Category Archives: Family Feature

Charismatic Kingfishers are Beloved BirdS – Just ask a Kookaburra!

September 9, 2022 Naturalist Journeys Leave a comment

Kingfishers are among the most charismatic and distinctive of all the bird families, with large heads and long pointed bills that contrast with their shortish legs and stubby tails. Even beginning US birders can confidently identify the brush-crested red-white-and-blue Belted Kingfisher, whose in-flight, rattling, streamside call is as unmistakable as it is thrilling.

The Belted Kingfisher is ubiquitous in North America in streamside habitats. Photo Credit: Peg Abbott
Green Kingfisher is at the top of its range in Texas and Arizona. Photo Credit: Tom Dove
RInged Kingfisher is the largest American kingfisher, twice the size of Belted Kingfisher.. Photo Credit: Ted Beedy

Belted Kingfisher is widespread in North America and may be seen on most of our Mainland US and Alaska tours. Our Southeast Arizona and Texas tours may see two more species, at the top of their North American ranges: Ringed Kingfisher and Green Kingfisher, who, like the Belted Kingfisher, perch and hunt along streams and rivers for their namesake lunch.

Like many kingfisher species, Green Kingfisher digs long tunnel burrows into stream banks, often rising in height before dropping down to their nests. Tunnel kingfisher nests often become quite befouled, perhaps because taking out the refuse would be such a long trip!

US birders traveling abroad are sometimes surprised to learn there are kingfishers who don’t eat fish at all! There are 114 species of kingfishers, and while they have similar forms, they are diverse and widespread.

Rufous-bellied Kookaburra is a Tree Kingfisher. Photo Credit: Greg Miles via Creative Commons.

Tree Kingfishers, sometimes called Wood Kingfishers, live in drier forests where insects and other small prey make up much of their diet. Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea’s charismatic kookaburras are examples of tree kingfishers, which predominate in Asia. The kookaburras are the largest of the kingfishers, ranging from 11 to 17 inches in length.

Our New Zealand guests often see Sacred Kingfisher, which mostly eats invertebrates, crustaceans, and the occasional lizard throughout its wide range in Australasia. Sacred Kingfisher is also seen by our Papua New Guinea guests, but it has a LOT of kingfisher company there. It was just one of eleven kingfishers our guests saw on their last tour there:

Azure, Brown-headed Paradise, Buff-breasted Paradise, Common Paradise, Hook-billed, Little Paradise, Sacred, Shovel-billed and Variable Dwarf Kingfishers, along with Blue-winged and Rufous-winged Kookaburra. You’ll notice some of these have longer tails, more beneficial rudders in the air than they would be in the water.

Kingfishers of Papua New Guinea

Buff-breasted Paradise Kingfisher by J.J. Harrison via Creative Commons
Spangled Kookaburra by Doug Janson via Creative Commons
Brown-headed Paradise Kingfisher by Marksharper1 via Creative Commons
Common Paradise Kingfisher by Francesco Veroni via Creative Commons
Hook-billed Kingfisher by Francesco Veroni via Creative Commons
Blue-winged Kookaburra by Greg Schechter via Creative Commons

Spangled Kookaburra is another species we may see on our Aug. 2 – 15, 2023 birding and nature tour to Papua New Guinea. That trip deserves its ‘Bucket List Birding’ title not just for its impressive suite of kingfishers, but for all the opportunity to see showy bird of paradise and bowerbirds, whose dramatic mating displays are a staple of David Attenborough-esque documentaries about bird behavior.

As one of its national symbols, the kookaburra is most commonly identified with Australia. Guests on our Queensland’s Wet Tropics birding and nature tour Aug. 13 – 22, 2023 there may see Laughing Kookaburra, whose eponymous call is a staple of soundtracks to movies set ‘Down Under’.

Laughing Kookaburra is a national symbol of Australia. Calistemon, via Creative Commons — Laughing Kookaburra looks amused. Photo Credit: Calistemon via Creative Commons

We may also see Blue-winged Kookaburra, which live in groups of up to a dozen individuals in open savannah and tea-tree swamps. Blue-winged Kookaburra is a “cooperative breeder,” meaning a nesting pair may get some help from other birds in its group with feeding and rearing young.

Kingfishers are Colorful Characters

Bright colors and striking patterns are hallmarks of kingfishers, exemplified by uncommonly beautiful Common Kingfisher, widespread in Eurasia and North Africa.

Common Kinfishers can be seen on many of Naturalist Journeys' European tours. — Common Kingfishers can be see on many of our European tours. Photo Credit: Tom Dove

This is always a WOW bird in the binoculars for our guests in Spain, one of whom described it as “an iridescent blue jewel.” Our next Spain trip, the very popular spring migration trip with guide Carlos Sanchez April 24 – May 7, is an excellent opportunity to look for Common Kingfisher, along with all the Africa-wintering European species moving through in great numbers at this time.

Another incredibly colorful kingfisher is the Malachite Kingfisher, which has been seen on all of our Africa tours, as it is widespread across the continent. One of the most irridescent of kingfishers, the Malachite’s shine, like a hummingbird’s glowing gorget, is the result of intricate feather structures called melanasomes rather than pigmentation in the feather itself, which accounts for their flash.

Africa is Kingfisher Heaven

Africa is a fabulous place to see kingfishers! Our most recent tour group to Tanzania saw seven kingfisher species, including one of the smallest, at less than five inches, the African Pygmy Kingfisher. Our next Tanzania Birding and Wildlife Safari is Jan. 30 to Feb. 11, 2023.

African Pygmy Kingfisher by Tom Dove — Tiny African Pygmy Kingfisher is less than 5 inches long. Photo Credit: Tom Dove

Our most recent trip to Botswana also saw a half-dozen kingfisher species, including Half-collared, Brown-hooded and Striped Kingfishers working the Chobe River, one of several water sources we visit on safari to encounter concentrations of wildlife, including lions, elephants, antelope and, of course, kingfishers!

Half-collared Kingfisher. Photo Credit: Grancesco Veronesi via Creative Commons
Striped Kingfishers were seen on both our most recent Tanzania and Botswana tours! Photo Credit: Peg Abbott
Brown-hooded Kingfisher by Derek Keats via Creative Commons.

Kingfishers are Ancient

Dating back 40 million years in the fossil record, kingfishers share the suborder Alcidines with the Central America’s todys, who share their stubby tails, and motmots, who took tailfeathers in an entirely different direction. Having a short tail is especially helpful for kingfishers that dive underwater, helping them turn and maneuver with less resistance.

Tody Motmot in Belize by Peg Abbott.
Trinidad Motmot. Photo Credit: Bob Hill

Catch, Kill, THEN Eat

Rather than risk indigestion, kingfishers won’t immediately eat fish that are still wriggling, especially large ones. They will instead either hold its prey until it suffocates or actively kill a fish by bashing it against a tree trunk or rock, as shown in this “Scoop of the Day” mini documentary about the Stork-Billed Kingfisher:

Kingfishers are Also Abundant in Asia

We have chances to see six or more kingfishers fishing in India, during a single cruise of the Sundarbans region on our March 10 – 23 Grand India Tigers & Glorious Birds tour: Stork-billed, Brown, Little Pied, Black-capped, Common, and Collared Kingfisher. The Peacock is India’s national bird, but its best-selling beer is Kingfisher!

Stork-billed Kingfisher can be seen on our India tours. Photo Credit: Dibyendu Ash via Creative Commons
Black-capped Kingfisher by Lakshmi Sharath via Creative Commons

Just north of India, the richly forested Kingdom of Bhutan is home to nine kingfisher species! We are taking an inaugural trip to Bhutan April 10 to 23: Biodiverse Bhutan: Birds, Mammals and Beyond. With luck we will see some of them darting into the many rivers that descend from Himalayan peaks, carving forested valleys.

pied Kingfisher by Annishaikh1990 via Creative Commons — Pied Kingfisher by Annishaikh1990 via Creative Commons

Kingfishers of Japan, Indonesia and Thailand

Among its many wetland species, in Japan we have chances to see up to 7 species and in Thailand, a full dozen. But there is no better Naturalist Journeys tour to see kingfishers than our Sept. 11 – 27, 2023 tour to Indonesia. In fact, you may add as many kingfishers to your life list as any other bird family. More than 50 kingfisher species can be found in Indonesia, including 16 endemics. Just wow!

Sulawesi Dwarf Kingfisher by Ariefrahman via Creative Commons
Great-billed Kingfisher by A.S. Kono via Creative Commons
Javan Kingfisher by Lip Kee Yap via Creative Commons

Bird Behavior, Family Feature

Owling is One of the Most Rewarding Reasons to Stay Up Late

August 12, 2022 Naturalist Journeys Leave a comment

Whoo Doesn’t Love an Owl?

Owling, aka owl-watching, is one of many family-based birding specialties, on par with hawk-watching, hummingbirding and kingfishering.

OK, we made up the term kingfishering, but the family Alcedinidae, the kingfishers, is another of the most beloved and “collected” in birding, and the subject of our NEXT blog.

But back to the Strigiformes and owling: the often dimly lit, (and let’s face it, frequently futile) search for nocturnal raptors whoo have captured the imagination (and cut into the sleep) of many an avid birder on vacation or birding tour.

True & Barn Owls: Strigidae & Tytonidae

Heart-shaped faces ID the Tytonidae, or Barn Owls, including this Lesser Sooty Owl found on our Australia: Queensland’s Wet Tropics tour. Photo Credit: JJ Harrison
A member of the “true owl” family Strigidae usually has a round head, like this Burrowing Owl, normally too hunkered down for such a clear shot as this one, by Senior Guide Greg Smith.

Our Queensland’s Wet Tropics Tour, Aug. 13 – 23, 2023, offers chances to see both the Lesser Sooty Owl and Rufous Owl.

Owls and Owling are Everywhere!

Ranging from 5 to 28 inches in length, owls are found on every continent save Antarctica and for millennia have been inspiring myths and legends of awe, fear and admiration.

Since most owls are either nocturnal or crepuscular, an owling trip is typically launched near dusk, a shot in the dark in more ways than one. Owl unpredictability is one thing that makes owling so satisfying when we do get see them. An owl sighting always feels as though fortune has smiled.

A cooperative Elf Owl is a marvelous thing on a Big Bend, TX tour. Photo Credit: Dave Mehlman

Here’s how guide Hugh Simmons narrated one Elf Owling foray in Texas’s Davis State Park:

“From recent negative reports, our chances of success didn’t seem high, but we managed to be in the right place at exactly the right time and were rewarded by brief views of two owls as they flew out from their daytime roost in a woodpecker hole in a wooden utility post – a very satisfactory end to the day!”

An Elf Owl photographed in Portal, Arizona, by Bettina Arrigoni, licensed through Wikimedia Commons.

We go searching for owls on every one of the six continents they inhabit, and they are always a guest favorite when we do manage to see them. Owls often have large faces, stocky bodies and soft feathers to help muffle their predatory flights. Let’s examine some of the owl characteristics that make them special, traits that can vary widely from species to species and place to place.

Are Owls Super Smart? Or Is It Just the Big Eyes & Glasses?

While there are MANY things to love about owls, their Western reputation for being super-intelligent is probably not deserved.

Spectacled Owl are among the night residents we see in Panama birding — Spectacled Owl. Photo Credit: Jerome Foster.

So while the large, tropical Spectacled Owl we frequently see on our Belize, Mexico and Central American tours may look like it just came back from the library, as a group, owls are considered to have below average intelligence. As fierce and mighty hunters, they more closely match up with their reputations among many Native American tribes as harbingers and bringers of death. Maybe the widespread availability of Owl Cams has influenced our opinion, but reducing owls to a caricature of killing machines seems a bit harsh!

The Wise Owl Myth, Explained

Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, reputedly carried a Little Owl on her shoulder, which she said helped her see in the dark and into blind spots, and that association may be how owls came to symbolize wisdom.

Athena and her “Little Owl,” she said helped her to see better. Photo Credit: The MET via Wikimedia Commons.

(Fittingly, we saw Little Owl in Lesvos, Greece on our most recent tour there with guide Gerard Gorman. For your own chance to see Little Owl in its homeland of legend, our Lesvos, Greece: Migration! tour returns in April of 2023.) Photo Credit: Len Worthington via Creative Commons.

Athena’s story checks out in that owls have superior low-light vision and hearing. But if you’re looking for the smartest of birds, those are the social ones, like the corvids and parrots, according to researchers. Frequent interactions may have honed social birds’ wits and enlarged their brains. Corvids also benefit from having “long childhoods,” continuing to live with their parents “in training” for up to four years!

Owls are Loners for Life

Meanwhile, owlets are born helpless and dependent, yet not long after they fledge, just weeks or months later, begin leading solitary lives.

This Spectacled Owlet is unmistakably a juvenile with its plumage! Photo Credit: Rhian Springett via Wikimedia Commons

While many people know that a gathering of owls is called a ‘parliament,’ they are such a lonesome and territorial species that it’s hard to imagine when the term might ever be needed in conversation.

Owls are Hunting Machines

Specialized hunters with massive eyes and highly developed and calibrated ears, owls devote almost two-thirds of their brain’s modest volume to the tasks of seeing and hearing, notes WorldBirds.com, leaving little capacity for learning new things.

Some Owls are Smarter Than Others

Nevertheless, some species do exhibit clever and creative feeding strategies, including the Burrowing Owl, often spotted on our Texas, Arizona and Oregon’s Woodpecker Wonderland tours. They routinely set out bait for their insect prey, including bits of fresh cow pies. When a dung beetle comes by attracted by the smell of lunch, they get eaten, University of Florida researchers say.

Owl Calls: Hoots, Hisses, and Who Cooks for You?

Another ingenious adaptation of the Burrowing Owl is its ability to mimic a rattlesnake’s rattle. The Burrowing Owl exhibits this rattly hiss in states like Arizona and Texas, where it competes for burrows with rattlers, desert tortoises and rodents like kangaroo rats and ground squirrels. Rather than excavating their own homes, Burrowing Owl prefers to steal and defend a burrow, and their snake-y vocal imitations help them do that.

For a more quintessential “hooting” call, the Great Horned Owl is the go-to soundtrack for moviemakers hoping to evoke a night in the woods. Widely distributed in North and South America, we frequently see this lovely owl in Arizona and Brazil, where our next tour to the Pantanal is Oct. 11–21, 2022. There are resident Great Horned Owls at one of our favorite accommodations in the world, the Casa de San Pedro B&B, where we stay on our Southeast Arizona Sky Island Fall Sampler Nov. 3 – 10, 2022.

Great Horned Owl taken on our Brazil’s Pantanal trip by Don Cooper.

One of the most iconic and unmistakable owl calls is “who cooks for you?,” which is what the Barred Owl seems to be saying. A North American owl, we often see Barred Owl on our Oregon and Texas tours. Though they hunt at night, they are more active during the day than many other owl species.

Horned, Long-eared and Short-eared: Not Really Ears!

The feather tufts sported by the Horned, Long-Eared and Short-Eared Owl are often mistaken for ears, though they are not even in the vicinity of their true ears. These articulated tufts on the tops of owls’ heads are believed to be part signaling device, part camouflage. Scientists have observed that Short-eared Owls, which we often see on our Journey to the Galapagos cruise (next departure with space Jan. 15 – 27, 2023), tend to be found in more open areas, like grasslands and near the ocean. Longer-tufted owls, like the Long-eared Owl, which we have chances to see on our Nov. 5 – 11 California Birding and Wine tour, tend to live in forests, where a more exaggerated profile may be needed to distinguish them from denser surrounding foliage.

Owling is a family-specific type of birding — Short-eared Owl by Howard Topoff.

Real Owl Ears are Hidden, Sometimes Offset and Always Amazing!

If someone who is observant is said to be hawkeyed, someone with keen hearing should be called owl-eared, because owls have BOTH the best low-light vision and hearing of any bird. The flat, disc-like faces are part of its hearing toolkit, directing sound to its true ears, which can be found behind the eyes and beneath their feathers. Many owls have ears that are offset, which they use to triangulate which direction a sound is coming from.

What the Color of Owl Eyes Tells Us

Besides being extremely large and cylindrically shaped so as to best capture light, owl eyes come in a variety of striking colors. The color of an owl’s eye is connected to what time of day they are hunting. The darkest of eyes denotes a night-time hunter, orange eyed-owls tend to be crepuscular —hunting at dusk or dawn — and those with yellow eyes are the diurnal, daytime owls.

To give just one example, yellow-eyed Snowy Owls are daylight hunters. Their soft white feathers provide camouflage and sound-o-flage, helping them sneak up on their prey in broad daylight. Even their feet are covered with feathers, soft slippers to help muffle the incoming threat of sharp talons. We hope to see Snowy Owl on our Alaska tours and our Washington Winter Birding tour, next departure Jan. 20 – 28, 2023.

Snowy Owl feathers even cover their feet to help muffle the sound of their approach. Males and older birds may be all white, while females have more brown mottling. Photo Credit: Greg Smith

Largest, Smallest, and Not-That-Quiet

Because they are exceptions, not only in their huge and small size, we’ve saved for last the largest and smallest owls, which share the unusual trait of being uncharacteristically noisy.

The Great Gray Owl is the longest of owl species, averaging up to 28 inches in length. Anyone who has seen this majestic owl, like our Yellowstone National Park guests often do, comes away with a sense of wonder (and some great photos, too! No telephoto needed with a bird this large.)

Great Gray Owl taken on our Yellowstone National Park tour by guest Gary Stone.

But the endangered Blakiston’s Fish-Owl is considered the world’s largest owl, because it us much more massive, with females weighing up to 10 pounds, and because its wingspan, which can surpass 6 feet, is the largest of any owl. We have great opportunities to see this highly range-restricted bird on our Jan 9 – 23, 2023 Japan Birding and Nature tour, along with Red-Crowed Crane and Japanese Snow Monkey. Since Blakiston’s Fish-Owl’s prey is underwater, being silent isn’t as important, which helps explain why their feathers aren’t as soft and downy as owls that hunt mammals.

At the other end of the spectrum, the smallest and arguably the cutest of all owls is the Elf Owl, which is always a treat for our guests on Texas Big Bend & Hill Country tours as well as our Southeast Arizona tours. Standing about 5 inches tall and roosting in tiny stolen cavities, the Elf Owl is very active and very noisy around dusk, when its persistent peeping offers helpful clues to bird guides trying to find them!

Elf Owl are among the birds and animals we may see on our Arizona birding and nature tours. — Elf Owls are cavity nesters, offering them protection from the chill of desert nights. Photo Credit: Woody Wheeler

Elf Owls do have soft feathers on the leading edge of their wings, so they can be quiet when they want to. Though they are desert dwellers, they prefer riparian habitats.

Uganda and Tanzania are very Owly

We have not yet mentioned Africa, which would be a terrible oversight, because the continent has some wonderful owl species. Our Uganda and Tanzania tours in particular are great places to see owls, including Verreaux’s Eagle-Owl which can be seen on both! Our next Uganda tour with space available is Grand Uganda: Fabulous Birds and Mammals, July 15 – 31, 2023. Our next Tanzania Wildlife and Birding Safari tour is Jan. 30 – Feb. 11, 2023.

Central America, Family Feature, Mainland USA, Neotropics

Fabulous Facts about Hummingbirds: Species from Naturalist Journeys’ Tours

April 22, 2022 Naturalist Journeys Leave a comment

There are so many interesting facts about hummingbirds that, compounded into their tiny flying forms, hummingbirds inspire poetic descriptions like this one from John James Audubon himself, who called them “the greatest ornaments of the gardens and forests. Such in most cases is the brilliancy of their plumage, that I am unable to find apt objects of comparison unless I resort to the most brilliant gems and the richest metals.”

Facts about Hummingbirds: Size is Relative

Their diminutive size is probably the most obvious trait shared among the 330+ species of the family Trochilidae, whose most close relative is the swifts. Tiny Bee Hummingbird is the smallest, less than two ounces and found only in Cuba. The largest, the Giant Hummingbird, can weigh up to 12 times as much, and is found in the Andes, along with the Sword-billed Hummingbird, whose own size claim to fame is being the only bird with a bill longer than its body. Both can be found on our Northern Peru and Peru: Cusco to Mánu National Park tours:

Northern Peru Endemics July 12 – 23, $3990, from Lima
Peru: Cusco to Mánu National Park October 17 – 31, $5490, from Lima

Giant Hummingbird has a dull coat but makes up for it in size! Photo Credit: Carlos Sanchez
Sword-billed hummingbird. Photo Credit: Ferney Salgado

Home is the Western Hemisphere

Hummingbirds are a favorite of most birders, but they are particularly enthralling to our guests from Europe and Asia, who must travel to the Western Hemisphere to see them. Africa’s sunbirds, nectar-loving birds adapted to local flora, are often described as the hummingbirds of the Eastern Hemisphere.

Other location-based facts about hummingbirds:

US birders enjoy 17 nesting species of hummingbird
Half of all hummingbird species are concentrated in a belt near the equator

Some hummingbirds are wide-ranging, like the White-necked Jacobin, though you do have to leave the US to see it. We often see this species on our Belize tours, two upcoming. The October trip is one day longer, but you can see the value in traveling in the “green season” by comparison.

Belize Green Season July 16 – 23, $2990, from Belize City
Belize Birding and Nature October 2 – 10, $4290, from Belize City

White-necked Jacobin. Photo Credit: Janet Metzger
White-necked Jacobin. Photo Credit: Bob Hill
White-necked Jacobin display. Photo Credit: Rich Wagner

They may be seen on many of our Central America and northern South America tours.

Other hummingbirds are endemics, their ranges almost as diminutive as the birds themselves. The gorgeous Violet-capped Hummingbird is not widespread even inside Panama and a tiny sliver of Colombia contiguous with the Darién, a wilderness that flourishes between the two countries and benefits from a car-free break here in the Pan-American Highway.

We have chances to see Violet-capped on our upcoming tour to the Darién:

Panama and the Wild Darién July 29 – August 5, $2990, from Panama City

Facts about Hummingbirds: Violet-Capped are endemic to Panama and Colombia. — Violet-capped Hummingbirds can only been seen in Panama and Colombia. Photo Credit: Gail Hampshire of Wikimedia Commons

Picking up on Audubon’s description of hummingbirds, the Gilded Hummingbird and Glitter-throated Emerald call to mind “the most brilliant gems and the richest metals.” Both can be seen on our Brazil’s Pantanal tours:

Brazil’s Pantanal: Jaguars! And More August 2 – 12, $5840, from Sao Paulo
Brazil’s Pantanal: Jaguars! And More October 11 – 21, $5840, from Sao Paulo

Gilded Hummingbird. Photo Credit: Cláudio Dias Timm via Wikimedia Commons

Brazil Extensions Hummingbirds

To get a richer selection of hummingbirds, it’s advisable to choose the pre- and post-tour extensions, where our 2019 guests also saw Black Jacobin, Scale-throated Hermit, Black-eared Fairy, Frilled Coquette, Brazilian Ruby, Violet-capped Woodnymph, White-throated, and Versicoloured Emerald!

Black-eared Fairy. Photo Credit: Joao-Quental via Wikimedia Commons
Frilled Coquette. Photo Credit: Hector Bottai via Wikimedia Commons
Violet-capped Woodnymph. Photo Credit: Dario Sanches
Scale-throated. Photo Credit: Bruno Girin via WIkimedia Commons

Hummingbirds in the US: Arizona and Texas

As we noted above, 17 hummingbirds regularly nest in the US, as far north as Alaska, where birders delight in the Rufous Hummingbird, possibly because there are no other hummingbirds to chase off the feeders! (Elsewhere, birders and other hummingbirds might find them more aggressive than adorable.) Our US tours to Texas and Arizona turn up the highest variety of hummingbirds, and we make sure to see as many as we can!

We have three Monsoon Madness tours upcoming in Arizona, host to the highest diversity of hummingbirds of any US state. On our August 2021 tour, we saw a full dozen hummingbirds, including two our guests selected as the co-birds of the trip, the Violet-crowned and the Lucifer.

Violet-crowned Hummingbird. Photo Credit: Don Faulkner of Wikimedia Commons
Lucifer Hummingbird Photo Credit: Bryan Calk

Arizona Monsoon Madness, all $2,790, from Tucson:

Arizona Monsoon Madness July 30 – August 6
Arizona Monsoon Madness August 6 – 13
Arizona Monsoon Madness August 13 – 20

The Lucifer Hummingbird is also found on our Texas tours, including the upcoming and popular South Texas: Fall Migration October 9 – 16, $2,390 from McAllen, TX.

A Rainbow of Hummingbirds

Rainbows are a great analogy for talking about the colors of hummingbirds, because tricky light refraction across their feathers is the reason that hummingbirds can look dull one moment and catch fire the next. Consider these two photos of the aforementioned adorable/aggressive Rufous Hummingbird:

Rufous Hummingbird. Photo Credits: Carrie Miller (Slide middle arrow to see change.)

Their irridescence comes not from pigmentation but from light-shifting structures called melanosomes. Though other birds have them, including some ducks, the shape of hummingbirds’ melanosomes is unique, as Audubon describes in greater detail in “Hummingbirds Owe Their Shimmer to Microscopic Pancake-Like Structures.”

Though many hummingbirds flash at the gorget, the show-stopping Crimson Topaz takes an all-over approach to its irridescence.

Crimson Topaz. Photo Credit: Aisse Gaertner via Wikimedia Commons

Crimson Topaz is a Guianan Shield regional endemic that we have chances to see on our upcoming Guyana: Unspoiled Wilderness October 13 – 25. We also have chances in Guyana to see Tufted Coquette, which is one of the features of our trips to Trinidad and Tobago, a popular independent birding venture destination, where it must compete with Scarlet Ibis for bird of the trip!

Fun facts about hummingbirds: tufted coquette is cute! — Tufted Coquette. Photo Credit: Richard Wagner

Flouncing Feathers

Perhaps the flirtiest of all the coquettes, however, is the Rufous-crested Coquette, an unforgettable species, which we have chances to see on two of our Panama trips:

Panama: Introduction to Biodiversity October 1 – 9 and
Western Panama: Tranquilo Bay October 15 – 22

Rufous-crested Coquette. Photo Credit: Barry Ulman
Rufous-crested Coquette. Photo Credit: Miguel Lezama
Rufous-crested Coquette turns its Southern Baptist hat around when it’s feeding. Photo Credit: Barry Ulman

Max Hummingbirds? Peru

Our Northern Peru guests also saw Rufous-crested Coquette in 2019, along with 50 other hummingbirds! That’s right, 51 species of hummingbird, listed here on the 2019 Northern Peru trip report. Our Peru: Cusco to Mánu National Park guests found 30 hummingbirds, though Rufous-crested Coquette was not among them.

Snowcap Hummingbird also has a beautiful noggin, though far less adorned than the Rufous-crested. We often see this beauty on our Costa Rica: Carribean Side tour, which is Oct. 13-23 this year.

Snowcap. Photo Credit: Michael Woodruff via Creative Commons

Sounds Beyond Humming!

Our short ‘facts about hummingbirds’ blog wouldn’t be complete without touching on these birds’ namesake characteristic.

As anyone who has spent anytime sitting near an over-subscribed feeder will notice, the humming of hummingbirds is much more varied than the same word used to describe the monotone of a plugged-in refrigerator. Some of their humming comes from rapid wingbeats, ranging from a dozen wingbeats per second for Giant Hummingbird to 80 per second by the record-holding Amethyst Woodstar, which we have chances to see in Peru and Brazil.

Facts about Hummingbirds: the Amethyst Woodstar has the most rapid wingbeat of any hummingbird: 80 beats per second — Amethyst Woodstar, frequently seen in Peru, vocalizes in addition to its namesake humming. Photo Credit: Bob Hill

But hummingbirds also make other noises, including signature sounds made with their tail feathers, and territorial ‘chip’ calls. A few of them even sing!

The Broad-tailed Hummingbird, which we are almost certain to see on our three Arizona Monsoon Madness tours, makes a distinctive metallic sound in flight, which you can hear on this All About Birds page by clicking the audio file labeled ‘display.’

Where there are more species in competition, birds are more likely to have more complex vocalizations. The Mexican Violetear (formerly known as the Green Violetear, split into Mexican and Lesser Violetear in 2016) is one of those hummingbirds on the chatty side. We have great chances to see (and often first hear) Mexican Violetear on our two upcoming Oaxaca: Birds, Culture and Crafts tours. One of the things guests love about this trip is it includes beach time/time on the coast.

Oaxaca: Birds, Culture and Crafts August 1 – 9 (9-day, 8-night) $3790, from Oaxaca City
Oaxaca: Birds Culture and Crafts October 17 – 28, (12-day, 11-night) $4490, from Oaxaca City

Guests saw 15 hummingbirds on that trip in 2021.

Mexican Violetear. Photo Credit: Cephas via Wikimedia Commons

Adding to your Hummingbird Life List

If you are looking for specific hummingbirds, or want to know which hummingbirds may be seen on our tours, please check out the wealth of information available on our trip reports page! Though many of our tours feature a rich variety of hummingbirds, through our Independent Birding Ventures we design tours based on what you want to see. Do you want a trip that maximizes hummingbirds? Sign up for Northern Peru Endemics, or let us design a hummingbird-rich trip for your group!

The Naturalist Journeys Blog