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Exploring Nature: Rare B irds
Sometimes I think many people are seeing much more interesting birds than I am. While I’m looking at a continual diet of northern cardinals, black-crested titmice and Carolina chickadees, other folks are seeing a wide variety of avian riches.
Susan Evans reported a flock of robins at her Hays County home and also several Lincoln sparrows and chipping sparrows.
Reports from Travis Audubon Society members included Grace’s warbler, Ross’s goose, horned grebe and Virginia rail. Impressive.
How about you? What rarities have you seen lately? Perhaps a resplendent quetzal?
Let me remind you of some of the many rarities awaiting you in the wonderful world of birds. The eight rarest birds in the world are, in descending order: Golden pheasant, cebu flowerpecker, New Caldonian owlet-nightjar, Imperial Amazon, blue-eyed ground-dove, rufous-headed hornbill, Philippine dwarf kingfisher, and Vogelkop superb bird-of-paradise.
I haven’t seen any of them. But I have seen a crowned hornbill in Africa and a bee hummingbird in Cuba. That hummingbird is well named since it is about the size of a big bee. It is the world’s smallest bird.
All in all, probably the rarest bird of all is the golden pheasant, a large bird about 41 inches long, with a tail about two-thirds the length of its entire body. There are only about one thousand left in the world – all in China.
So I doubt I will ever see a golden pheasant. My loss.
But northern cardinals are very handsome birds and before long, I hope yellow-rumped warblers will be dropping by. Also, the titmice and Carolina chickadees at my backyard feeder are year-round friends I can count on to brighten my days. I enjoy them all. When you think about it, there is no such thing as a bad bird, no matter how common or how rare.
