Kingfisher (Blue-breasted)

The Blue-breasted Kingfisher, is a tree kingfisher which is widely distributed in tropical west Africa. This is a large kingfisher, 25 cm in length. The adult has a bright blue head, back, wing panel and tail. Its under parts are white, but it has a blue breast band. It has a striking display in which the wings are spread to show the white linings. The shoulders are black. The large bill has a red upper mandible and black lower mandible. The legs are bright red. The flight of the Blue-breasted Kingfisher is rapid and direct.

Sexes are similar, but juveniles are duller than adults. It perches on a tree branch quietly in the deep shade while seeking food. It is territorial but always on guard. This species mainly hunts large insects, arthropods, fish and frogs, but will also eat the fruit of the Oil Palm.

The nest is a hole in a tree termite nest. A single clutch of two round white eggs is typical.

Photographed at Bird Kingdom, Niagara Falls, Ontario

Weaver (Village)

Village Weaver is resident in Sub-Saharan Africa, and this species has been introduced to Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico.



It is considered as a pest of seed crops, although it consumes large numbers of insects. It also tears strips from oil palms leaves, only leaving the central stem.

Male displays when nest is built. It hangs from the nest base, upside down, and with fluttering wings, while it is calling. Breeding season varies according to the place, but is Central Africa, it continues throughout the year.

Female lays 2 to 3 eggs. Colours can change according to each female. Incubation lasts about 14 days, by female alone. Young fledge about 11 to 20 days after hatching.


The length of rainy season determines the length of breeding season.



Photographed at Bird Kingdom, Niagara Falls, ON

Waxbill (Red-cheeked Cordon Bleu)

Red cheeks are from across Central Africa. The Red Cheeked commonly venture into areas of human habitation and spend a lot of time on the ground seeking out fallen seeds and minute insect life.

Red Cheeked Cordon Bleus are very popular aviary birds and mix well in collections of small finches and seed eaters.

Breeding In the wild, nests often are in thorn bushes. Nests are roundish and quite small with a side entrance and built of grass stems. In captivity will use wicker baskets lined with grass or coconut fibre and some feathers. The clutch is usually three to six eggs and incubation usually starts with the third egg. Sexes take turns with incubation which lasts around 11 days and young fledge at 17 to 19 days.

Photographed at Bird Kingdom, Niagara Falls, Ontario

Turaco (Red-crested)

Red-crested Turaco is native to Angola. It is found south of the Sahara, from Angola to Congo.

Red-crested Turaco, as other members of this family, has two copper pigments, “red turacin” and “turacoverdin”, not found in any other birds. In most of birds, these bright colours are produced by diffraction of light on the surface of the feathers, but not so with Turacos.

These two pigments are closely related to the habitat where the birds are living, and that is of great interest.

 

Photographed at Bird Kingdom, Niagara Falls, ON

Thrush (Red-winged Laughing)

The Red-winged Laughing thrush is a bird species in the Old World babbler family The plumage is mostly brown with large areas of red in the wings and tail. The crown and ear-coverts are grey with dark streaks and the throat is dark. The bill and feet are blackish. It has a loud, whistling song.

It is an elusive bird which travels in pairs or small groups in dense cover near the forest floor. Little is known about its reproductive habits but in China breeding takes place during June and July.

Photographed at Bird Kingdom, Niagara Falls, ON

Thrush (Red-tailed Laughing)

Found in south China, and also inhabits north-west Thailand.

A fairly large bird measuring 28 cm in length. The primaries and secondary on the wings and tail are bright red while the crown and nape have rufous colouring. The underside of the tail as well as the chin and throat are black, the under parts are often a tinged buff. The ear coverts are grey.

These birds build a cup shaped nest from plant material and grasses prior to mating. The nest is usually found in the dense undergrowth of a forest, preferably deep inside ravines. Mating generally occurs from the April to June period. The eggs are unlike those of any other Laughing Thrush; they resemble the eggs laid by the Oriole, pure white in colour spotted with reddish brown or black dots.

Photographed at Bird Kingdom, Niagara Falls, ON

Starling (Superb)

The Superb Starling is resident in its range in East Africa and is 7–7.5 inches long.

 

Adults have black heads and iridescent blue-to-green back with a red-orange belly like a robin. Juveniles have duller plumage with irises of brown, later grayish white, eventually the adult's cream-color.

The female usually will lay between three to five pale green eggs with red speckles. It nests in tree holes. The nest is made from leaves, roots and other vegetation matters. Entire family groups cooperate in raising young by gathering food and nesting materials.

Photographed at Bird Kingdom, Niagara Falls, ON

Starling (Royal)

The Royal Starling, aka Gold Breasted is distributed to the grassland, savanna and shrub land of East Africa. This Starling is a social animal, living in groups of three to twelve individuals.

 

Its diet consists mainly of insects and termites. Adult birds catch insects in flight and dig up termite mounds to find prey. The Royal Starling molts once a year, after the breeding season.

 

The female usually will lay between three to five pale green eggs with red speckles. It nests in tree holes. The nest is made from leaves, roots and other vegetation matters. Entire family groups cooperate in raising young by gathering food and nesting materials.

Photographed at Bird Kingdom, Niagara Falls, ON

Sparrow (Java)

The Java Sparrow originates from Southern Asia, in Java, Bali, and Sumatra. Here they are regarded as a serious agricultural pest in rice fields. Many thousands of wild Javas are destroyed each year as farmers wage a never ending war against them. Despite this battle, the species continues to thrive in its native homeland and is very abundant.

Java Rice Birds have been successfully introduced and naturalized in many regions around the world. In the wild, javas breed after the rainy season comes to an end.

Photographed at Bird Kingdom, Niagara Falls, ON

Rail (Giant-wood)

The Giant Wood-rail is a species of bird in the rallidae family. It is found in South America in countries like Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and swamps. They will live about 7-10 years.

They feed on arthropods, mollusks, fruit, and seeds.The Giant Wood-rail will breed from September to February, nesting in grass and stems on the ground or in the trees, usually near water. They lay between 4-7 eggs with an incubation period of 24 days. The young become independent at 8-9 weeks old.

They are hunted by humans. The Giant Wood-rail are often kept in captivity and is a very elusive bird, which means you will be very lucky to see them.

Photographed at Bird Kingdom, Niagara Falls, ON

Partridge (Chukar)

sleeping

It is native to India, Pakistan and Afghanistan and has spread with help from humans across 6 provinces and 40 US states. The Chukar Partridge is the national bird of Pakistan, and in Indian mythology, the Chukar Partridge is in love with the moon and looks at it constantly.

These game birds are prized as a challenge by hunters because of the terrain they live in, and the explosive speed they exhibit when first flushed from cover. Partridge prefer dry mountain slopes or grasslands with nearby rocky outcroppings where they can hide. They rarely fly but are excellent runners and hop across rocky terrain. 

They eat seeds, grasses, bulbs, stems, fruit and leaves, as well as small insects such as grasshoppers, caterpillars, crickets and ants.


Photographed at Bird Kingdom, Niagara Falls, ON

Parrot (Yellow-headed Amazon)

The Yellow-headed Amazon also known as the Yellow-headed Parrot and Double Yellow-headed Amazon is an endangered amazon parrot of Mexico and northern Central America.

 

Measuring 15–17 inches in length its most obvious features of this predominantly green parrot are its yellow head and the red patch, or speculum, on each wing. Young birds lack these distinctive yellow and red markings, which become more prominent with age. The stout, hooked beak is used not only for cracking nuts and seeds, but also for grasping, exploring, and climbing. The feet, with two toes pointing forward and two pointing backward, are also highly adapted for grasping.

 

It prefers to live in mangrove forests or forests near rivers or other bodies of water. It is sometimes considered a subspecies of the Yellow-crowned Amazon. It is a popular pet and an excellent talker.

Photographed at Bird Kingdom, Niagara Falls, ON

Owl (Boobook)

These are the smallest and most common owls in Australia and found all around Australia, from forests to desert regions, but need hollows in trees to nest.

They feed on small mammals like mice, small birds, frogs and lizards, but they also eat a lot of insects. 

At night, an owl's eyes appear to get bigger to let in the most light and in the daytime the pupil will be close more for the owl to see clearly.

To help them catch their prey, owls have very soft feathers on their wings so that they can't be heard when they are flying. To make them soft, the edges of the wings are separated into little 'hairy' strands. Owls also depend on their hearing to find their meals.


Photographed at Bird Kingdom, Niagara Falls, Ontario

Mynah (Greater Hill)

Greater Hill Mynah belongs to the Starling family, because of the iridescence plumage that most of the birds have. They are tree loving birds, that gather in flocks to roost at night.

They are very popular pets, especially in Asia, their native territory, because of their mimicry abilities.

This specie has been heavily trapped and traded, but is still considered common in the wild. However, the future doesn´t seem to be all that bright for this specie since their natural habitat is being destroyed. In fact, dense forests with heavy rainfall are increasingly smaller. These two threats have caused some decline in the population. This as strongly encouraged breeders to try even harder to breed this specie. 

 Photographed at Bird Kingdom, Niagara Falls, Ontario

Lorikeet (Rainbow)

Rainbow lorikeets distribution is the north-east in Australia There intense colours have patches of emerald green, orange midnight blue, dull blue, ruby red, ,lemon yellow, purple, violet greenish grey. Surprisingly enough this colourful bird can be hard sometimes to pick out in its natural habitat They are a small bird generally 11 to 12 inches long, females are generally a bit smaller and adolescents have duller markings They are said to live over 20 years in the wild Their vocalisation is varied from "screeching" in flight to "chatting" during feeding

These birds are normally found in flocks, large flocks at night roosting in trees but during the daytime they move and feed in much smaller flocks ranging up to 20 birds.

Late evening you may see larger flocks as they head towards their roosting site They like trees, and can be very noisy, active, sociable and are often seen in the company of other birds They will spend long times feeding in trees but in hot conditions will have an afternoon break from feeding

Photographed at Bird Kingdom, Niagara Falls, Ontario

Kookaburra

Kookaburras, known as the Laughing Jackasses of Australia, and are from the family of Kingfishers. Kookaburras are 17 inches in height, the upper parts dark brown, the wings spotted gray-blue. A white band separates the head from the body. The strong bill is black.

The Kookaburra's rolling, laughing call is one of the best-known sounds in the animal world as they go to roost in the treetops at dusk, and again wake everyone within hearing just as dawn breaks, so regularly and are known as the "bushman's clock."

Australians value the Kookaburra, for its habit of feeding on snakes and lizards. The Kookaburra seizes snakes behind the head and kills them by dropping them from a height, or else carries them to a perch and batters them senseless with its big bill before swallowing them.

Less welcome is their fondness for the young of other birds, and its occasional raids on farmyards for ducklings and baby chicks.


Photographed at Bird Kingdom, Niagara Falls, Ontario

Jacana (Wattled)

The Wattled Jacana is a resident breeder through most of South America east of the Andes.

 

Huge feet and claws enable them to walk on floating vegetation in the shallow lakes that are their preferred habitat. They are found worldwide within the tropical zone.

 

They lay four black-marked brown eggs in a floating nest. The male, as with other jacanas takes responsibility for incubation, with two eggs held between each wing and the breast. The females are custom of having more than one mate at a time, and will help to defend the nests of up to four mates.

The adults have a chestnut back and wing coverts, with the body mainly black. In flight greenish yellow flight feathers are obvious. There is a long sharp spur on the bend of the wing. The yellow bill extends up as a red coot-like head shield and a reddish wattle. The legs and very long toes are dull blue-grey.

 

Young birds initially have entirely white under parts, and can always be identified by the presence of white in their plumage.

 
Photographed at Bird Kingdom, Niagara Falls, Ontario

Hornbill (Silver-Cheeked)

The Silver-cheeked Hornbill is a large bird at (30 to 31 in) in length with a very large creamy casque on the beak. The female has a smaller casque and reddish skin around the eyes. The head is silver-grey and the rest of the plumage is iridescent black, except for the white rump.

Silver-cheeked Hornbills are residents of the tall evergreen forests of Africa. In Zimbabwe it is threatened by habitat destruction and its presence in South Africa is marginal, but it remains locally fairly common, especially in the northern and central parts of its range.

Usually they live in pairs and sometimes roost in flocks of hundreds of individuals. This hornbill feeds on fruits, insects, small birds, rodents, small reptiles and centipedes.

They breed in spring (September and October; at least in part of its range) and lay clutches of 1 to 3 white eggs, incubated for 40 days. The young remain with both parents for about 80 days.

 Photographed at Bird Kingdom Aviary, Niagara Falls, ON

Finch (Zebra)

The Zebra Finch, is the most common and familiar finch of Central Australia and ranges over most of the continent, avoiding only the cool moist south and the tropical far north.

 

The Zebra Finch breeds after substantial rains in its native habitat, which can occur at any time of the year. Birds in captivity are ready to breed year-round. Wild birds are adaptable and varied in their nesting habits, with nests being found in cavities, scrub, low trees, bushes, on the ground, in termite hills, rabbit burrows, nests of other birds, and in the cracks, crevices, and ledges of human structures. Outside of the breeding time, brood nests are constructed for sleeping in.

 

Male Zebra Finches begin to sing at puberty while females lack a singing ability. This is due to a developmental difference, where in the embryo, the male Zebra Finch produces estrogen, which is transformed into a testosterone-like hormone in the brain, which in turn leads to the nervous development of a song system.

 Photographed at Bird Kingdom, Niagara Falls, Ontario

Finch (White Zebra)

The White Zebra was one of the earliest mutations to occur in captivity. Males have a dark red beak, females retain an orange beak. The eye color can vary from being dark brown to reddish brown.

This difference in eye color of Whites reflects the ancestry of the White. For example, Whites with dark brown eyes are likely descendants of a Grey lineage, whereas Whites with reddish brown eyes are descendants from a Fawn lineage.

 

Also of an ivory or white body color is the Chestnut Flanked White (CFW) zebra finch mutation. Males of this type have a breast bar, cheek patches and flanking, which looks diluted in comparison to normal. Females are white with a black tear drop mark, and young birds emerge white with black beaks.

Photographed at Bird Kingdom, Niagara Falls, Ontario