As 2017 winds down, it's time for us to reveal some new birds as part of our annual Birdorable Bonanza! This time we'll introduce 12 birds, from November 24th through December 5th.
The Black-and-white Hawk Eagle is a large species of raptor found in forested habitats across parts of South and Central America. They hunt a variety of prey items, usually while soaring at fairly high altitude.
Black-and-white Hawk-Eagles are named for their contrasting plumage. The head and chest are white while the back, wings, and markings around the eye are black.
Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle by Dick Culbert
Tomorrow our Bonanza will continue with a new bird in the corvid family, named for one of its favorite foods. Can you guess the species?
Our special 10th anniversary 2016 Birdorable Bonanza continues today with the third bird in the series: the Steller's Sea Eagle, a very large raptor that lives in coastal habitats in northeast Asia. These powerful, heavy birds are among the world's largest eagles, along with the Philippine Eagle of the Philippines and the Harpy Eagle of South America.
Steller's Sea Eagles feed mainly on fish hunted in relatively shallow freshwater. They also take other items as prey, including seabirds like gulls, ducks, and herons.
The Steller's Sea Eagle is considered to be vulnerable to extinction by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), and its population is in decline. It faces threats including loss of habitat due to human development and water pollution from industry and agriculture.
Our Birdorable Bonanza: 2015 Advent Edition rolls on today with a large species of eagle: the White-bellied Sea Eagle!
White-bellied Sea Eagles are large birds of prey found across parts of Southeast Asia, Australia, and the Indian Subcontinent. It is found in both coastal and inland habitats.
The White-bellied Sea Eagle is also known as White-breasted Sea Eagle. Like many birds of prey, this species is an opportunistic carnivore. The diet is extremely varied and includes aquatic animals like fish and turtles. They take other prey items, including land animals like opossum, as well as birds. White-bellied Sea Eagles also readily consume carrion and will even steal food items from other predatory birds.
The White-bellied Sea Eagle is considered to be culturally significant across several communities within their geographic range. Some indigenous tribes in Australia thought the bird to be a guardian animal. Traditional tales from groups on the Andaman Islands and in some Malaysian communities include the White-bellied Sea Eagle in their mythology.
White-bellied Sea Eagle by shankar s. (CC BY 2.0)
Photo by Jim Bendon (CC BY-SA 2.0)
The White-bellied Sea Eagle joins Birdorable today as our 634th cute cartoon bird. Tomorrow's bird is from the same family as one of the birds we featured earlier this month, but this one has a helmet on. Can you guess what it will be?
Today our Birdorable Bonanza: 2015 Advent Edition continues with the largest bird of prey found in Australia, the Wedge-tailed Eagle!
Wedge-tailed Eagles are named for the unique shape of their tails. Across their range, which includes all of mainland Australia as well as Tasmania and southern New Guinea, they are fairly common. In fact, they are the most common of the world's large eagle species.
Wedge-tailed Eagle by Ron Knight (CC BY 2.0)
Wedge-tailed Eagle by James Niland (CC BY 2.0)
Wedge-tailed Eagle by Patrick_K59 (CC BY 2.0)
Wedge-tailed Eagles are non-migratory and established mated pairs will defend their territory throughout the year, even outside of breeding season. Earlier this year a territorial Wedge-tailed Eagle was captured on video taking down a drone.
The Wedge-tailed Eagle is our 622nd Birdorable bird and our 44th cute Birdorable bird of prey. Our Bonanza continues tomorrow with an unusual Asian forest species with fire in its name. Can you guess tomorrow's species?
African Fish-Eagles are large birds of prey that live in sub-Saharan parts of Africa. They eat a lot of fish (hence the name), but they will also steal prey from other birds or take a variety of other prey items including small turtles, other birds, or even monkeys.
African Fish-Eagle by Jason Wharam (CC BY-ND 2.0)
The African Fish-Eagle has a stable wild population in its rather large natural range. It is the national bird of three African nations: Zimbabwe, South Sudan, and Zambia.
Tomorrow we'll add a stocky finch species with a very, very big beak. This bird is found across parts of Europe and Asia.
