My Science School

The female hornbill is sealed into her nest in a hollow made by the male. He does this to protect both her and the eggs from dangers such as monkeys.

Great hornbills are generally found around primary forests that are thick, lush, and abundant. But lately, the birds have been sighted in coffee plantations too, foraging for fruit, even nesting on occasion. Sightings have been recorded in the Terai grasslands and Corbett National Park, Uttarakhand, but the most recognised habitat of the great hornbill is the Western Ghats and parts of Northeast India.

Every year, as winter approaches, the heritage village of Kisama in Nagaland begins preparations for the annual Hornbill Festival. Attended by locals and travellers from across the world, the ten-day event is a celebration of the state’s cultural heritage. There are tribal dance performances, stalls selling beaded Naga jewellery, and plenty of local food and drink (from smoked pork to chhang) — all set against the backdrop of the lofty Japfu peak.

Credit :  Roundglass 

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The kiwi from New Zealand has nostrils at the tip of its beak. It sniffs out insects and worms and then pecks them out of the earth with its long beak.

Kiwi are omnivorous and although worms form a major part of their diet, they will also readily eat woodlice, millipedes, centipedes, slugs, snails, spiders, insects, seeds, berries and plant material. Kiwi feed at night and probe into the ground with their bill up to a depth of 12cm.

Big ear openings provide a very good sense of hearing and the long graceful whiskers and sensitive bill help it locate food in the soil and leaf litter. Kiwi chicks are instinctive feeders and are not taught by parent birds to forage for food.

Stoats, ferrets and weasels are the biggest threat to the survival of Kiwi, closely followed by cats and dogs – only 5% of all Kiwis hatched in the wild survive to adulthood. The feather patterns allow kiwi to protect themselves by disappearing into the dark and fading into the forest vegetation. When distressed a kiwi freezes, disguising itself from aerial predators.

The kiwi is often given away by the sound of its uniquely placed 'noisy' nostrils at the tip of its bill. As it walks it taps the ground with its bill, probing the soil and sniffing loudly.

Credit : Rainbow Springs 

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The male red-headed weaverbird makes a large nest by weaving grasses together. These strong nests may last for a year and can be used many times.

The giant communal nest of the social weavers (Philetairus socius) of southwestern Africa often reaches a height of 10 feet (3 metres); the nest is usually situated in a large acacia tree and may contain more than 100 separate nest chambers, with openings at the nest’s bottom. Cassin’s weaver (Malimbus cassini) of the lowland rain forests of central Africa builds a hanging nest of long palm-leaf strips that has a wide entrance extending down more than two feet. The red-billed weaver, or quelea (Quelea quelea), of the African savannas can sometimes become an agricultural pest; it has been reported nesting in colonies covering several square miles of trees and harbouring millions of birds. Bishop birds (Euplectes) weave nests with a side entrance, generally in wet grassy areas. (See bishop.) Whydahs (Vidua) are social parasites that lay their eggs in the nests of other species of weavers, which then raise the whydahs’ young.

Other birds of the family Ploceidae, subfamily Passerinae, are called social weaver. Birds called the buffalo weaver comprise another ploceid subfamily, Bubalornithinae. For the hooded weaver, an estrildid, see mannikin.

Credit : Britannica 

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Humming birds can! These tiny birds with their high speed wing beats can fly in any direction, even backwards. They can also keep their bodies perfectly still in mid-air.

Some birds, such as herons, egrets, flycatchers and warblers, can flutter backwards for a short distance as a defensive strategy, and some birds, such as cuckoos, if they are flying against a strong wind, appear to be fly backwards, but relative to the air they are moving forwards.

The muscles in a hummingbird’s wings can move their wings up, down, backwards and forwards and they can also rotate them to make a figure of eight. This gives them the ability to make some spectacular airborne moves, including the ability to fly backwards.

Credit : Bird Spot 

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Birds of paradise from northern Australia and New Guinea are among the most colourful birds in the world.

To attract a mate, some birds show off their amazing plumage by hanging upside-down like an acrobat and spreading their tail feathers out.

Consider the efforts of the male Superb bird-of-paradise. He totally changes his appearance to get the attention of a female. He fans out his black feathers with a few electric-blue feathers sticking out. It makes him look a crazed smiley face. Then he hops around excitedly, making sure the female always gets his best angle. He whirs and clicks and snaps his tail in rhythm, flashing a breastplate of shimmery feathers. The female watches, showing no emotion.

His dance moves may appear unpredictable, but they are carefully planned. He is trying to convince a female that he is the best mate. The male works hard to impress, tirelessly refining his moves until the female is won over. After all, she is the one in control. She ultimately decides who her mate will be.

Credit : National Geographic 

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This African bird gets its name from the long feathers on its head, which resemble old fashioned quill pens. It runs swiftly after snakes, and kills them with its powerful legs.

Secretary birds and caracaras are the only two birds of prey that hunt on the ground instead of from the air. Secretary birds’ diets consist of small rodents, amphibians, and reptiles.

Working in small groups or with a partner, secretary birds hunt from just after dawn through to the evening, resting only during the peak heat of the afternoon. They sometimes capture prey by striking at it with their short, hooked beaks, but more famously, secretary birds use their large feet and sharp claws to stomp it to death.

Snakes are a favorite meal, and in fact, the bird’s scientific name, Sagittarius serpentarius, means “the archer of snakes.” If a snake tries striking a secretary bird, it usually ends up with a mouthful of feathers from the bird’s almost seven-foot wingspan, which it uses as a distraction. The scales on their lower legs provide additional protection from snakebites.

Credit : National Geographic 

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The Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has declared the sarus crane as its official state bird. An Indian 14-seater propeller aircraft, the Saras, is named after this crane.

The Sarus crane is the tallest flying bird in the world standing 152-156 cm tall with a wingspan of 240cm. It has a predominantly grey plumage with a naked red head and upper neck and pale red legs. It weighs 6.8-7.8 Kgs. It is a social creature, found mostly in pairs or small groups of three or four. Known to mate for life with a single partner, its breeding season coincides with heavy rainfall in monsoon. Nests are constructed on water in natural wetlands or in flooded paddy fields. Usually a clutch has only one or two eggs, which are incubated by both parents for a period of 26 to 35 days. The juveniles follow their parents from the day of birth.

The main threat to the Sarus crane in India is habitat loss and degradation due to draining the wetland and conversion of land for agriculture. The landscape of its historic range is rapidly changing due to construction of highways, housing colonies, roads, and railway lines. More recently, many deaths have been recorded due to collision with power lines. Also, due to the increase in agricultural land, Sarus cranes are left with no choice but to forage in these fields, and as a result ingest pesticides, which lead to poisoning.

The Sarus crane has three disjunct populations in the Indian sub-continent, south-east Asia and northern Australia with an estimated global population of 25,000-37,000 individuals. In the Indian subcontinent, it is found in northern and central India, Terai Nepal and Pakistan. It was once a common site in the paddy fields of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Assam. Their population is now on the decline with only 15,000-20,000 found in India, a majority of which are in Uttar Pradesh. The Sarus crane is known for its ability to live in association with humans, inhabiting open, cultivated, well watered plains, marshlands and jheels. These areas suit them well for foraging, roosting and nesting.

Credit : WWF

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Great Indian bustard, (Ardeotis nigriceps), large bird of the bustard family (Otididae), one of the heaviest flying birds in the world. The great Indian bustard inhabits dry grasslands and scrublands on the Indian subcontinent; its largest populations are found in the Indian state of Rajasthan.

Great Indian bustards are tall birds with long legs and a long neck; the tallest individuals may stand up to 1.2 metres (4 feet) tall. The sexes are roughly the same size, with the largest individuals weighing 15 kg (33 pounds). Males and females are distinguished by the colour of their feathers. Feathers on the top of the head are black in males, which also possess a whitish neck, breast, and underparts, along with brown wings highlighted by black and gray markings. Males also have a small, narrow band of black feathers across the breast. In contrast, females possess a smaller black crown on the top of the head, and the black breast band is either discontinuous or absent.

Great Indian bustards are omnivores that feed opportunistically; that is, they feed on any palatable food in their immediate surroundings. They prey on various arthropods, worms, small mammals, and small reptiles. Insects such as locusts, crickets, and beetles make up the bulk of their diet during the summer monsoon, when rainfall peaks in India and the bird’s breeding season largely takes place. Seeds (including wheat and peanuts [groundnuts; Arachis hypogaea]), in contrast, make up the largest portions of the diet during the coldest and driest months of the year.

Adult great Indian bustards have few natural enemies, but they display considerable agitation around certain predatory birds, such as eagles and Egyptian vultures (Neophron percnopterus). The only animals that have been observed to attack them are gray wolves (Canis lupus). On the other hand, chicks may be preyed upon by felines, jackals, and feral dogs. Eggs are sometimes stolen from nests by foxes, mongooses, monitor lizards, and Egyptian vultures and other birds. The greatest threat to the eggs, however, comes from grazing cows that often trample them.

Credit :  Britannica 

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Everyone knows of the national bird, the Indian Peacock. But do you know what the State bird is? Karnataka, along with other States (Andhra Pradesh,Bihar, and Odisha) has chosen the Indian Roller.  It’s a bird that almost as beautiful as the Peacock, and as interesting too.

Indian rollers are generally solitary birds that are often seen perched on prominent bare trees or wires. After waking up, they spend a few minutes preening followed by flying around their roosting sites. Favored perches include electric or telegraphic wires but they also perch in trees and shrubs. Indian rollers perch mostly at a height of 3-9 m height from where they forage for ground insects. They may also use taller perches and obtain insects from the upper canopy of trees. During summer, Indian rollers may feed late in the evening and make use of artificial lights and feed on insects attracted to them. These birds communicate with each other using a harsh crow-like 'chack' sound. They also make a variety of other sounds, including metallic 'boink' calls and are especially vociferous during the breeding season.

Indian rollers are carnivores. Their diet includes insects, spiders, scorpions, small snakes, frogs, and other amphibians.

Indian rollers don't face any major threats at present. However, due to their habit of feeding near roadsides sometimes results in collisions with traffic. A decline in the numbers of these birds seen along roadsides in northern India has been noted.

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Hornbills have captivated the human race for centuries, especially indigenous forest communities around the world. There are numerous hornbill species, and most have their own myths. According to the Senufo people from the Ivory Coast of Africa, the hornbill was one of five original beings to roam the Earth and helped create humanity. In Indonesia, the Dayak and Iban people of Borneo consider the hornbill a messenger of the spirits and a symbol of virility, and in the New Ireland province of Papua New Guinea, they are considered carriers of the soul to the afterlife.

In India too, hornbills play a significant role in local lore. Eating the flesh of the great Indian hornbill was once considered a cure for deadly diseases, and hunters of the Nyishi tribes of Arunachal Pradesh believed that mounting the beak of the hornbill on their headgear gave them added strength. Thankfully, this is all in the past. Today, the tribes that once hunted the hornbills are working towards the conservation of the species to ensure its survival.

The great Indian hornbill can be sighted in reserve forests in Northeast India, in the Nilgiri mountains of Tamil Nadu, and in the jungles of the Western Ghats. They are a sight to behold, with their large beaks and school bus-yellow casques that sit like helmets on their heads. The casques were considered very valuable in China and Japan, where intricately carved, miniatures culptures were made from “hornbill ivory”.

The physiological function of the casque remains largely a mystery to scientists, though male hornbills have been known to engage in casque-butting to protect their territory. Femalestoo have casques, though they are marginally smaller in size. Both sexes use their handsome beaks to pick fruit, catch insects, and groom.

Hornbills are monogamous, deeply social creatures, and are often spotted in pairs, feeding each other fruits and other berries. After breeding, the female seals herself in the hollow of a tree using droppings and chewed up pieces of wood, leaving only a small opening. For the next three-four months, the male brings the female food every single day, feeding her through this hole. This continues until the chick is a few weeks old, and mother and child finally break the barrier and are reunited with the male.

Credit :  Roundglass 

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The rose-ringed parakeet (Psittacula Krameri), known as the ‘Ramachilaka’, is very popular with poets and lyricists. Ideal couples are compared to a pair of parakeets. The male is distinguished by a rose-pink collar. The quintessential female is ‘chilaka’.

‘Chilaka Joshyam’, where a parakeet foretells the stars, is also very popular in the Telugu States.

Though there was general appreciation when the State government had announced the dimorphic bird as the State bird recently, it has also triggered a debate. For ornithologists and conservationists, it is a wrong choice but a right one for those rooted in Telugu culture.

None other than birdman of India, Salim Ali, has something unpleasant to say about them. In his The Book of Indian Birds, he describes it as “highly destructive at all times to crops and orchard fruit, gnawing and wasting far more than it actually eats”. Britain officially declared it as a pest in 2009 and seriously considered culling them in 2016 for displacing the local birds.

Credit : The Hindu

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The Alpine swift found in the mountains from southern Europe to the Himalayas is a large migratory bird, with broad wings and a short tail. It can be differentiated from the common swifts by its white belly and throat. It returns to the same nesting site every year. What is unique about this bird species is it can stay airborne without touching land for extraordinarily long periods of time, sometimes up to seven months!

Analyses revealed that the swifts never settled to roost while in Africa, not even to rest after their 2000-kilometer migration, the researchers report today in Nature Communications. At night, even though the birds' body position didn't change very much, their activity level suggested they were gliding, not resting on a perch—which strongly suggests that the birds were catching a bit of shuteye while aloft.

During the course of their African jaunt, and as much as 200 days spent aloft, the birds likely flew a total of 10,000 kilometers, the researchers estimate. Stretched into a straight line, that distance is about one-fourth of the way around Earth’s equator.

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Toucan is a tropical bird, known for my colourful bill. It is found in Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.

Its body is covered with black feathers, except the throat and part of my head, which are covered in white or yellow feathers. Its bill is made of keratin and is lightweight. While its size may deter predators, it is of little use in fighting them.

Scientists think the bill helps in elimination of excess body heat. And the bill's serrated edges are useful for peeling fruit.

It makes grunting and snoring sounds, often compared to the croaking of frogs.

Its nest in tree cavities and usually lay two to four eggs, which both parents take turns incubating.

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The bend in a flamingo's leg is not its knee, but ankle. Its knee is close to its body and is hidden by its plumage. The bird is often found to be standing on one leg, while tucking the other into its feathers. This it does to preserve its body temperature.

When the researchers' first idea for testing flamingos' balance — walking over to the birds in a zoo and giving them "a little prod" — was rejected, they turned to studying flamingo cadavers. To their surprise, they found that while a dead flamingo can't stand on two legs, it can still balance on one. When the researchers began studying live flamingos — by watching them until the birds dozed off — they found out flamingos' balance became better as they fell asleep.

Though the researchers might be one step closer to figuring out how flamingos stand on one leg, the question of why they do so remains a mystery. Flamingo studier Matt Anderson, of St. Joseph's University, pointed out to The Atlantic that if standing on one leg saved flamingos so much energy, "one would expect flamingos to employ the one-legged resting stance constantly."

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Did you know the kea parrots of New Zealand are capable of infectious laughter? Specific calls of a playing kea can kindle playful behaviour in others of the species, according to a study. The kea is found to be the first non-mammal species to display contagious laughter.

The researchers played recordings of play calls to groups of wild kea for a period of five minutes. They also played other kea calls and the calls of a South Island robin as controls. When the birds heard the play calls, it led them to play more and play longer in comparison to the other sounds.

"Upon hearing the play call, many birds did not join in play that was already underway, but instead started playing with other non-playing birds, or in the case of solitary play, with an object or by performing aerial acrobatics," the researchers said. "These instances suggest that kea were not 'invited' to play, but this specific call induced playfulness, supporting the hypothesis that play vocalisations can act as a positive emotional contagion," they said.

While it might be a bit anthropomorphic, researchers said, the kea play calls can be compared to a form of infectious laughter. The researchers said that they now plan to explore the effects of play and play calls on kea social groups more
generally. Earlier studies had made similar findings for chimpanzees and rats, they said. The study was published in the journal Current Biology.

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