Sitting on a convenient branch and singing for supper doesn't suit every bird. Some are surprisingly vicious hunters, have a particularly strange diet... or would rather build their own paradise than find one. Take a look at....
This bird has hollow leg-bones to keep their weight down and allow them to fly. They also have a featherless head like a vulture - all the better for sticking into a rotting carcass. The marabou also sports a large pink air sac beneath the throat, which it uses in courtship rituals. The sac is connected to the left nostril and can inflate to 18 inches long - when active, it functions as a resonator to make a disturbing croak.
Another charming feature of this stork is brilliant white legs... caused by the birds defecating over their own limbs. This unpleasant act does have a purpose, as the excrement is antiseptic and offers protection while scavenging from rotten corpses. Curiously, this carrion-feeding stork may opportunistically capture small prey... and they've even been observed snatching animals flushed out by brush-fires!
The hoatzin isn't content with being a possible link to the dinosaurs - it also has a weird digestive system. The hoatzin eats foliage, grinds it in an enlarged crop and ferments the resulting mass in a series of stomachs. Unfortunately, using the same digestive process as a cow means that the hoatzin reeks of cow-manure and has a constantly engorged stomach... which it protects with a rubbery callus that also helps prop up the bloated bird!
Perhaps the most startling thing about this bird is the brutality of its hunting technique. It waits patiently before lunging forwards into the swamp-water, collapsing forwards to add its body-weight to the attack. Prey can expect to be caught in the serrated bill, which is then shaken to remove excess water, vegetation... and potentially the victim's head.
The shoebill eats a range of creatures ranging from small fish to young crocodiles, with slippery prey getting the added bonus of being skewered by a wicked hook that terminates the upper beak!
Another feature of the cassowary is a mysterious crest-like casque, made of a spongy material coated in keratin. Researchers have suggested it can act as everything from an indicator of social dominance to a shock absorber. It might also be useful in producing low-frequency booming calls that carry through the dense rainforest -conservation workers have claimed that they can feel cassowary calls in their bones!
The nests don't look like much from the outside, but each underside is riddled with tunnels into nesting chambers and protected by sharp spikes of straw to deter large predators. The structure itself is built around large twigs for support and the internal areas feature dry grass partitions to make up to a hundred "rooms" for the occupants. The colony will usually be molded around a smooth-trunked tree (making it hard for predators to climb) though some colonies have been found on human structures like telephone poles.
These colony nests are a crucial survival aid in the extreme temperatures of the desert. The insulated heart of the colony remains warm on freezing nights, whilst the outer layers can provide shelter from the blazing sun. The structure is so useful that other small species often "guest" in the colony... while larger birds (including eagles) may make their nests on top of it!
Prey that fails to avoid the bird will find itself hefted up in the air then slammed into the ground or a handy rock. This violent act will be repeated until the prey is dead and "softened up" for the bird to eat.
Though they resemble the African secretary bird (another ground-favoring raptor) in looks and hunting behavior, the seriema birds have a separate and much more savage lineage - they are the descendants of the mighty terror birds that roamed South America 60 million years ago!
- The Grim Marabou Stork
- The Stinking Hoatzin
- The Decapitating Shoebill
- The Man-Killing Cassowary
- The Apartment-Building Sociable Weaver
- The Slamming Seriema
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| A stork suited for carrion eating... (MAKY_OREL) |
The Grim Marabou Stork
Most storks are long-legged wading predators, hunting shallow waterways for fish and amphibians. Not so the marabou stork of Africa, a hunched, carrion-eating bird with a 9ft wingspan.This bird has hollow leg-bones to keep their weight down and allow them to fly. They also have a featherless head like a vulture - all the better for sticking into a rotting carcass. The marabou also sports a large pink air sac beneath the throat, which it uses in courtship rituals. The sac is connected to the left nostril and can inflate to 18 inches long - when active, it functions as a resonator to make a disturbing croak.
Another charming feature of this stork is brilliant white legs... caused by the birds defecating over their own limbs. This unpleasant act does have a purpose, as the excrement is antiseptic and offers protection while scavenging from rotten corpses. Curiously, this carrion-feeding stork may opportunistically capture small prey... and they've even been observed snatching animals flushed out by brush-fires!
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| Hoatzins have a strange scent... (hbieser) |
The Stinking Hoatzin
The hoatzin hails from the swamps of South America, where it bears the unappealing nicknames "stink-bird" and "flying-cow." Despite this, the young hoatzin is more of a climber than a flyer. Nests are built over water and the bird can drop down to escape a predator. The hoatzin then swims back to shore and climbs back up with a set of Archaeopteryx-like claws on each wing.The hoatzin isn't content with being a possible link to the dinosaurs - it also has a weird digestive system. The hoatzin eats foliage, grinds it in an enlarged crop and ferments the resulting mass in a series of stomachs. Unfortunately, using the same digestive process as a cow means that the hoatzin reeks of cow-manure and has a constantly engorged stomach... which it protects with a rubbery callus that also helps prop up the bloated bird!
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| A bird that can rip the head from a young crocodile... (Wiemann) |
The Decapitating Shoebill
The shoebill "stork" (it was reclassified into a family of its own) is a chunky wading bird from Africa with a 8ft wingspan. They take their name from a large multi-purpose beak that can serve as a food scoop, a bucket (useful for transporting water to cool eggs) and a football-style clapper for wooing a mate.Perhaps the most startling thing about this bird is the brutality of its hunting technique. It waits patiently before lunging forwards into the swamp-water, collapsing forwards to add its body-weight to the attack. Prey can expect to be caught in the serrated bill, which is then shaken to remove excess water, vegetation... and potentially the victim's head.
The shoebill eats a range of creatures ranging from small fish to young crocodiles, with slippery prey getting the added bonus of being skewered by a wicked hook that terminates the upper beak!
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| A rather tough bird... (PoldyChromos) |
The Man-Killing Cassowary
A large and flightless bird from Australia, the cassowary is the second heaviest (beaten only by the ostrich) and the most dangerous bird in the world. A powerful body allows them to leap 2m into the air and run at 31mph, all while protected by a dense coat of double-quilled feathers that keep the bird dry and thorn-proof. They also have a 4 inch ripping claw on each foot, something that has proven deadly to unwary humans!Another feature of the cassowary is a mysterious crest-like casque, made of a spongy material coated in keratin. Researchers have suggested it can act as everything from an indicator of social dominance to a shock absorber. It might also be useful in producing low-frequency booming calls that carry through the dense rainforest -conservation workers have claimed that they can feel cassowary calls in their bones!
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| These colony nests can last for decades - even centuries! (Royber99) |
The Apartment-Building Sociable Weaver
The small bird known as the sociable weaver is native to the Kalahari region of southern Africa. Despite their unremarkable appearance, these birds are instinctual architects, building communal nests that can stand for over a hundred years!The nests don't look like much from the outside, but each underside is riddled with tunnels into nesting chambers and protected by sharp spikes of straw to deter large predators. The structure itself is built around large twigs for support and the internal areas feature dry grass partitions to make up to a hundred "rooms" for the occupants. The colony will usually be molded around a smooth-trunked tree (making it hard for predators to climb) though some colonies have been found on human structures like telephone poles.
These colony nests are a crucial survival aid in the extreme temperatures of the desert. The insulated heart of the colony remains warm on freezing nights, whilst the outer layers can provide shelter from the blazing sun. The structure is so useful that other small species often "guest" in the colony... while larger birds (including eagles) may make their nests on top of it!
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| Seriema birds are the descendants of the prehistoric terror birds... (TheOtherKev) |
The Slamming Seriema
The seriema birds come from South America, where they hunt small animals ranging from insects to coral snakes. They hunt on the ground, springing into the air briefly to avoid counter attacks and relying on their agility to keep them alive.Prey that fails to avoid the bird will find itself hefted up in the air then slammed into the ground or a handy rock. This violent act will be repeated until the prey is dead and "softened up" for the bird to eat.
Though they resemble the African secretary bird (another ground-favoring raptor) in looks and hunting behavior, the seriema birds have a separate and much more savage lineage - they are the descendants of the mighty terror birds that roamed South America 60 million years ago!
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