Oct 29
by Admin in Brazil, Tapirai 0 comments tags: Alwan, art, Avian, Bangalore, Bird, birds, Blue Dacnis, Brazil, Digitalfrescos, Nikkor, Nikkor 500, Nikon, Nikon D500, Tapirai

Up close with a blue dacnis male, Atlantic Rainforest, Brazil

The blue dacnis or turquoise honeycreeper (Dacnis cayana) is a small passerine bird. This member of the tanager family is found from Nicaragua to Panama, on Trinidad, and in South America south to Bolivia and northern Argentina. It is widespread and often common, especially in parts of its South American range. It occurs in forests and other woodlands, including gardens and parks. The blue dacnis is 12.7 cm long and weighs 13 g. Despite its alternative name, it is not a honeycreeper, which are longer-billed. The adult male is turquoise blue with a black around the eyes, and on the throat and back. The wings and tail are black, edged with turquoise. The female and immature are mainly green with a blue head, paler green underparts and green-edged brown wings. These are social birds which eat mainly insects gleaned from foliage, flowers or bromeliads. Fruit is often taken and usually swallowed whole, but nectar is rarely consumed. The blue dacnis’s call is a thin tsip. The Blue Dacnis is a stunning inhabitant of humid lowland forest from Honduras to south to northeastern Argentina. The Blue Dacnis is sexually dimorphic: the male primarily is bright turquoise blue with a black throat, […]
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Oct 29
by Admin in Brazil, Tapirai 0 comments tags: Alwan, art, Avian, Bangalore, Bird, birds, Brazil, Digitalfrescos, Nikkor, Nikkor 500, Nikon, Nikon D500, saffron toucanet, Tapirai

Saffron toucanet eye in focus and beak out of focus, Atlantic Rainforest, Brazil

The saffron toucanet (Pteroglossus bailloni) is a species of bird in the family Ramphastidae found in the Atlantic Forest in far north-eastern Argentina, south-eastern Brazil, and eastern Paraguay. It is a relatively long-tailed toucan with a total length of 35–40 cm (14–16 in). As suggested by its common name, it is, uniquely among toucans, overall saffron yellow. The back and tail are darker, more olive in color. The rump, ocular skin and patches on the basal half of the otherwise greenish-horn bill are red. The iris is pale yellowish. This species is dimorphic, meaning that males and females have distinguished looks from each other. The adult male has a golden head and breast, olive mantle (the wings, shoulder feathers and back) and red rump. They have a modestly sized bill, with green, grey blue, and yellowish-grey color all along it. Adult females are similar to the male but have more olive and less gold coloration; they also have a shorter bill. A young toucanet is mostly olive and grey colored, with brown eyes and a blotchy bill. The saffron is a large-gape frugivore. Due to their nature, they are especially crucial for plants with larger seeds to disperse themselves to […]
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Oct 29
by Admin in Brazil, Tapirai 0 comments tags: Alwan, art, Avian, Bangalore, Bird, birds, Brazil, Digitalfrescos, Nikkor, Nikkor 500, Nikon, Nikon D500, saffron toucanet, Tapirai

Saffron toucanet beak in focus and eye out of focus, Atlantic Rainforest, Brazil

The saffron toucanet (Pteroglossus bailloni) is a species of bird in the family Ramphastidae found in the Atlantic Forest in far north-eastern Argentina, south-eastern Brazil, and eastern Paraguay. It is a relatively long-tailed toucan with a total length of 35–40 cm (14–16 in). As suggested by its common name, it is, uniquely among toucans, overall saffron yellow. The back and tail are darker, more olive in color. The rump, ocular skin and patches on the basal half of the otherwise greenish-horn bill are red. The iris is pale yellowish. This species is dimorphic, meaning that males and females have distinguished looks from each other. The adult male has a golden head and breast, olive mantle (the wings, shoulder feathers and back) and red rump. They have a modestly sized bill, with green, grey blue, and yellowish-grey color all along it. Adult females are similar to the male but have more olive and less gold coloration; they also have a shorter bill. A young toucanet is mostly olive and grey colored, with brown eyes and a blotchy bill. The saffron is a large-gape frugivore. Due to their nature, they are especially crucial for plants with larger seeds to disperse themselves to […]
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Oct 27
by Admin in Brazil, Tapirai 0 comments tags: Alwan, art, Avian, Bangalore, Bird, birds, Brazil, Digitalfrescos, maroon-bellied parakeet, Nikkor, Nikkor 500, Nikon, Nikon D500, Tapirai

Romance in the air – A pair of maroon-bellied parakeet, Atlantic Rainforest, Brazil

The maroon-bellied parakeet (Pyrrhura frontalis) is a small parrot found from southeastern Brazil to north-eastern Argentina, including eastern Paraguay and Uruguay. It is also known as the reddish-bellied parakeet, and in aviculture it is usually referred to as the maroon-bellied conure, reddish-bellied conure or brown-eared conure. These birds range from 25 to 28 cm (10–11 in), and are primarily green, with a maroon patch on the belly, a “scaly” yellow-green-barred breast and sides of neck, a whitish ear-patch often tinged brown, and a maroon undertail. The specific name frontalis is a reference to its dark maroon frontlet – a feature which separates it from most similar species. The primaries are blue on the outer webs, green on the inner webs, and dark on the tips. The beak is black. The maroon-bellied parakeet is common in woodland, and forest edges. In the northern part of its range, it mainly lives in highlands up to 1,400 m (4,600 ft), but elsewhere it is primarily found in lowlands up to 1,000 m (3,300 ft). Tolerates disturbance well and even lives in urban parks (e.g., Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo) and feeds in gardens. Flock size is usually only 6–12 individuals, but up […]
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Oct 27
by Admin in Brazil, Tapirai 0 comments tags: Alwan, art, Avian, Bangalore, Bird, birds, Brazil, Digitalfrescos, Nikkor, Nikkor 500, Nikon, Nikon D500, red rumped cacique, Tapirai

Red rumped cacique showing why is it called so, Atlantic rainforest, Brazil

  The red rumped cacique (Cacicus haemorrhous) is a species of bird in the family Icteridae. Large cacique with a long, slender ivory bill. Found in the canopy of humid forests and may make migratory movements tracking the rains. Entirely black apart from a red rump that may be hard to see when perched. Note the blue eyes. Nests in colonies and builds large pendulous nests. It is a species of the Amazon Basin and the Guyanas in northern South America, and is only coastal there in the Guyanas and the Amazon River outlet to the Atlantic; a separate large disjunct range exists in all of south-eastern and coastal Brazil, including Paraguay, and parts of north-eastern Argentina. It is also found in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela. The red rumped cacique is a conspicuous member of the forest community and can be found roaming in large flocks and nesting colonially in trees along the forest edge. Noisy like most forest caciques, the Red-rumped Cacique is typically found by its metallic squawking calls. The species is strikingly blue-black with a red rump and stout, tapered, pale bill. It feeds on insects and other arthropods, also […]
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