Pretty Bird, Hideous Home.-The Red and Yellow Barbet

      This is the Red and Yellow Barbet. this is bird is one of the most distinctive barbets of them all. It has a very vibrant head pattern and has spots on it's wings, like white drops of paint on a black canvas. It's tail feathers are stripes of black and white. It's chest and underparts are a lemonade yellow, and a stripe crosses it's chest with a pattern similar to that of its wings.


"Wata you lookin' at!?"

This doesn't taste anywhere as good as the hamburger I snagged from that teenaged girl's hands!
 

There diet includes fruit, seeds, insects, lizards, and even small birds and there eggs. They also take advantage of trash cans. This bird also lays it's eggs in an unusualy strange home. A termite mound. Red and Yellow Barbets group together during the mating season. The dominant male mates with one female, and the rest of the birds act as slaves, giving the couple food, and sometimes digging the hole in the termite mound. They're practically slaves! Aside from that, We think that this is a really cool bird.

Oh my gosh, that duck has TEETH!

       Imagine yourself as a fish. You have decided to take a morning swim through the lake. You are feeling pretty good, and you're minding you own buissiness. Little do you know that a viscious razor toothed duck named Vlad  has decided to have you and your little fishy friends for breakfast! You swim right into the serated mouth of death. In other words, the mouth of Vlad. Pain swallows your body, and black death engulfes your soul. You struggle to hold on to dear life, but you are forced down it's gulet, never to see the light of day again. You have been eaten by the not so freindly Vlad... he is a Common Merganser.

You and Vlad, together forever!

Vlad's assult weapon.

       Common Mergansers such as Vlad or his brother Phill (who ate the rest of your family), are a special kind of duck with a serated bill, which gives it the appearence of having teeth. They have a long thin bill and black patches of feathers on their back. The male has a greenhead. The female has an orange-brown head that spikes out in the back  As a snack they eat poor defenseles fishies like yourself. They live in North America, Asia, and Europe. They have "fins" on their feet that help them swim in lakes to eat fish. So, if you have thought about being a fish, you might want to rethink that.

To Many ROCK CONCERTS

This is the frilled coquette: what some might call the champion of crazy hair day. Or the craziest rock star in the world. Though it is not because of  this look, it is because of it's mating display. But we'll get to that later. This bird is 3 1/4 in. and weighs only 3grams. They live on the central part of the east coast and the jungles around there. It has an orange crest on top of it's head. White feather tufts spotted with black help with the matting display. Black feathers cover the neck and the back of the head and ear coverts are a blue-green reflecting color that kind of sparkles. It has an amazing tail that is brown, orange, and thin. They drink nectar from tube like flowers. Now for the mating display. Look at this! Isn't that amazing? The feather tufts are orange when the are spread out! The black feathers look puffy! The tail feathers spread!
This bird is so Awesome

What's this Speck on my Pencil?

OK it isn't a speck. But it is only 2 in. tall and this pencil is the perfect perch. This bee hummingbird  weighs almost nothing, at 2 grams. That's 1/16of an ounce. It has a striking red head that tops the deep blue wings. After two birds mate, the male leaves.This bird only lays 2 eggs. The chicks are in there eggs for a bout 22 days.(what's with all the twos?) The chicks stay with the mother for about 19 days.(Finally, a number besides 2!) Tiny but brave, this bird dive bombs anything that gets to close to the chicks, even eagles.   Native only to Cuba and a nearby Island called Isla de la Juventud this bird lives in lush green forests, and drinks nectar from tube like flowers every 5 minutes in order to live. This bird is truly extraordinary.

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It's a pilow! It's coconut! It's, it's, it's... It's a Kiwi?

That's right, a kiwi: a strange tropical bird that roams the jungles of New Zealand. However, not just any kiwi, the brown kiwi, the largest kiwi  in Stewart Island. This bird also lives on the south island and can grow to be 26in. in length. As in the name, this kiwi has brown feathers. This flightless nocturnal bird likes the lush, green, sub-tropical environment. The female store it's eggs in a burrow, and the male watches the eggs for about 70 days until the eggs hatch. When the eggs finally hatch, the chicks are born with all there feathers.After a week, they leave the burrow to fend for themselves.It has fat chicken like feet, but the back toe is very short. It has a very long, thin beak that it uses to get bugs out of the ground. It has a humpback body, and 2in. wings. Three subspecies inhabit each of the islands: North, South, and Stewart Islands. Despite these unusual facts Brown Kiwis  Are barely hearable. The male brown kiwis can only be heard 5ft away, and then nothing is to be heard. You could be walking a few feet away from a kiwi and not no it.One more fact about the kiwi is that it is New Zealand's state bird. That's all about The Brown Kiwi!

Tramendous Tucan

There are many different species of Toucan.  Their main diet is grapes, and other small fruit.  Many of them live in Brazil and Venezuela.  Their long beak help them catch falling fruit and bugs.  It also helps them to reach into deep holes in trees to get food other birds can't get.  Although their beak is very big it is also very light. The sulfur breasted tucan(shown above) has blue feet, a yellow breast, and a rainbow colored beak.  The rest of their body is black except for some red and white on their tail feathers.  Toucans are related to barbets.  They build their nests in large holes in trees.  We like Toucans because they are very colorful and we like their large beak.  Unlike a lot of birds they are colorful and large.  Toucans are a unique bird.   

The Barn Owl

One of our FAVORITE birds is the Barn Owl. Owls are some of the most misunderstood birds on earth.  We hope that this entry will help you understand owls a little better.  Some people said that owls were a sign of witches, monsters, or devils.  However, we know that isn't true.  When we think of owls we think of awesome, amazing, wonderful creatures.   
The Barn Owl is recognized by the moon shaped or monkey shaped face and the golden yellow colors on the back side of the body.  Their chest is white with little black spots.  The wing feathers are fringed so they muffle all the sound of their wing beats.  Their legs are tipped with sharp talons that they use to catch mice, sugar gliders and other small vertebrates.  They can eat as many as 1,000 rodents a year.  Barn Owls are equipped with ears that point forward and are not equally leveled.  This arrangement of the ears allows the barn owl to pin point where ever the sound of their prey is coming from.  They will then swoop down and go for the kill.  They belong to the family of Tytonidae.  Their scientific name is Tyto Alba.  They can be found almost everywhere in the world except for polar and artic regins.  At one time someone took them to Hawaii, but they had to take them off because they almost killed off another bird called the Albatross, which is kind of like a seagull.
We were introduced to owls through the book series "The Guardians of Ga'Hoole".  We recommend these books.  They are fiction, and very interesting.