, family Trochilidae, endemic to Jamaica

photograph by Rafael Rodriguez Mojica