White-breasted waterhen

Amaurornis phoenicurus

Photo by M.V. Sheeram (Flickr)

Common name:
white-breasted waterhen (en); franga-d'água-de-peito-branco (pt); râle à poitrine blanche (fr); gallineta pechiblanca (es); weißbrust-kielralle (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Gruiformes
Family Rallidae

Range:
This Asian species is found from Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan, across India and southern China and as far east as Japan and as far south as southern Indonesia.

Size:
These birds are 28-33 cm long. Males tend to be larger than females, weighing 200-330 g while female weigh 165-225 g.

Habitat:
The white-breasted waterhen is found in a wide range of wetland habitats where water is surrounded by thick vegetation, namely marshes, swamps, bamboo stands, river banks, reedbeds, ponds and lakes, mangroves, wet grasslands and even along forests edges and scrubland far from water. They can also be found in arable land and waste water treatment areas. They are present from sea level up to an altitude of 2.000 m.

Diet:
They eat a wide range of aquatic invertebrates, including insects, worms, spiders, snails, and also small fishes and also the shoots and roots of marsh plants and grass seeds.

Breeding:
White-breasted waterhens can breed all year round, varying between different areas. the nest is a shallow cup made with twigs, stems or leaves, placed on the ground among reeds or other dense vegetation. There the female lays 4-9 brownish or grey eggs with reddish-brown markings, which are incubated by both sexes for 19-20 days. The chicks leave the nest soon after hatching and follow their parents around until they are able to fly. Each pair may raise up to 3 broods per year.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and the global population is estimated at 10.000-100.000 individuals. The population trend is difficult to determine because of uncertainty over the impacts of habitat modification on population sizes.

Plain-crowned spinetail

Synallaxis gujanensis

Photo by Maxime Dechelle (Oiseaux)

Common name:
plain-crowned spinetail (en); joão-teneném-becuá (pt); synallaxe de Cayenne (fr); pijuí coronipardo (es); braunkappen-dickichtschlüpfer (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Furnariidae

Range:
This South American species is found from Colombia, Venezuela and the Guynas south to central Brazil, Peru and northern Bolivia.

Size:
These birds are 15-17 cm long and weigh 20-30 g.

Habitat:
The plain-crowned spinetail is mostly found in rainforests, gallery forests and swamp forests, especially along rivers and streams. They are also found in moist scrublands, second growths and plantations. They occur from sea level up to an altitude of 1.200 m.

Diet:
They glean various arthropods from foliage in the forests understorey, sometimes also hunting on the ground.

Breeding:
Plain-crowned spinetails are presumed to be monogamous. The nest is built by both sexes, consisting a globe-shaped mass of sticks with a sideways entrance, placed 1-2 m above ground in low dense vegetation. The female lays 2-3 eggs, which are incubated by both sexes for 17-19 days. The chicks are fed by both parents.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and is described as common. The population is suspected to suffer a moderate decline in the near-future based on current estimates of habitat loss due to Amazonian deforestation, but it is not considered threatened at present.

Pine grosbeak

Pinicola enucleator

(Photo from Wikipedia)

Common name:
pine grosbeak (en); pintarroxo-de-bico-grosso (pt); dubec des sapins (fr); camachuelo picogrueso (es); hakengimpel (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Fringillidae

Range:
These birds are widely distributed in the northern parts of America and Eurasia, being found in Alaska, Canada and the northern United States, as well as Scandinavia, Russia, Mongolia, north-eastern China and northern Japan.

Size:
They are 20-25 cm long and have a wingspan of 32-35 cm. They weigh 52-78 g.

Habitat:
During the breeding season pine grosbeaks are found in open sub-Arctic and boreal forests, especially in areas dominated by conifers, but also in mixed forests. Outside the breeding season they are also found in agricultural areas and even within urban areas.

Diet:
They feed on the seeds, buds and fruits of mountain ash, ash trees, box elder, juniper and spruce, also taking Rowan berries in winter. During the breeding season they hunt insects to feed the nestlings.

Breeding:
Pine grosbeaks breed in May-July. The female builds the nest, a loosely built cup made of twigs and dwarf shrub stems, lined with root fibre, straw, reindeer hair and moss fragments. There she lays 2-5 pale blue eggs with dark-brown, purple and black markings. The eggs are incubated by the female alone for 13-14 days, while the male provides her food. The chicks are fed by both parents and fledge 13-14 days after hatching.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has an extremely large breeding range and a global population estimated at over 4 million individuals. The population in North America has undergone a large decline of over 25% per decade over the last 4 decades, but the species is not considered threatened at present.

Rainbow bee-eater

Merops ornatus

Photo by Patrick Ingremeau (Oiseaux)

Common name:
rainbow bee-eater (en); abelharuco-australiano (pt); guêpier arc-en-ciel (fr); abejaruco australiano (es); ragenbogenspint (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Coraciiformes
Family Meropidae

Range:
This species is found throughout mainland Australia, in New Guinea and eastern Indonesia. They are also found in the Solomon Islands.

Size:
These birds are 19-28 cm long, including the elongated tail feathers, and have a wingspan of 31-34 cm. They weigh 25-30 g.

Habitat:
The rainbow bee-eater is mainly found in open forests and woodlands, scrublands, and in various cleared or semi-cleared habitats, including farmland and human settlements. They are also found in coastal and inland sand dunes and mangroves, as well as along fresh water lakes and rivers.

Diet:
They catch insects on the wing, mostly bees and wasps, as well as dragonflies, beetles, damselflies, butterflies and moths, flies, ants and bugs. They occasionally also take other animals such as earthworms, spiders and tadpoles.

Breeding:
The rainbow bee-eater breeds in socially monogamous pairs that are sometimes assisted a number of helpers that are usually male. They breed in August-January and the nest in a chamber at the end of a long burrow or tunnel excavated by both sexes in flat or sloping ground, in the banks of rivers, creeks or dams, in roadside cuttings, in the walls of gravel pits or quarries, in mounds of gravel, or in cliff-faces. The female lays 2-8 pearl-white eggs, which are incubated by 22-31 days. The chicks are fed by both parents and the helpers, fledging 23-28 days after hatching, but continue to receive food for another 2-4 weeks.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and a global population estimated at 1 million individuals. Although the introduced cane toad Bufo marinus is known to reduce their breeding success by feeding on eggs and especially nestlings, the overall population is suspected to be stable an is not considered threatened at present.

Cocoa woodcreeper

Xiphorhynchus susurrans

Photo by Paul Kusmin (Flickr)

Common name:
cocoa woodcreeper (en); arapaçu-do-cacao (pt); grimpar cacao (fr); trepatroncos cacao (es); kleiner fahlkehl-baumsteiger (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Dendrocolaptidae

Range:
This species is found from Guatemala to northern Colombia and Venezuela, also being found in the Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Tobago.

Size:
These birds are 23-28 cm long and weigh 35-65 g.

Habitat:
These birds are mostly found in rainforests, gallery forests along rivers, swamp forests and mature mangroves, but also in cerrado woodlands, dry scrublands, second growths and plantations. They are found from sea level up to an altitude of 2.400 m.

Diet:
They forage by gleaning, pecking or probing into bark crevices, dead leafs, clumps of moss or knotholes, mostly tacking various arthropods, but sometimes also small vertebrates. They sometimes follow columns of army ants.

Breeding:
The cocoa woodcreeper builds a bark-lined nest in a tree hole or hollow stump, usually near the ground. There the female lays 1-3 eggs which are incubated for 18-19 days. The chicks fledge 19 days after hatching.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a large breeding range and is described as fairly common to common throughout most of its range, although uncommon to rare at higher altitudes, in north-west Costa Rica and in northern Honduras. This population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats.

Eurasian collared dove

Streptopelia decaocto

Photo by Jirí Bohdal (Naturephoto CZ)

Common name:
Eurasian collared dove (en); rola-turca (pt); tourterelle turque (fr); tórtola turca (es); Türkentaube (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Columbiformes
Family Columbidae

Range:
This species was originally found in temperate and sub-tropical Asia, from Turkey to southern China and south to India and Sri Lanka. Since the late 19th century it started to expand westwards and is now found throughout most of Europe, as far west as Portugal and Ireland and as far north as Norway and central Russia. At present, it is also found in northern Africa, from Egypt to Morocco.

Size:
These birds are 30-33 cm long and have a wingspan of 47-55 cm. They weigh 150-200 g.

Habitat:
The Eurasian collared dove is found in temperate and boreal forests, dry scrublands, degraded tropical forests and also in rural areas, arable land and within urban areas. They are typically found from sea level up to an altitude of 1.300 m.

Diet:
They mainly feed on seeds, but also green vegetable parts such as buds and shoots, fruits and sometimes garbage and invertebrates.

Breeding:
Eurasian collared doves breed in March-October. The nest is a loose platform made of sticks and twigs, sometimes lined with grasses. It is placed in a scrub or tree, 2-20 m above the ground. There the female lays 2 whitish eggs which are incubated by both parents for 14-18 days. The chicks are fed crop milk and regurgitated seeds by both parents and fledge 15-19 days after hatching, but still receive food from the parents for another weeks. Each pair may raise 3-6 broods per year.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and a global population estimated at 20-100 million individuals. The population is currently suspected to be in decline owing to ongoing habitat destruction and unsustainable levels of exploitation.

Blue-and-white flycatcher

Cyanoptila cyanomelana

Photo by Robin Newlin (Birds Korea)

Common name:
blue-and-white flycatcher (en); papa-moscas-azul-e-branco (pt); gobemouche bleu (fr); papamoscas blanco y azul (es); Japanschnäpper (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Muscicapidae

Range:
This species breeds in north-eastern China, extreme south-eastern Russia, Korea and Japan, migrating south to winter in Vietnam, Cambodja, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.

Size:
These birds are 16-17 cm long and weigh 22-25 g.

Habitat:
The blue-and-white flycatcher breeds in various wooded habitats, namely taiga, moist forests and swamp forests, but also in moist scrublands, from sea level up to an altitude of 1.200 m. During migration and winter they are found in tropical forests, scrublands and also coastal woodlands, plantations, parks and gardens within rural and urban areas.

Diet:
They mainly feed on larval and adult insects, mostly moths and beetles, but will also take berries when in season.

Breeding:
The blue-and-white flycatcher breeds in May-August. The cup-shaped nest is made of moss, plant fibres and lichens, and placed near the ground, in a rock crevice, among the roots of a tree, or under the overhanging bank of a stream, often sheltered by vegetation or branches. There the female lays 4-6 pale brown eggs with darker markings, which she incubates alone for roughly 14 days. The chicks are fed by both parents.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and is described as common to locally common in most of this range, but uncommon in China, Thailand and the Philippines. The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats.