Much to my finger's dismay

If you want to get involved in birdwatching, you can make it more interesting by knowing some facts about birds. Test your bird knowledge by answering the following questions.

On April 12, 2020, I received to my private rescue, two beautiful Indian Ringneck baby birds with a condition called "spraddle legs". Spraddle-legs or splay-legs is a condition that happens when birds are still immature. It occurs when abnormal lateral forces on the legs and feet cause the long bones (femurs) and sockets of the upper leg (acetabula) to distort and bend outward or sideways. Both legs are usually affected by this condition. This can be caused by the mom sitting too hard or too long on them or not enough bedding in the nest box. In the case of these two baby birds, this condition was the result of not having enough bedding.

How can I describe the feeling I have for my beloved pet. I met her in a pet store in 1976. She lived at Mr. Friendly Pet Shop in South Bend, Indiana. She was not for sale as was the owner’s pet. She stood on a t- stand in the center of the store and greeting customers as they would enter the store. I would pet her as I walked by with my 4 year old daughter. As I watched the parrot’s eyes spark and she bounced on her perch. She would remember me every time I walked in the store. Some times she would shout “Hi there Love!” Cockatoos are noted to be good talkers and their clown like activity. I was so impressed with her and could not get her out of my mind.

Heidi the Hummingbird: Heidi Saves A Bumble Bee

Dottie the Duck: The Winter Ahead

Collecting feathers is, for many, a fun pastime we’ve held onto since childhood. A bright bluejay feather or elegant woodpecker primary makes an interesting ornament that catches the eye. But unfortunately, what many aren’t aware of is that it isn’t that simple. Simply taking home a pretty feather can be highly illegal - but not in all cases. So what feathers can you keep, and which are best to leave be?

As a society, we don’t appreciate pigeons much. They’re known for being dirty, annoying, and covering everything from sidewalks to national monuments with their feces. Pigeons haven’t had a great public image — to most, they are dumb and disease ridden birds. But in reality, this couldn’t be further from the truth. References to domestic pigeons are found both in Egyptian hieroglyphs and Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets. Pigeons have been bred for thousands of years to work at our sides — many giving their lives to aid us as messengers of war. And yet, they are far from most people’s preferred avian pet — a parrot of various species, despite how little captivity suits them.

Elegant Crested-Tinamou is a beautiful western Argentinian terrestrial bird and windswept Patagonia. It can be found in flocks of 5-10 birds that scurry through low steppe vegetation, and its downslurred, whistled calls are often heard. The genus, in Argentina known as the martineta, consists of a variety of subspecies which are weakly distinguished. Elegant Crested-Tinamou, though very common in areas of southern Argentina, is only poorly known from Chile. Tinamous are stocky, woodland birds with quite short tails and rounded wings. The two species of crested-tinamous are large tinamous on the rear crown with a long thin crest, and just three toes. Elegant Crested-Tinamou is usually olive grey although it has black and white vermiculations in the plumage. There is also a broad whitish band that begins above the eye and runs down the neck line. With its body shape and short straight crest, the graceful Crested-Tinamou differs from about all tinamous. The only comparable species is the closely related Crested-Tinamou Quebracho, which has more deeply mottled upper parts; longer, more well-defined white stripes on the sides of the head and neck, with the longest such stripe reaching the base of the neck; unbarred inner webs to the primaries; and the appearance of horizontal vermiculations along the breast streaks. Among those two species there is little to no geographical overlap. Adults typically have light greyish brown to blackish upper parts, densely dotted with tiny white or buff spots, larger spots on the wing coverings. Pale brown crown, lightly streaked with black. On the rear crown is a long (up to 75 mm long), narrow crest, the crest feathers black and bent at the tips forward. Auriculars black, with a broad white line bordering above and below. Blackish primaries, barred with white on both websites, small and evenly spaced markings on the outer pages. Secondaries dusky brown, barred or white with a light buff. White Face. Neck sides, foreneck, and whitish breast sides, more or less strongly vermiculated or barred with black and marked with black shaft stripes. White to light ochraceous buff centre of underparts, more or less extensively barred with black on breast, flanks, and undertail coverts, but the belly is generally unmarked. Elegant Crested-Tinamou is omnivorous, but it mostly feeds on nuts, fruits, and leaves for most of the year. A large range of plant species are eaten; the most common are Bromus and Hordeum ears and seeds, as well as Erodium cicutarium, Lycium chilense and Condalia microhylla fruits. Invertebrates are eaten during the year, though most commonly in the summer; insects taken include the grasshoppers Trimeratropis pallidipennis, Dichroplus pratensis, Dichroplus elongatus, Scyllina variablis and Scyllina signatipennis. Crops of these tinamous often often include small stones and sand, but ' only a limited quantity of grit occurs in their crops. ' The song of Elegant Crested-Tinamou is described as ' a low mournful whistle given gradually, wheet wheee wheee, ' and as ' three melancholy whistles, each slightly lower in pitch than the previous one and slightly lower in length, phweeee phuuuu wuuu. ' They also jump up to take the leaves, flowers, and fruit, in addition to gleaning food from the ground. These tinamous do not scrape the ground in search of food. This tinamous forage most often takes place early in the morning and again late in the afternoon, while foraging takes up a greater part of the day in the winter. Elegant Crested-Tinamous also prefers shade and rest or dust bathe at midday while not foraging. Elegant Crested-Tinamous may travel long distances in search of food, but when food is abundant can remain in a small area day by day. These birds tend to walk, as is typical of tinamous, and typically only take flight when startled at close range. Elegant Crested-Tinamous fly quickly, within 3-6 m of the ground, and in a straight line. Glides are interspersed with bursts of quick wingbeats. The distance to flight is about 30- m.

The great tinamou (Tinamus major) is a genus of woodland birds found in Central and South America. Many subspecies occur, sometimes differentiated by their colouration. Big tinamou is about 44 cm long, 1.1 kg in weight and height of a small turkey, and in shape. It varies from light to dark olive-green in colour with white throat and chest, barred black flanks, and undertail with cinnamon. Rufous crown and neck with occipital crest, and supercilium blackish. Its legs are blue- in colour. All these features allow great tinamou to be easily camouflaged in the rainforest understory. Both tinamous are of the tribe of Tinamidae, which are the closest living relatives of the ratites. Tinamous can float like ratites but in general they aren't fast fliers. The ratites adapted as prehistoric flying birds. The great tinamou is a polygynandrous species, and one with unique juvenile parental care. A male pair and lay an total of four eggs that he incubates before hatching. He cares for 3 weeks for the chicks before moving on to find another girl. In the meantime the female has abandoned egg clutches to other males. She will begin nests with five or six males during each breeding season, leaving all parental care to the males. The breeding season is long and lasts from mid-winter to late summer. The eggs are colourfully large, shiny, and bright blue or violet, and typically the nests are rough scrapings in the roots of the buttress trees. Except for sex, when a couple stays together until the eggs are laid, big tinamous gets bored and wanders the dark understory alone, catching berries, fruit and small animals including bugs, spiders, frogs and small lizards in the bush litter. They're especially fond of Lauraceae, Annonaceae, Myrtaceae and Sapotaceae. Great tinamou lives in subtropical and tropical forests at altitudes between 300 and 1,500 metres above sea level, such as rainforest, lowland evergreen woodland, river-edge woodland, swamp forest and cloud forest. The big tinamou, unlike some other tinamous, is not as much influenced by trees fragmentation. The nest could lie at a tree's base. The species is widespread across its large range, 6,600,000 km2 and was previously listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as the Least Concern. They are hunted without any significant effect on their people. The species was reclassified as Near Endangered in 2012, because its natural habitat is undistubated timber, due to the anticipated consequences of continuing deforestation. Great Tinamou is a large lowland tinamou forest across the Amazon Basin, from southern Mexico. As with other tinamous species, this species is usually recognised by voice. Its quavering and mournful, yet strong, song is often performed at dawn and dusk, and can carry a distance through trees. Birds forage the ground, flying in silence. They fly into the air and smash into the forest, like "cannon balls with heads and wings." Individuals roost at night over a branch or vineyard above ground, resting their weight on top of tarsi pads. The large-scale and strong, quavering song of The Great Tinamou separates it from the more sympatric tinamous lowland. It emits a loud, recognisable sound, with several pairs of trills and whistles, typically 1 to 4 notes: whi hoooor-oooo hooor-ooooo or whoo hooo. Slender cap, twisted slightly. Sooty-black Chestnut, or Crown. Rather slim nose, with little eyes. Upper sections are dark olive lined, and black-flecked. Black Head. Pale underparts, barred with black, and buffy on thighs and flanks. The eyes are deep brown. Males and females differ in size. Females bear more weight than males. Juveniles are more shadowy yet adult-like.

The black tinamou (Tinamus tao) is a type of ground pigeon native to South America. There are four recognised subspecies. Both tinamou are of the family Tinamidae and also ratites are included in the broader scheme. Both ratites probably evolved from ancient flying birds, and tinamous are the nearest surviving relatives of these birds. The Black Tinamou is a woodland plant in northern South America with dense tropical and subtropical rainforest. The quiet bird's heard more frequently than there. It usually attempts to avoid detection by going quietly ahead, but if it's surprised, a loud roar of wings will flush it. During the breeding season the sex role is reversed, and the male performs the nesting duties while the female mates again with other males. In certain parts of the region, the Grey Tinamou is vulnerable to habitat destruction due to deforestation, degradation, and invasion and poaching occurs. The species is rare, and decreases in population. With a total length of 46 cm it is among the largest tinamous. This is mostly grey as the name indicates. The back and the head are painted blackish, and cinnamon is their fan. The white branding spreads across the back and down the neck. The black tinamou is found in western and northern Brazil, east Ecuador, east Peru, Colombia east of the Andes, northern Venezuela, northern Bolivia and Guyana. This is mainly limited in much of its range to tropical lowland forests, but occurs also in montane forests in the northern and far-western parts of its distribution. This tinamou has shown the ability for mining deforested forests. Unlike any other tinamous, his music is commonly heard but it's silent and barely seen. As other tinamous, the male incubates the nest eggs which are concealed in a dense forest on the ground. The male will also collect them for a short period of time after incubation, until they are ready. We feed on the fruits and nuts from the forest, and low to the bushes in the field. This species was previously classified by the IUCN with a Least Concern status, and has an occurrence area of 3,600,000 km2. In 2012, it was uplisted to delicate. Widespread to 1900 m, mainly in lowlands, from northern Venezuela and northern Colombia, south to the Amazonian Brazil and Bolivia, this large tinamou is one of the best-recognized members of the Tinamus group. Gray Tinamou is usually very common, even in areas at serious risk of poaching, and inhabits extensive tropical and subtropical forests, as well as more locally occurring in savanna gallery forests. In comparison to a tinamous one, Gray Tinamou is heard much more frequently than seen. Both sexes sing, giving a short one-noted hooting sound that is repeated many times, sometimes for up to a few minutes at a time. Its dietary preferences are not well known, but all seeds, fruits, insects, and snails have been reported in the stomach contents. Nests are generally located inside the buttress roots of large trees, and clutch size is normally three eggs, but nests with up to nine eggs were recorded. Upon leaving the nest, both sexes incubate, and the male Gray Tinamou cover the eggs with leaves. One of the largest Tinamidae is the Black Tinamou. The nominated adult race has white to bluish-gray tops and upper-wing covers which are narrowly vermiculated and dark white bars. The pattern is less common on flight-feathers and ears, and somewhat browner-gray. Malar area on the underparts, chin, throat and upper neck are extensively mottled and striped grey and brown, with central white collar. The lower neck and most subparts, especially on the sides of the breast, are much more plain grey with darker dark vermiculations. The lower breast and belly show pale bluish to a lavender tinge. Thighs and rear belly are more ochraceous with dark markings, while undertail coverings are brilliant with white marks.

The hooded tinamou (Nothocercus nigrocapillus) is a type of ground-bird found in the forests of Bolivia and Peru. The Tinamous form an order, the Tinamiformes, consisting of a single family, with two distinct subfamilies, with 47 species of birds found in Mexico, Central America and South America. One of the oldest extant bird groups, they appear first on the fossil record of the Miocene Epoch. Tinamous has historically been considered the sister group of flightless ratites, but recent work puts them well within the range of the ratios, indicating that basal ratites may float. They are usually sedentary, ground-dwelling birds that avoid flight, if possible, in lieu of fleeing or running away from danger, though not flightless. They exist in a variety of habitats, from semi-arid alpine grasslands to tropical rainforests. Tinamou belong to the family Tinamidae and even ratites are found in the broader scheme. Unlike other ratites, tinamous can float but in general they are not good fliers. Ratites evolved from ancient flying birds and tinamous are the closest surviving descendants of such birds. The hooded tinamou is found in thick montane forest up to 1,550 to 3,000 m above sea level. The plant is the native to the Andes of Bolivia and Peru. Hooded tinamou on top is light brown and heavily freckled with black paint. It is light down with dusky thighs, red-spotted belly, and averages 33 cm in weight. The hooded tinamou consumes fruit from the grass, or low-lying trees, compared to other tinamous. We do consume small amounts of invertebrates, blossoms, tender herbs, seeds, and roots. The male incubates the eggs that may come from as many as four separate females, and then holds them up until they are able to be alone, normally 2–3 weeks. The nest is on the ground in dense scrub, between raised root buttresses. The fungus has an estimated range of 35,000 km2 for global occurrence. It's not well known among Hooded Tinamou but it seems to be quite common. Hooded Tinamou is found from northern Peru to central Bolivia along the eastern slope of the Andes, where it inhabits moist forests at altitudes of around 1300-3200 m in subtropical to temperate regions. It clearly favours weathered environments with very little undergrowth, and potentially bamboo fields, but the ecology of Hooded Tinamou is not very well known. Likewise, breeding biology of this species is entirely uncertain but its nesting can be associated with bamboo seeding events. Our only nutritional information is that they saw the animal eating bamboo seeds. Overall, Hooded Tinamou is paler than Highland Tinamou and the head is mainly plumb grey rather than black, whereas the rare Tinamou Tawny-breasted is larger with a reddish head, typically found at higher elevations. Two subspecies of Hooded Tinamou are recognised, with the northern subspecies being redder over the body and overall head, but the ongoing lack of reference data makes it difficult to decide with certainty the comparatively minor differences found between them. The Hooded Tinamou has an upper band and a dusky, white-necked head. The rest of the body is brown, with whitish specks on the wings and tail. The largest and most famous is the Hooded Tinamou of the great Andean Tinamous. In certain areas it is estimated to range from 1300 to 2500 m even higher. This is situated only on the east and south side of the Marañon Valley. Tinamous are landly, pudgy birds with very short tails and long legs. The three species of Nothocercus are small sized tinamous in moist montane forests. Hooded Tinamou is mainly brown, and the upper parts are finely vermiculated with black. The neck and head are dark brown, while white is the back. The genders are similar.