Today's new bird, the final species in this year's Bonanza, is the Dollarbird.
This Old World species can be found throughout eastern Asia, southeast Asia, and eastern Australia. Named for light-colored discs on the underwings, Dollarbirds are part of the Roller family and are also sometimes known as Dark Rollers. Our cute Birdorable Dollarbird shows the glossy iridescent plumage and bright orange-red beak of an adult bird.
This concludes our 13th Annual Birdorable Bonanza! Thanks for following along as we added a flock of new birds all in a row! We hope you enjoy a safe, happy, healthy, and bird-filled holiday season.
Spanish researchers have discovered that baby European Rollers have an unconventional method of deterring potential predators. The young birds will "vomit a smelly orange liquid when scared by predators." The act serves two purposes. First, the stinky puke may disgust predators from further harassing or attacking the nestlings. Second, the smell serves as a signal to the parent birds that the nest is in danger. The parent birds approach the nest with extra caution when the babies have vomited. Not exactly cute -- but pretty neat, right? Read more about the discovery here: Bird in the hand is worth... ew, is that vomit?.
We've recently added three new Birdorable birds from the roller family: the European Roller; the Lilac-breasted Roller; and the Blue-bellied Roller. There are twelve species of roller extant today. Rollers are similar to crows in size and shape, but certainly not in color. Rollers are colorful in appearance, and more closely resemble bee-eaters and kingfishers in this way. In fact, they are closely related to both of these families, taxonomically speaking. Rollers get their name from their unique breeding displays, where male birds swoop, dive, and roll through the air. Check out our original Roller apparel and gifts featuring these three new birds:
