It was the summer of 1954 when my childhood hobby of birds’ egg collecting came to an end. The British government implemented the Protection of Birds Act, 1954 that forbid me to take wild birds’ eggs, and at the same time, protected adults and their …
During the 1950s and 1960s, as a young birder in the north of England, I ignored the rather common, drab and inconspicuous-looking birds known as house sparrows and tree sparrows. Both are Old World species, distributed across Europe and Asia, and rarely migrate significant distances. …
Blue-crowned mot mot
The first resplendent quetzal I ever saw was on April 5, 1998 in the Monteverde Cloud Forest, Costa Rica. The species is considered by many to represent the most beautiful bird in the world, and although it was partially obscured by the dark forest canopy, it was sufficient to cause one of my companions to burst into tears. “It’s my wife” he said. “Her greatest ambition was to see one of these birds, but she died last year of cancer”.
I had been much more impressed by the several blue-crowned motmots we had stopped to photograph during our minibus journey from San Jose to Monteverde. However, my opinion was to change later.
This was my first dedicated overseas trip for birding although I had followed the hobby of bird watching in England during the late 1950s and 1960s. Each of the first 35 chapters of my “coming-of-age” novel She Wore a Yellow Dress is dedicated to a bird that influenced my early life, and the last chapter is given as a special tribute to my deceased wife who supported my love of birding. Only the hoopoe, from chapter nine of the book, deserves a special mention at this time, although it does not make my top ten.
22 years later, when I was back in Costa Rica, I came across a pair of quetzals during a hike I was taking along the Savegre river valley. The birds were out searching for their favorite food – wild avocados – which they swallow whole before regurgitating the pips. That magnificent sighting took them to the top of “my most beautiful birds” that I have ever seen.
A pair of quetzals in the Savegre national forest.
It also prompted the task of trying to select the top ten species of bird that I consider to be the most beautiful birds in the world, even though I may not have seen them. What follows are the results of my efforts and descriptions of the birds I have selected. I used plumage, visual presentation, and my desire to represent all 7 Continents to create this list.
Here comes number one.
1. Green-headed tanager (South America)
A striking, multi-colored songbird (with several different opalescent colors) that is endemic to the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (only about 10 percent of the original forest survives today). The species’ territory includes south-east Brazil, parts of Paraquay, and north-east Argentina. Surprisingly, the bird’s flashy coloring is used as camouflage while it forages among the forest canopy to find its diet of fruit and insects. The Portugese name for the bird is “Saira-seta-coras”, meaning seven-colored tanager.
Its breeding season is November to February in Brazil; November and December in Paraquay; and November in Argentina. Its population is unknown but the number appears stable, and although abiding in the same area most of the time, some may undertake small seasonal migrations between the forest and semi-open habitats.
2. Keel-billed toucan (Central/South America)
A species noted for its unmistakable, large, rainbow-colored bill, often considered one of the most beautiful birds in the world. Despite the bill’s appearance, it is hollow, made of keratin, with thin rods of bone for support, and therefore is not heavy. The bird’s plumage is mainly black, with a yellow neck and chest, and the bird is heard more than it is seen because of its preference for living in the tops of forest canopies; it moves between trees by hopping due to its limited flying abilities, and is found from Southern Mexico to Venezuela and Colombia; it is the national bird of Belize and the global population is estimated at up to 500,000.
3. Bee hummingbird (Cuba – North America)
This is the smallest bird in the world at 2.4 inches (6.1 cm) long, and weighs under 0.1 ounce (2.6 grams). It is found exclusively in the Cuban archipelago and is sometimes mistaken for a bumble bee since, as well as its smallness, the bird makes a buzzing noise when it flies. The male displays an iridescent red head and throat, black tips to its wings, grey-white underparts, and the remainder is bluish-green. The birds are sedentary, often living alone, but play a vital role in the ecosystem by picking up pollen on their bill and head, and passing it on as they fly from flower to flower. In a day, a bird may visit 1,500 flowers.
The species occupies the rain forest and forest edges where there are bushes and lianas. Its nest is about the size of a quarter and its eggs the size of a coffee bean. The bird has the ability to fly straight up and straight down, backwards and even upside down. Its population size is unknown, but the species is believed to be in decline.
4. Wilson’s bird-of-paradise (West Papua, Indonesia – Asia)
This species of bird-of-paradise, out of an estimated 42 types, exhibits more colors than any other bird in the family. Birds-of-paradise are extraordinary creatures, not only for the colors of their plumage, but their lacey feathers that they wear arranged into disks, flags, ribbons or wires, and that they use in dances and mating displays. In the circumstances of the Wilson’s bird-of-paradise, its teal crown is actually bare skin. The species occurs within a small range, limited to the islands of Waigeo and Batanta off the West Papua coast. Their mating ritual includes the male flashing its brilliant green fluorescent collar and calling out to the female. Supposedly, with all birds-of-paradise, the female is the one that selects her partner and chooses the one with the “sexiest” display. So long as this process continues, we can expect incredible colors and decorative feathers among this family of birds.
5. European bee-eater (Europe)
One of Europe’s most colorful birds, with an estimated breeding population of 3 to 5 million pairs. It occurs as a rare vagrant and infrequently breeds in the United Kingdom, preferring to inhabit the warmer climates of southern Europe and North Africa. Its plumage is highly distinctive with a yellow throat, rusty brown upperparts and turquoise underneath. Its diet makes it unique. As the name suggests, bees are its preferred food, although it will take butterflies, dragonflies, flying ants, and even wasps. To avoid being stung by its prey it will return to its perch and repeatedly thrash the insect against a branch to release the sting. It may catch up to 250 bees a day.
6. Grey-crowned crane (Africa)
You are more likely to see this species in a zoo than out in the wild. Its size and form, as well as its plumage, qualify it for a place on my list of most beautiful birds. Today, there are about 30,000 grey-crowned cranes living in the wild. Their usual territory is wetland/grassland in eastern and southern Africa, especially in Kenya, Uganda (where it is the national bird), Zambia and South Africa. These majestic long-legged birds stand 3.3 feet (100cm) tall, have grey bodies, white wings with brown and gold feathers, white cheeks, and a bright red inflatable throat pouch beneath their chin. The most striking feature is a spray of stiff golden feathers forming a crown around their heads. They are non-migratory, although some may move short distances.
They are famous for their elaborate mating display that includes dancing, bowing, running and jumping, while raising their wings and inflating their red throat sacks.
15 species of crane exist worldwide, including the sandhill and whooping cranes in North America, and the common and demoiselle in Europe. Do not confuse cranes with storks. Storks are not closely related, do not vocalize like cranes and are more heavily built, especially in the bill.
7. Bullock’s oriole (North America)
This songbird occupies the west of the United States, whereas a close relative, known as the Baltimore oriole, is the equivalent in the east of the country, and up until 1975, the two species were combined into one, called the Northern oriole. The adult male is medium-sized and has bright orange underparts, a black back, large white wing patches, and a black throat and black line through the eye. They are nimble and highly active birds, searching for caterpillars, and feeding on nectar and fruit. They breed on the western side of North America from southern British Columbia into north Mexico, and winter as far south as Central America. On the Great Plains, their range overlaps with the Baltimore oriole and the two species occasionally hybridize. Both male and female Bullock’s orioles sing, the male more sweetly and the female often more prolifically. A special trait is there determination to resist interference from the brown-headed cowbird that tries to use them as host parents. They are one of the very few species that will puncture and eject brown-headed cowbirds’ eggs laid in their nests.
8. Golden pheasant (China – Asia)
A delightful, timid and beautiful gamebird, native to the forests and mountains of western and central China. Additionally, it has a substantial feral population elsewhere in the world, with birds having been relocated to North America, South America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Two thirds of the bird’s length is accounted for by its golden-brown tail, and it sports an unmistakable golden crest and rump, green patches on its back, a bright red body, and its legs and bill are yellow.
Golden pheasants feed on the ground on grain, leaves and invertebrates, but roost high in the trees at night. This very colorful species is commonly seen in zoos, aviaries, on farms and in gardens worldwide, but in the wild, they hide in the dark forest during the daytime and retreat to their tree-top roosts for the night. If startled, they can burst into flight at great speed.
9. Snow petrel (Antarctica)
An odd-one-out among the species I have selected, and its inclusion reflects its pure white plumage, jet-black eyes and beak, and its bravery in breeding as far south as the Geographic South Pole. It lives on krill and has to travel to the open sea to find its food. The name petrel is of unclear origin but is believed to come from the bird’s habit of running on water before taking off. Today, an estimated 4 million birds inhabit the Antarctica Continent and surrounding islands.
10. Gouldian finch (Australia)
These birds are native to the tropical grasslands of northern Australia, are extremely attractive and strikingly colorful, and can morph into different colors on their face while retaining a consistent pattern elsewhere, combining greens, blues, orange and purple. For example, there is the black-headed, red-headed and yellow-headed Gouldians, and a few even have an orange face. The explanation is that they regulate the production of melanin and that different amounts cause the color differences (polymorphism is the technical term). The species was, until the late 1960s, trapped and exported as cage birds, and some estimates suggest that less than 2,500 exist today in the wild.
OTHER BIRDS: I confess there are many other species of beautiful bird that deserve a mention; just a few include the peacock (India), hyacinth macaw (S. America), flamingo (Americas, Africa and parts of Europe and Asia), condors (Americas), scarlet ‘I’ iwi (Hawaii), mandarin duck (Asia), Atlantic puffin (N. America and Europe), yellow-billed cardinal (Central South America), great hornbill (Asia), Victoria-crowned pigeon (New Guinea – Asia), bohemian waxwing (N. America), Adelie penguin (Antarctica), king parrot (Australia), Vulturine guinea fowl (NE. Africa), several species of kingfisher (Americas, Europe, and Asia)), and of course, the bald eagle (N. America).
Hopefully, my top ten and the ones listed above, plus the quetzal and hoopoe, can influence your personal selection.
Growing up in Yorkshire, I called them waterhens (now more usually known as moorhens). They are humble birds, preferring freshwater wetlands, and are sedentary, except that they are joined by birds moving from north-west Europe to winter in the UK. As their name implies, they …
Meet the Eurasian common cuckoo bird and the North American brown-headed cowbird, both brood parasites. As a boy many years ago in northern England, I pursued a little brown bird called a hedge sparrow, flicking its tail and shuffling through dense bramble undergrowth and …
Eurasian/common teal bird (male)
The first Eurasian or common teal I ever saw was a flock flying south over the sea at Spurn Point, Yorkshire, in England, during the early 1960s, presumably on their way to their wintering grounds around the Mediterranean. Spurn Point was a regular haunt of mine as a bird watcher during my late teens and early 20s, and I still have fond memories. I chose to include some of these recollections in my recently published novel, She Wore a Yellow Dress (by John R. Cammidge). While essentially a coming-of-age story during the 1960s and 1970s, I share in each chapter at least one species of bird that featured in my life at the time.
The identification of this small duck with its stout neck and short tail occurred during my early stages of bird watching. Migrating teal usually do not interrupt their travel, unlike many other species of duck. In Europe, the bird is sometimes known as the Eurasian green-winged teal, and they are ducks that feed in shallow waters by tipping their heads into the water to find food. This species of teal breeds across Euro-Siberia, a region that extends from Iceland to over most of Europe, and to Siberia and the Kamchatka Peninsula. In the UK, around two thousand pair breed in northern Britain, but as many as 200,000 spend winter here. It has a very close relative – maybe even the same species – in North America that is called the green-winged teal. Now that I live in California it is this bird I see during winter.
Eurasian/common teal (female)
Look for the male’s chestnut-colored head, with a broad green eye patch, a spotted chest, grey flanks and a black-edged yellow tail. Females are mottled brown but both genders display bright green wing patches in flight. The Eurasian and North America varieties appear almost identical except the male green-winged has a vertical white bar on the side of its breast and the common teal has a horizontal white stripe along the inside wing feathers. During winter, the two may mix together when small numbers of Siberian and Alaska-breeding Eurasian teal pass down both coasts of North America. Similarly, green-winged teal can be blown across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe. The two subspecies interbreed where their range overlaps.
Eurasian common teal Range Map: light green – nesting, dark green – all year round; blue – wintering
Green-winged teal Range Map
Large flocks form outside the breeding season and are recognized in flight by their quick wing beats and veering and twisting acrobatics. You usually see them on calm bodies of water such as marshes, shallow lakes, wetlands, and estuaries.
The green coloring on the teal’s head has been used to describe a shade of blue-green known as “teal’, and apparently was first used in 1917.
American green-winged teal (male and female)
American blue-winged teal (male)
The American green-winged teal is widespread across North America, with an estimated four million birds breeding in Canada and the northern USA, and they migrate south across the continent during August, returning to their breeding grounds starting in early March.
While the green-winged teal is the commonest of this family of ducks in North America, the blue-winged species is also widespread, but absent in desert areas and also rare along the West Coast where they are outnumbered by cinnamon teal. They use the Atlantic and Mississippi flyways rather than the Pacific corridor during migration.
Blue-winged teal Range Map
You need to avoid confusing the green-winged teal with the American wigeon that is slightly larger, and the male wigeon lacks the cinnamon-brown coloring on its head. There is also the larger and very common mallard whose drake possesses a gleaming green head, and both sexes exhibit blue wing feathers in flight, possibly causing confusion.
American wigeon (male)
Mallard (male and female)
Finally, there is the cinnamon teal in North America These are less numerous than the green and blue-winged species, with an estimated 150,000 to 300,000 that breed primarily in the Great Salt Lake region, the San Luis Valley of Colorado and the Caribo-Chilcoton parklands of British Colombia. Many migrate south to California, and as far as Mexico and Central America for winter but their range is restricted western North America. The male has a cinnamon-red head, neck, breast and belly, a black back and rump, and a characteristic red eye, black bill, and yellow legs and feet. The female is a rustier colored and heavily streaked.
Cinnamon teal male and female
Cinnamon teal Range Map
In Pacheco Valle Woods, a neighborhood in the city of Novato, CA, and named after Ignacio Pacheco, an early Californian rancher, the streets are called after species of birds, and include Cinnamon Teal Lane. However, there is no record of how these names were selected.
Additionally, I could never have seen cinnamon teal at Spurn Point or elsewhere in the UK since it is only a rare vagrant to Europe, whereas in California it can appears as a fall and winter resident. My first sighting of this species was at the Madrona Marsh Preserve in Torrance, Southern California.
The only other duck possessing a cinnamon-colored face that might cause confusion is the canvasback, but this is a large duck and dives for food rather than dabbles.
Canvasback (male and female)\
Reductions in water availability due to climate change may reduce the teal’s habitat and affect its future breeding populations that leads to a decrease in numbers. In the US, however, its wildlife conservation status is of Least Concern, whereas in the UK it has made it onto the Amber Watch List because of a decline in breeding numbers.
As a small wader and member of the plover family of birds, the dotterel is known for its friendly, sweet and trusting behavior towards humans. Consequently, it was hunted for sport, was easily caught, eaten by royalty as a delicacy during English Tudor times, and …
Eurasian Red-Backed Shrike I must have been aged 13 at the time during the 1950s, when looking down near the blade of the spade, I spotted a large round object. It was dirty black, except for a distinctive blue-green patina caused by its copper …
European goldfinch (left) and American goldfinch (right)
The European goldfinch, a native of Europe, North Africa and central Asia, was such an attractive bird that hundreds of thousands were taken from the wild to become cage birds in Britain less than 100 year ago. This led to the British government passing an Act in 1933 that made the sale of wild birds illegal, and by the early 1960s, it was a more common bird in my Yorkshire neighborhoods, and was recorded on numerous occasions by fellow birdwatchers. It is easily distinguishable by its crimson face, black and white head and black and yellow wings. My records from 1962 indicate that I spotted goldfinches at Welwick, Haxby, Askham Bog, Castle Howard, and Spurn Point during that year. That was a busy time for me. As mentioned in my novel Unplanned, it was the year between finishing school and starting at Hull University that I used to earn money and enjoy my hobby .
Legend has it that the bird encountered Jesus carrying his cross to Calvary and wearing a crown of thorns. The bird flew down to try and remove the thistles (its favorite food), and as it did so, a drop of blood from Jesus stained the bird’s face. Ever since, the European goldfinch has been associated with the Passion of Christ. It appears in many religious Italian Renaissance paintings and symbolizes Christ’s crucifixion, resurrection and redemption. The Dutch painter, Carel Fabritius in 1654 painted a life-size goldfinch chained to a perch, which was used by Donna Tartt in her prize-winning novel of the same name.
European goldfinch range map: light green – summer; dark green – all year; Himalayan subspecies: yellow – summer; moss green – all year
Currently, the European population of goldfinches is around 100 million, and about one million breed in Britain, with their territory expanding northwards. The bird is small, around 5 inches (13cm) in length, and weighs half-an-ounce (15 grams). It is highly social, often flocking in groups, and enjoys the seeds that people provide in their bird feeders. Otherwise you may see them foraging for seeds on wasteland and along road sides. They are monogamous, forming long-lasting pairs, and will noisily defend their breeding site. The female builds the nest and incubates the eggs while the male feeds her. Most goldfinches stay close to their breeding ground although some seek out warmer weather during winter by moving to the south of France and Spain.
There is also a subspecies known as the Himalayan goldfinch (or gray-crowned) that is native to parts of Pakistan, Nepal, and southwest China. It is a bird that I have yet to see.
Himalayan goldfinch
The goldfinch is represented in North America by three species, but none are closely related to the European goldfinch. The European species was a popular cage bird in North America and escapees have settled in Wisconsin and parts of Michigan.
In California, all three American species are present: the American goldfinch (the prettiest), the lesser goldfinch (formerly called the Arkansas goldfinch and the commonest), and the Lawrence’s goldfinch (named after a former American ornithologist and the rarest). While different in appearance, all goldfinches constantly flock together, constantly call in flight, and forage for the same food (seeds from thistles, sunflowers, grasses and certain trees). They are attracted to bird feeders and I have seen all three North American species in my back garden.
Lesser Goldfinch
Lawrence Goldfinch
As for the impact of global warming on goldfinches, there appears to be winners and losers. The American goldfinch is being pushed north because of temperature change, and there is a risk that it may soon cease breeding in New Jersey where it is currently the state bird. Its two cousins seem better suited for higher temperatures. They enjoy arid conditions and look more likely to expand their breeding territory as temperatures increase. The same appears true for the European goldfinch.
American goldfinch Range Map
Lesser goldfinch Range Map
Lawrence’s goldfinch Range Map
Download as PDF A Word from Hilda The last two years have been quite an adventure. I never knew how fortunate I was to be alive. All my thanks go to my parents, but especially to my mother, who through her warmth, gave me a …
