Tufted titmouse

Baelophus bicolor

Photo by Dick Daniels (Carolina Birds)

Common name:
tufted titmouse (en); chapim-bicolor (pt); mésange bicolore (fr); herrerillo bicolor (es); indianermeise (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Paridae

Range:
This species is found throughout the eastern United States, from Michigan to New Hampshire and south to Florida, Louisiana and eastern Texas. They are also found in Canada, in southern Ontario.

Size:
These birds are 14-16 cm long and have a wingspan of 20-26 cm. They weigh 18-26 g.

Habitat:
The tufted titmouse is found in mostly deciduous and mixed deciduous-evergreen forests, as well as in swamp forests, typically in areas with a dense canopy and many tree species. They are also found in scrublands, orchards, parks, and suburban areas, from sea level up to an altitude of 600 m.

Diet:
During the spring and summer they mainly eat invertebrates, such as caterpillars, beetles, wasps, ants, bees, stink bugs, treehoppers, spiders and snails. During the rest of the year they also eat fruits, berries, seeds, nuts and acorns, being known to hoard food, storing many of the seeds they get in tree holes.

Breeding:
Tufted titmice breed in March-June. They nest in tree cavities, using either natural cavities or old woodpecker nests, which they line with soft materials such as hair, fur, wool, and cotton. The nest is usually high in the trees, up to 30 m above the ground. The female lays 3-9 white to creamy white eggs with brown, purple, or lilac spots. The eggs are incubated by the female for 12-14 days while the male brings her food. The chicks are fed by both parents and fledge 15-16 days after hatching, but only become fully independent several weeks later. Each pair may raise 1-2 broods per season.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and a global population estimated at 12 million individuals. The population has undergone a small increase over the last 4 decades and is expanding its range northward, possibly due to warming climate, reversion of farmlands to forests, and the growing popularity of backyard bird feeders.

Golden-headed cisticola

Cisticola exilis

Photo by Julian Robinson (Canberra Ornithologists Group)

Common name:
golden-headed cisticola (en); fuinha-de-cabeça-dourada (pt); cisticole à couronne dorée (fr); buitrón de capa dorada (es); goldkopf-cistensänger (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Cisticolidae

Range:
This species is found in eastern and northern Australia, through Papua-New Guinea and Indonesia and into southern Asia as far north as and as far west as southern India.

Size:
These birds are 10-11 cm long and weigh around 10 g.

Habitat:
The golden-headed cisticola is found in sub-coastal areas, including wetlands, swamp margins, grasslands, scrublands, savannas, rivers, and irrigated farmland.

Diet:
They mainly feed on insects, taken from the ground or from tall grasses and scrubs, but will also eat grass seeds.

Breeding:
In Australia the golden-headed cisticola breeds in September-March. The nest is a rounded structure with a side entrance near the top, built by both sexes by sewing together living leaves, using fine grasses, plant down and spider webs. The female lays 3-4 eggs, which she incubates alone, but there is no information regarding the length of the incubation and fledging periods.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and is reported to be locally common.
The population is estimated to be increasing following recorded range expansions owing to forest clearance and agricultural development.

Pied kingfisher

Ceryle rudis

Photo by Tarique Sani (Flickr)

Common name:
pied kingfisher (en); guarda-rios-malhado (pt); martim-pêcheur pie (fr); martím pescador bicolor (es); graufischer (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Coraciiformes
Family Alcedinidae

Range:
This species is found throughout most of sub-Saharan Africa, in Egypt and the Middle East as far north as Turkey and as far east as southern Iran, and also in southern Asia, from Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan, throughout India and into southern China, Thailand and Vietnam.

Size:
These birds are 25-29 cm long and weigh 70-100 g.

Habitat:
The pied kingfisher is found in a wide range of fresh and salt water habitats, including slow-moving rivers, estuaries, mangroves, lakes, tidal rock pools, lagoons, dams and reservoirs with some nearby trees or man-made structures suitable for perching.

Diet:
They mainly hunt fish, especially Cichlidae, Cyprinidae, Characidae and some Clupeidae. They also take aquatic insects such as dragonflies and their larvae, water bugs, water beetles, some grasshoppers and crickets, crustaceans and more rarely frogs, tadpoles and molluscs.

Breeding:
Pied kingfishers are monogamous, cooperative breeder, with non-mated birds helping raise the offspring of a mated pair. The helpers are usually the offspring from the previous year. They can breed all year round, varying between different part of their range. Both sexes build the nest, a long tunnel excavated on a vertical sandbank, and nests may be isolated or in colonies of up to 100 birds. The female lays 1-7 glossy white eggs, which she mostly incubates alone for 17-18 days. The chicks are fed by both parents and the helpers, fledging 24-29 days after hatching. They only become fully independent 1-2 months after fledging.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has an extremely large breeding range and is described as abundant, in fact being one of the most common kingfishers in the world. This species may benefit from human dams and fish farms, but is also negatively affected by poisons which are bioaccumulated on their fish prey.

Fox sparrow

Passerella iliaca

Photo by Simon Barrette (Wikipedia)

Common name:
fox sparrow (en); escrevedeira-fulva (pt); bruant fauve (fr); sabanero rascador (es); fuchsammer (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Emberizidae

Range:
This species is found breeding in most of northern and western Canada, as well as in Canada and in the western United States as far south as northern California, Utah and Colorado. Most population migrate to winter along the Pacific coast of the United States, in most parts of the eastern United States and in southern Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and northern Mexico.

Size:
One of the largest American sparrows, the fox sparrow is 15-19 cm long and has a wingspan of 26-30 cm. They weigh 27-49 g.

Habitat:
These birds breed in coniferous or mixed forests with dense undergrowth in both the boreal and temperate zones, but also in dry scrublands, chaparral and riparian woodlands. Outside the breeding season they are found in a wide range of forested habitats, especially along forest edges and areas with dense undergrowth.

Diet:
They forage on the ground, among the leaf litter and in bare ground, taking insects such as beetles, fly larvae, caterpillars, ants, bees, and scale insects, other invertebrates such as spiders, millipedes and molluscs, and the seeds, fruits and buds of a variety of plants such as strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, sedge, cinquefoil, buttonweed, serviceberry, pokeweed, red cedar, grape, witch hazel, ragweed, smartweed, and sorrel. During the breeding season, invertebrates make up most of their diet, while outside the breeding season they eat a similar portion of animal and plant foods.

Breeding:
Fox sparrows tend to be monogamous, solitary nesters. They breed in May-July, nesting in a cup made of twigs, dried grass, stems and bark, and lined with grass, animal hairs and feathers. The nest is typically placed on the ground, or in low branches, never more than 2 m above the ground. The female lays 2-5 pale bluish-green eggs with reddish-brown markings, which she mostly incubates alone for 12-14 days. The chicks are fed by both parents and fledge 9-11 days after hatching.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and a global population estimated at 16 million individuals. The population has has a stable trend over the last 4 decades.

made out of twigs, dried grass, stems, and bark.

Vermilion flycatcher

Pyrocephalus rubinus

Photo by Pablo Leautaud (Flickr)

Common name:
vermilion flycatcher (en); príncipe (pt); moucherolle vermillon (fr); mosquerito rojo (es); rubintyrann (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Tyrannidae

Range:
These birds are found in the south-western United States, through most of Mexico and Central America and into South America as far south as central Argentina. Some of the more northern population migrate south to winter in the Amazon basin and south-eastern Brazil, where the species is mostly absent as a breeding bird.

Size:
The vermilion flycatcher is 13-15 cm long and have a wingspan of 22-25 cm. They weigh 11-14 g.

Habitat:
These birds are mostly found in open habitats, such as open woodlands and savannas, forest clearings, dry scrublands, agricultural areas, deserts and riparian woodlands. They tend to be found near water, at altitudes ranging from sea level up to 3.000 m.

Diet:
They forage by sallying out from a perch, taking both flying and terrestrial arthropods such as flies, butterflies, grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, bees, termites and spiders.

Breeding:
Vermilion flycatchers can breed all year round, varying between different parts of their vast breeding range. They are monogamous and nest in a shallow cup made of twigs, grass, small roots and lichens, held together with spider webs and lined with feathers and hair. The nest is placed in an horizontal fork in a tree, often near water. The female lays 2-4 white, cream or pale brown eggs, which she incubates alone for 13-15 days. The chicks are fed by both parents and fledge 13-18 days after hatching.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and the global population is estimated at 5-50 million individuals. Even though the species may be facing declines in some areas, due to habitat loss, it is not threatened at present.

Long-eared owl

Asio otus

Photo by Greg Smith (Wikipedia)

Common name:
long-eared owl (en); bufo-pequeno (pt); hibou moyen-duc (fr); búho chico (es); waldohreule (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Strigiformes
Family Strigidae

Range:
This species is found throughout most of Europe, North America and Asia, between 20º N and 65º N. They are also found in north-western Africa.

Size:
These birds are 35-38 cm long and have a wingspan of 96-100 cm. They weigh 260-280 g.

Habitat:
The long-eared owl is found in a wide range of habitats, typically in areas of dense vegetation with nearby open areas for hunting. These include boreal, temperate and tropical forests, grasslands, scrublands, marshes and swamps, and plantations. They occur from sea level up to an altitude of 2.750 m.

Diet:
They hunt during the night, mainly taking small rodents, bats, moles, rabbits, small birds, insects, frogs and snakes.

Breeding:
Long-eared owl are typically monogamous, but polygyny has been recorded occasionally. They breed in February-July and nest on old stick nests of crows, ravens, magpies, buzzards or herons, located in a tree branch, 5-10 m above the ground. The female lays 3-8 glossy white eggs, which she incubates alone for 25-30 days while the males brings her food. The chicks are fed by the female while the males hunts for the whole family and move into branches near the nest after about 21 days, but only fledge 5 weeks after hatching. The chicks only become fully independent several weeks after fledging.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has an extremely large breeding range and a global population estimated at 1,5-5 million individuals. The long-eared owl has undergone a small decrease in North America, but it is not threatened at present.

African blue-flycatcher

Elminia longicauda

Photo by Steve Garvie (Flickr)

Common name:
African blue flycatcher (en); monarca-azul-africano (pt); elminie bleue (fr); elminia azul (es); türkiselminie (de)

Taxonomy:
Order Passeriformes
Family Monarchidae

Range:
This species is found in sub-Saharan Africa, from southern Senegal to South Sudan and south to northern Tanzania, D.R. Congo and northern Angola.

Size:
These birds are 13-15 cm long and weigh around 10 g.

Habitat:
The African blue flycatcher is mostly found in moist tropical forests, especially secondary forest, swampy or riverine forests. They are also found in dry savannas, scrublands, mangroves, rural gardens, arable land and cocoa plantations.

Diet:
They mainly feed on insects and other arthropods, which can be hawked or gleaned from the foliage.

Breeding:
African blue flycatchers are monogamous and nest in a compact cup placed in a fork in a low tree. There the female lays 1-2 white eggs which are incubated by the female alone. The chicks are fed by both parents. There is no information regarding the incubation and fledging periods.

Conservation:
IUCN status - LC (Least Concern)
This species has a very large breeding range and, although the global population size has not been quantified, the African blue flycatcher is described as uncommon to locally common. The population is suspected to be stable in the absence of evidence for any declines or substantial threats.