Nature Note #181: My Top Ten World Birds
In the United States, we are blessed with a bounty of birds. We have some of the most iconic birds in the world from the stately bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and whooping crane (Grus americana) to the diverse collage of songbirds like warblers, finches, and bluebirds. That being said, there are some species of birds that rarely, if ever make it to America's shores.
Just this past May, my girlfriend and I missed our chance of seeing one of these birds. A curlew sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) had decided to show up about 40 minutes west of the Biggest Week birding festival in Oak Harbor, OH. As we arrived at the hallowed ground it had graced for several days before (which was essentially a flooded field in the middle of flat Ohio farm country) it instead had decided just minutes earlier to depart to places unknown.
This got me thinking about what birds I might want to see, but couldn't due to my current geographic location in the countryside of central New York and would need to travel to go and see. So I've decided to compile a list of ten birds I would like to see from all around the world.
First up is....
1. Red-breasted goose (Branta ruficollis)
While I have seen these geese squatting in real life at the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust in Llanelli, Wales and sweetly squealing at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, NY, I would love to see these little geese out in the wild.
The only problem is that these birds breed in the Arctic. Well you might have to catch a few planes, hail a few snowmobiles and dodge a few polar bears to go and see one and you would be right. The other part of this problem is that they only breed in northern Russia on the Taimyr, Gydan, and Yamal peninsulas. Access to their wintering grounds also gets a bit trickier as the majority of the population winters on the Black Sea, which as you amateur geographers know in next to Ukraine which has been less than peaceful over the past few years. While I'm less inclined to want to freeze to death on the frozen tundra, I'm even less inclined enter a potential war zone. Fortunately, these birds also winter far west enough to get into Romania and Bulgaria, so there might be hope for me yet!
2. Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus)
Falcons possess such raw coolness that it shouldn't be surprising that one is gracing this list. While peregrines (F. peregrinus) are generally the birds that most people associate power, speed, and fierceness with, there is even one better.
That bird is, according to the Book of St. Albans, only fit to be flown by a king; the gyrfalcon. These birds, also arctic breeders, occasionally make an appearance in the lower 48 state and when they do, they become rare bird superstars. According to an article written by Alex Lamoreaux at NemesisBird.com, in the winter of 2015, over 20 sightings of gyrfalcons (consisting mainly of young birds who likely wanted to explore the vast country south of their usual Canadian haunts) were reported to eBird. Like most rare sightings, these birds become legendary to those that get to see them and ghosts to those who have yet to.
They don't seem real, but to their prey, they are atrociously real as the painting above can attest to. The piece portrays a captive gyrfalcon having struck and succeeded in taking down a grey heron (Ardea cinerea). For a falcon that can weigh up to 4 1/2 lbs, this seems rather shocking. However with a wingspan of four feet and the speed and power of a roided peregrine falcon, it isn't that shocking considering that it can also take down ptarmigan, sage-grouse, gulls, terns, pheasants, auks, and even other birds of prey like hawks and owls!
Hopefully one can come and visit CNY this winter provided we aren't buried in 50 feet of revenge snow for the lack of snow last winter!
3. Western capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus)
There's something in a weird name that evokes feelings of mystery, curiosity, and wonder. Whether it comes from a beginner birder trying to pronouce "Phainopepla" or "Pyrrhuloxia" correctly (don't worry, I struggle too.) or trying to impress the locals with your mastery of scientific names, the one bird I can think of that captures all those qualities is the capercaillie.
Most of you have probably never heard of a capercaillie (pronounced "caper-kay-lee" for you newbies) and I'm not surprised. They are usually a retiring species, hiding in the dense pine forests of Scandinavia, Scotland, and Russia. The males are especially distinctive and to a nonbirder must look like some sort of grizzled mountain turkey. While 80% of their year is spent hiding in the woods, come the breeding season the males transform from shy grizzled mountain turkeys into belligerent and combative grizzled mountain turkeys!
While I certainly have the words to describe the display of the male capercaillie and would love to see it in real life, I would rather share what it actually looks like so that you, the reader, can get a better sense of just how much of an asshole, these birds can be.
And of course, it's narrated by Sir David Attenborough.
4. Shoebill (Balaeniceps rex)
What do you get when you combine the body of a heron, with the glare of a gryphon, and a beak that looks like a murderous Dutchman's clog? You get the nightmarishly attentive Shoebill. Also known as the whalehead stork, this huge bird lives along marshy waterways and riverbanks in Africa.
The capercaillie isn't the only bird that I first learned about from David Attenborough's series "The Life of Birds". In fact, I first learned about the shoebill and two other birds on this list (the sunbittern and lyrebird) from that series. Shoebills are quite impressive in photographs, and equally so in footage shown on a number of other nature documentaries. Their main claim to fame is their tenacity when it comes eating rather unusual prey. One of their favorites are lungfish which they can detect by watching for the bubbles on the surface of a pond of one coming to the surface to breathe. It's a wonder that such a creature has been able to survive at all with these murder birds looming over their heads.
The photo above lists this species as a "pelican" but it is most closely related to a small heron-like bird called a hamerkop (Scopus ubretta) who also has the distinction of building the most and largest nests in the bird world. They are in the same family (named rather helpfully "Pelicaniformes") as pelicans, herons, and egrets, but to confuse them with a pelican is a bit of a stretch. Hopefully, I can see them alongside some of Africa's other Pelicaniformes someday in the future.
5. Sunbittern (Eurypyga helias)
Some birds have to be seen to be believed. The only time I have ever seen a sunbittern was last October on a trip to the Buffalo Zoo in Buffalo, NY. While it was cool to see this bird, I was disappointed that it didn't open its wings. The wings of the sunbittern are a perfect example of using false eyes to scare away an enemy. The red and black patches on their wings can be used to suggest that the bird is larger than it actually is. This tactic can be seen being done by other animals including toads puffing themselves up, owls fanning their wing and tail feathers, and the arched backs of domestic cats.
With such an unusual look, you would think that they would be trying to scare everything with this pose. In fact, they are fairly relaxed and hunt for fish, frogs, and other aquatic prey along the forested rivers and streams of South and Central America. Despite being called sun "bitterns" and resembling a small heron, they are not closely related to herons and bitterns at all. They are, instead more closely related to the Kagu (Rhynochetos jubatus) of New Caledonia and possibly are also a distant relative of the cranes and rails.
6. Galah (Eolophus roseicapilla)
Australia: land of the weird, the wonderful, and the deadly. A unique continent/island that many, including myself, want to visit someday. One major reason I want to visit is so I can have the experience of sitting in a residential neighbourhood while flocks of native parrots swoop overhead. Now any birder in the know would say if you wanted to do that on a budget, you would hightail it to California and just hang around the neighbourhoods there to see all sorts of released, feral parrots calling from the telephone poles or treating themselves to a bird feeder in someone's backyard.
Indeed, the only time in the near future I might be able to see some wild (and feral) parrots will be when I go to visit my relatives in England. However, I know for a fact, that the only place I will see the parrot pictured above will be on the continent of Australia. The galah is well-named in a country filled with unique and humorous sounding names.
Despite their cuddly appearance, Australia's farmers have to watch for and prevent damage from the nut-crushing beaks of galahs and other cockatoos which sweep across farmland every season looking for easy food. It seems weird thinking of these birds as pests, but I suppose with any animal, it all depends on the circumstances. A chipmunk in the garden is a delight to have until they start stealing your cherry tomatoes!
I imagine once I've after I'd gotten used to the heat, the new timezone, and with having to check every orifice for any manner of venomous wildlife, that I will be able to venture forth to look for one of the enigmatic birds in the land down under.
7. Booted racket-tail (Ocreatus underwoodii)
The first time I saw a hummingbird was when I was about eight years old. I was visiting Arizona with my family and we had just returned to our hotel from the Grand Canyon. Out the hotel window, there was an open expanse of dry sand surrounded by brushy looking shrubs with jackrabbits warily hopping only a few feet away. Then I saw it! A little buzzing bird with a needle-like beak zipped into my line of vision and hovered for a brief moment before flitting away. I cannot recall the species, but seeing such a tiny bird flitting so easily around in the air was an amazing sight. It wouldn't be until eight years ago when I started dating my girlfriend Alison that I would see another hummingbird again.
Cut to a year or so ago and I was browsing the microblogging site, Tumblr when a fellow bird blogger shared a photo of an emerald hummingbird with a forked tail and fluffy white feathers covering its feet. I stared and stared, shared the photo on my own blog, and then stared some more. I was hooked. I've taken many photos of ruby-throated hunningbirds (Archilochus colubris) but I knew as soon as I saw that photo that I needed to see and photograph this little beauty.
8. Superb lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae)
Another Australian species that shows off the diversity of birdlife down under is the superb lyrebird. Being able to see this species would be amazing for two reasons. One is that despite looking like some sort of pheasant with a fetish for gossamer and fancy quills, it is actually a songbird. Now you're probably thinking,
"What? No! That can't be right?!"
Well you would be wrong because taxonomists only care about the evidence no matter how much it shakes up the old order of things. We all know what you did this summer, American Ornithologists Union!
Now as you can probably guess, the second reason I like this bird is because I really like David Attenborough (in case it already wasn't really obvious). He was the one that cemented my interest in the natural world, especially with birds, and showed me that it was cool to love animals in a calm and gentle sort of way, but still be amazed by their stamina, diversity, and wonderful adaptability.
With that being said, the lyrebird itself isn't actually named for its fibbing ways, but instead for the way its tail resembles the string instrument called a lyre. They're the instrument angels are usually seen playing when portrayed in popular medium (sorry Castiel). The lyrebird is well known online as being the bird that can copy any noise in its habitat. In another episode of "The Life of Birds", Attenborough explains how the bird shows off his plumage and miraculously manages to imitate the sounds it hears around it in order to attract a mate.
Take that mockingbirds!
9. Bicheno finch (Taeniopygia bichenovii)
I love unique bird names and these last two birds are certainly some of my favorites. I also love the Australian finches and first learned about them when I was keeping budgies and finches as a preteen in Llanegwad, a hamlet located in Carmarthenshire in Wales in 2002. I was obsessed with these birds as a child and regularly made plans to keep these birds if I could manage to scrape enough money or space in order to have them.
Unfortunately, we left for the United States soon afterwards which meant that the budgies and finches had to go. Ever since, I would occasionally browse the pages of efinch.com for information and to gaze longingly at photos of the huge variety of finches who hailed from Australia. Bicheno finches were one of them.
According to Wikipedia, these birds are named after James Ebenezer Bicheno who was a fellow of the Linnean Society and contributed to the natural sciences by writing papers on subjects in botany and ornithology. Also according to the article, the man was so large that he could fit three bags of wheat into his trousers.
Bicheno finches, along with zebra (T. guttata), bengalese (Lonchura striata domestica), and Lady Gouldian finches (Erythrura gouldiae) are some of my favorites and knowing that these birds live wild and free somewhere else is so tempting for me. I want to go and find these birds, just like the lyrebirds and galahs and see them where they truly belong. We might have chickadees, cardinals, and jays at our feeders here in New York, but you can bet that I would love to be sitting at a feeder in Australia watching these finches flocking to a pile of seeds and soaking in every minute of it.
10. Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola)
As we near the end of this list, you might be looking for some sort of concluding message, a final resounding species that is impressive and yet, a little unknown. This isn't what I'm about to do. Instead, it's going to get a little more complicated then that and it comes down to two words.
Incertae sedis. These two Latin words may seem rather unassuming, but if you are a species that has been documented by scientists who are now struggling to find a place for you in the taxonomic catologue of organisms, it certainly isn't the best place to be. Incertae sedis means "of uncertain placement" and refers to organisms that don't have a definite place in a taxonomic system due to uncertainty about which organisms they are most closely related to. This can be considered to be analogous to "wastebasket taxons" which are groups of organisms that are lumped together regardless of whether they are actually related to one another and simply because no one has any evidence to support putting them somewhere else.
Such is the status of the tiny bananaquit who also has my third favorite (and silly-sounding) name for any bird (the others being morepork and intermediate egret) who was previously placed with the tanagers. While the other birds on this list are charasmatic, colorful, or unique examples of their countries biodiversity, the only reason I want to see these birds is because of their disputed status.
Well that and they look pretty cute too!
It was hard getting this list down to ten species considering there are 1000 times as many species of birds in the world. My life list has only 365 species on it so any chance I have to add these species would be amazing. Hopefully, over the next few years, I can get some birding done and add these birds to my young life list.
Only time will tell.
Sources:
Just this past May, my girlfriend and I missed our chance of seeing one of these birds. A curlew sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) had decided to show up about 40 minutes west of the Biggest Week birding festival in Oak Harbor, OH. As we arrived at the hallowed ground it had graced for several days before (which was essentially a flooded field in the middle of flat Ohio farm country) it instead had decided just minutes earlier to depart to places unknown.
This got me thinking about what birds I might want to see, but couldn't due to my current geographic location in the countryside of central New York and would need to travel to go and see. So I've decided to compile a list of ten birds I would like to see from all around the world.
First up is....
1. Red-breasted goose (Branta ruficollis)
 |
| Red-breasted geese at WWT Llanelli, Wales, UK |
The only problem is that these birds breed in the Arctic. Well you might have to catch a few planes, hail a few snowmobiles and dodge a few polar bears to go and see one and you would be right. The other part of this problem is that they only breed in northern Russia on the Taimyr, Gydan, and Yamal peninsulas. Access to their wintering grounds also gets a bit trickier as the majority of the population winters on the Black Sea, which as you amateur geographers know in next to Ukraine which has been less than peaceful over the past few years. While I'm less inclined to want to freeze to death on the frozen tundra, I'm even less inclined enter a potential war zone. Fortunately, these birds also winter far west enough to get into Romania and Bulgaria, so there might be hope for me yet!
2. Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus)
 |
| "Gerfalcon striking grey heron" painted by Louis Agassiz Fuertes |
That bird is, according to the Book of St. Albans, only fit to be flown by a king; the gyrfalcon. These birds, also arctic breeders, occasionally make an appearance in the lower 48 state and when they do, they become rare bird superstars. According to an article written by Alex Lamoreaux at NemesisBird.com, in the winter of 2015, over 20 sightings of gyrfalcons (consisting mainly of young birds who likely wanted to explore the vast country south of their usual Canadian haunts) were reported to eBird. Like most rare sightings, these birds become legendary to those that get to see them and ghosts to those who have yet to.
They don't seem real, but to their prey, they are atrociously real as the painting above can attest to. The piece portrays a captive gyrfalcon having struck and succeeded in taking down a grey heron (Ardea cinerea). For a falcon that can weigh up to 4 1/2 lbs, this seems rather shocking. However with a wingspan of four feet and the speed and power of a roided peregrine falcon, it isn't that shocking considering that it can also take down ptarmigan, sage-grouse, gulls, terns, pheasants, auks, and even other birds of prey like hawks and owls!
Hopefully one can come and visit CNY this winter provided we aren't buried in 50 feet of revenge snow for the lack of snow last winter!
3. Western capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus)
 |
| Arturo de Frias Marques, "Cock singing during courting season, in Spanish Pyrenees" May 25, 2013 via Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution |
Most of you have probably never heard of a capercaillie (pronounced "caper-kay-lee" for you newbies) and I'm not surprised. They are usually a retiring species, hiding in the dense pine forests of Scandinavia, Scotland, and Russia. The males are especially distinctive and to a nonbirder must look like some sort of grizzled mountain turkey. While 80% of their year is spent hiding in the woods, come the breeding season the males transform from shy grizzled mountain turkeys into belligerent and combative grizzled mountain turkeys!
While I certainly have the words to describe the display of the male capercaillie and would love to see it in real life, I would rather share what it actually looks like so that you, the reader, can get a better sense of just how much of an asshole, these birds can be.
And of course, it's narrated by Sir David Attenborough.
4. Shoebill (Balaeniceps rex)
 |
| Snowmanradio, "pelican" January 20, 2010 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution |
The capercaillie isn't the only bird that I first learned about from David Attenborough's series "The Life of Birds". In fact, I first learned about the shoebill and two other birds on this list (the sunbittern and lyrebird) from that series. Shoebills are quite impressive in photographs, and equally so in footage shown on a number of other nature documentaries. Their main claim to fame is their tenacity when it comes eating rather unusual prey. One of their favorites are lungfish which they can detect by watching for the bubbles on the surface of a pond of one coming to the surface to breathe. It's a wonder that such a creature has been able to survive at all with these murder birds looming over their heads.
The photo above lists this species as a "pelican" but it is most closely related to a small heron-like bird called a hamerkop (Scopus ubretta) who also has the distinction of building the most and largest nests in the bird world. They are in the same family (named rather helpfully "Pelicaniformes") as pelicans, herons, and egrets, but to confuse them with a pelican is a bit of a stretch. Hopefully, I can see them alongside some of Africa's other Pelicaniformes someday in the future.
5. Sunbittern (Eurypyga helias)
 |
| Stavenn, "wing display" January 26, 2007 via Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution |
With such an unusual look, you would think that they would be trying to scare everything with this pose. In fact, they are fairly relaxed and hunt for fish, frogs, and other aquatic prey along the forested rivers and streams of South and Central America. Despite being called sun "bitterns" and resembling a small heron, they are not closely related to herons and bitterns at all. They are, instead more closely related to the Kagu (Rhynochetos jubatus) of New Caledonia and possibly are also a distant relative of the cranes and rails.
6. Galah (Eolophus roseicapilla)
 |
| Toby Hudson, "A juvenile galah on a sportsground in Sydney, Australia" January 16, 2010 via Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution |
Indeed, the only time in the near future I might be able to see some wild (and feral) parrots will be when I go to visit my relatives in England. However, I know for a fact, that the only place I will see the parrot pictured above will be on the continent of Australia. The galah is well-named in a country filled with unique and humorous sounding names.
Despite their cuddly appearance, Australia's farmers have to watch for and prevent damage from the nut-crushing beaks of galahs and other cockatoos which sweep across farmland every season looking for easy food. It seems weird thinking of these birds as pests, but I suppose with any animal, it all depends on the circumstances. A chipmunk in the garden is a delight to have until they start stealing your cherry tomatoes!
I imagine once I've after I'd gotten used to the heat, the new timezone, and with having to check every orifice for any manner of venomous wildlife, that I will be able to venture forth to look for one of the enigmatic birds in the land down under.
7. Booted racket-tail (Ocreatus underwoodii)
 |
| Joseph C Boone, "Booted Racket-tail Ocreatus underwoodii photo taken in the lower Tandayapa Valley (west slope), Ecuador." November 20, 2012 via Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution |
Cut to a year or so ago and I was browsing the microblogging site, Tumblr when a fellow bird blogger shared a photo of an emerald hummingbird with a forked tail and fluffy white feathers covering its feet. I stared and stared, shared the photo on my own blog, and then stared some more. I was hooked. I've taken many photos of ruby-throated hunningbirds (Archilochus colubris) but I knew as soon as I saw that photo that I needed to see and photograph this little beauty.
8. Superb lyrebird (Menura novaehollandiae)
 |
| Melburnian, "Superb Lyrebird Menura novaehollandiae, Healesville Sanctuary, Victoria, Australia" December 31, 2005 via Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution |
"What? No! That can't be right?!"
Well you would be wrong because taxonomists only care about the evidence no matter how much it shakes up the old order of things. We all know what you did this summer, American Ornithologists Union!
Now as you can probably guess, the second reason I like this bird is because I really like David Attenborough (in case it already wasn't really obvious). He was the one that cemented my interest in the natural world, especially with birds, and showed me that it was cool to love animals in a calm and gentle sort of way, but still be amazed by their stamina, diversity, and wonderful adaptability.
With that being said, the lyrebird itself isn't actually named for its fibbing ways, but instead for the way its tail resembles the string instrument called a lyre. They're the instrument angels are usually seen playing when portrayed in popular medium (sorry Castiel). The lyrebird is well known online as being the bird that can copy any noise in its habitat. In another episode of "The Life of Birds", Attenborough explains how the bird shows off his plumage and miraculously manages to imitate the sounds it hears around it in order to attract a mate.
Take that mockingbirds!
9. Bicheno finch (Taeniopygia bichenovii)
 |
| DickDaniels, "Double-barred Finch (Taeniopygia bichenovii). Also know as Owl Finch.Photographed at an aviary in Butterfly World of Florida" February 4, 2004 via Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution |
Unfortunately, we left for the United States soon afterwards which meant that the budgies and finches had to go. Ever since, I would occasionally browse the pages of efinch.com for information and to gaze longingly at photos of the huge variety of finches who hailed from Australia. Bicheno finches were one of them.
According to Wikipedia, these birds are named after James Ebenezer Bicheno who was a fellow of the Linnean Society and contributed to the natural sciences by writing papers on subjects in botany and ornithology. Also according to the article, the man was so large that he could fit three bags of wheat into his trousers.
Bicheno finches, along with zebra (T. guttata), bengalese (Lonchura striata domestica), and Lady Gouldian finches (Erythrura gouldiae) are some of my favorites and knowing that these birds live wild and free somewhere else is so tempting for me. I want to go and find these birds, just like the lyrebirds and galahs and see them where they truly belong. We might have chickadees, cardinals, and jays at our feeders here in New York, but you can bet that I would love to be sitting at a feeder in Australia watching these finches flocking to a pile of seeds and soaking in every minute of it.
10. Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola)
 |
| Leon-bojarczuk, "Two bananaquits (Coereba flaveola) on a branch. - Campo Limpo Paulista, Sao Paolo, Brazil (2007)" June 13, 2007 via Flickr, Creative Commons Attribution |
Incertae sedis. These two Latin words may seem rather unassuming, but if you are a species that has been documented by scientists who are now struggling to find a place for you in the taxonomic catologue of organisms, it certainly isn't the best place to be. Incertae sedis means "of uncertain placement" and refers to organisms that don't have a definite place in a taxonomic system due to uncertainty about which organisms they are most closely related to. This can be considered to be analogous to "wastebasket taxons" which are groups of organisms that are lumped together regardless of whether they are actually related to one another and simply because no one has any evidence to support putting them somewhere else.
Such is the status of the tiny bananaquit who also has my third favorite (and silly-sounding) name for any bird (the others being morepork and intermediate egret) who was previously placed with the tanagers. While the other birds on this list are charasmatic, colorful, or unique examples of their countries biodiversity, the only reason I want to see these birds is because of their disputed status.
Well that and they look pretty cute too!
---------------------
It was hard getting this list down to ten species considering there are 1000 times as many species of birds in the world. My life list has only 365 species on it so any chance I have to add these species would be amazing. Hopefully, over the next few years, I can get some birding done and add these birds to my young life list.
Only time will tell.
Sources:
- Wikipedia (photos sourced and linked in captions below)
- Red-breasted Goose
- BirdLife International (2016) Species factsheet: Branta ruficollis. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 29/07/2016.
- Gyrfalcon
- All About Birds. Gyrfalcon. Retrieved from: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Gyrfalcon/lifehistory
- Lamoreaux, A. (February 9th, 2015) Gyrfalcon Invasion 2015 Retrieved from: http://www.nemesisbird.com/birding/rarities/gyrfalcon-invasion-2015/
- Western Capercaillie
- Video is from [BBCWorldwide] (2007, February 12). The capercaillie bird defends its territory - David Attenborough - BBC Wildlife. [Video File] Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xSj5XcByuA
- Shoebill
- Wikipedia. Shoebill (2016, July 24). Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoebill
- Wikipedia. Hamerkop (2013, June 23). Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamerkop
- Sunbittern
- MacLean, Sarah A.. 2010. Sunbittern (Eurypyga helias), Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; retrieved from Neotropical Birds Online: http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/portal/species/overview?p_p_spp=142356
- Galah
- Department of Environment and Conservation. Corellas and other flocking cockatoos. (2009, June 9) Retrieved from: https://www.dpaw.wa.gov.au/images/documents/plants-animals/animals/living-with-wildlife/cockatoos.pdf
- Booted racket-tail
- The Cornell Lab of Ornithology Neotropical Birds. 2010. Booted Racket-tail (Ocreatus underwoodii), Neotropical Birds Online (T. S. Schulenberg, Editor). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; retrieved from Neotropical Birds Online: http://neotropical.birds.cornell.edu/portal/species/overview?p_p_spp=270136
- Superb lyrebird
- Video is from [BBCWorldwide]. (2007, February 12). Amazing! Bird sounds from the lyre bird - David Attenborough - BBC Wildlife. [Video file] Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjE0Kdfos4Y
- Bicheno finch
- Owl Finch - Taeniopygia bichenovii. Retrieved from: http://www.efinch.com/species/owl.htm
- Wikipedia. James Ebenezer Bicheno. (2016, July 29). Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Ebenezer_Bicheno
- Bananaquit
- Wikipedia. Bananaquit (2016, July 20). Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bananaquit
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