Nanday Parakeet

                

  Nanday Parakeet (Aratinga nenday) also known as the Black-hooded Parakeet
                                              - Konura Czarnoglowa

Brazil, Pantanal, 2013

Description

Black beak with black head, face & chin mask, yellow or bare eye-ring. Blue-green wash on throat and upper breast. Dark blue outer flight feathers. Longest tail feather is olive green tipped in blue. Flight & tail feathers are gray underneath. Lower abdomen pale olive or yellow-green. Rump is yellow. Legs covered in striking red/orange feathers contrasting vividly against the greenish abdomen. These birds are strong, fast, direct fliers with rapid wing beats. The immature bird is similar to the adult but with less blue on the throat and breast and the tail is shorter then the adult.

Habitat

The bird is native to South America from southeast Bolivia to southwest Brazil, central Paraguay and northern Argentina, from the region known as the Pantanal. It lives in scrub forest and forest clearings, pastures and agricultural lands. Open palm forests. They are gregarious, with groups of up to a dozen birds when breeding and several hundred gathered when roosting. They are often seen drinking at waterholes.

Voice

Very loud repetitive screeching - kree-ah...kree-ah. Grating chatter when perched; in flight a piercing, high-pitched call followed by 3 or 4 much lower, abrupt klaak! calls. Known for being quite vocal, the can often be taught to speak rather well, learn tricks and mimic sounds, especially when started at a young age. However, the Nanday can also be quite loud and does best in a home where his owner doesn't mind a little extra noise.

Sounds of  Nanday Parakeet 

Diet

The bird feeds on seeds, fruit, palm nuts, berries, flowers and buds. Feral birds will also come to bird feeders. Wild birds primarily use scrub forest and forest clearings around settlements. It frequents open savannah, pastures and stockyards in South America where it is considered a pest in some areas.

Reproduction

Nanday Parakeets usually find holes in trees to nest in. It lays 3–4 eggs. After raising its young, all birds will form rather large communal roosts until the next breeding season.
Typically nesting in late November.
Did you know?

In captivity they make wonderful pets if cared for and socialized properly. They all have distinct personalities and appreciate toys. They require a cage or enclosure that is a minimum of 24 × 24 × 30 inches (60 × 60 × 75 cm) as they are inclined to climb, flap their wings and have long tail feathers. They also like to be outside of their cage at least six hours a day. While they will accept most parrot seed mixes, seed-only diets are nutritionally inadequate, reduce their lifespan considerably and may cause them to become underweight. Pellet-based diets with fruits and vegetables offered daily are much preferable. These birds are extremely intelligent and skilled escape artists. Some of them will talk, others will not, depending on their personality. They are noted for having a very loud call and are not suited for apartments.

Perhaps one of the most unusual habits of this species is the tendency of falling asleep on his back with his feet straight up in the air.

Photos by others.

Credits

Audubon, Wikipedia, Avibase

Black Capped Donacobius

Black Capped Donacobius - Mimik

Brazil, Pantanal, 2013

Description

The Black-capped Donacobius is a conspicuous, vocal South American bird. It is found in tropical swamps and wetlands in South America. It is unmistakable with a head and shoulders that are glossy black, a back that is more of a brown, and a rump that is olive-brown. Its tail feathers are black with noticeable white tips. Its wings are blackish with an obvious white flash at the bottom. The bird has underparts that are a warm yellow with black bars on its side. Its eyes are a bright yellow, and its legs are a dusky green. The black-capped donacobius also has a yellow cheek pouch that can puff out.

Habitat

Donacobius is resident along river edges with brushy areas and with invading dense vegetation in standing water. They need marshes for breeding. Black-capped Donacobiuses are common in a wide range of Amazonian wetlands.

Voice

Donacobius pair utters fascinating duets. Both perch close to each other, one above the other, and often facing each other. They call while bobbing their heads and wagging their fanned tails jerkily. The upper bird utters a hard “chrrr” and the other a loud “kweea”. At this time, we can often see the orange-yellow pouches exposed.
This melodious duet lasts some seconds, and it is used for to keep away potential intruders. Male gives series of liquid whistles and female utters a lower grating sound. Male’s call varies in intensity from slow repetitions of whistles to rapid bursts of notes when it is very excited.

Sounds of Black Capped Donacobius

Diet

Donacobius feeds mainly on invertebrates. It gleans from leaf surface in grass, and may also catch flying insects, from low perches over water. It forages in vegetation and grassy marshes where it probes and plugs insects. Donacobius is probably entirely resident in its range. Pairs live in narrow territories along water edges. A large portion consists of marshy edges.

Reproduction

Donacobius’s nest is built in vegetation, reeds or grass, often over standing water, at about 25 cm to one meter above water. But nest may be built in other places, and when it is not over water, nest is located higher, up to two meters above the ground. Nest is mainly built by female.
It is a bulky open cup (external sizes 10 to 15 cm) with a nesting cup of 6cm depth and 8 cm in diameter. Nest is made with grass, plant fibers, and other materials frequently added, such as snake skins and silk from spider webs and cocoons. Donacobius may also take some materials from nests of other species. Breeding occurs during rainy months.
Female lays 2 purplish-white eggs, heavily spotted with reddish and purplish. Incubation lasts about 16 to 18 days, by female alone. Altricial chicks are naked at hatching. Adults wet them with their own soaked feathers, after immersion into the water.
Young are fed by both parents, but also by helpers which are offspring from the last breeding season, or for one or two seasons before. Young fledge when they are 17 to 18 days old.
When nesting care is shared by pair and helpers, broods are more productive. Helpers assist breeding pair in defense of the territory, feeding young and guarding the nest.
This species seems to produce one single brood and a second clutch of replacement if the first is lost. But sometimes, pair may produce two broods per year. Mates stay together all their life.

Photos by others.

Credits

Avibase, Planetofbirds.com, Oiseoux-birds.com