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Issue: 17
10/8/2009
IN THIS ISSUE
Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock!
BirdCam
BIRDING ADVENTURES TV NEWS
Greetings,
The BATV crew have just returned from filming in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas with WINGS leaders Jon Dunn, Rich Hoyer and Gavin Bieber. What a great birding destination! The birds are plentiful, the people incredibly hospitable and the biring spots are very birder friendly.
This week on BATV we bring you the splendor of the magnificent Guianan Cock-of-the-rock (see below for more details). Also, we profile the merits of the Wingscapes BirdCam.
Stay tuned for another Birding Adventure!
Black-bellied Whistling Ducks in "the Valley" by Keith Hackland
THE TV SHOW WHERE BIRDS OF A FEATHER ADVENTURE TOGETHER
GUIANAN COCK-OF-THE-ROCK!
Guyana is definitely one of the best - and one of the few - sites to see this spectacular and outlandish bird. Guianan Cock-of-the-Rocks are Guianan Shield endemics, found nowhere else in the world besides the Guianan Shield which includes Guyana, Surname and Venezuela. The bright orange male has an extraordinary half-moon crest, which is used is competitive displays in lek gatherings to attract a female.
The smaller of the two cocks-of-the-rock, the male takes the lesser part in breeding, is polygamous, and has nothing to do with nesting once mating is done. The male's energy instead is devoted to very elaborate display rituals that show off its magnificent plumage. These displays take place in communal leks, where 40 or more males may gather to challenge rivals and beckon the females.
The displaying male shows its crest and plumage so much that the bill and tail become obscured, almost making it difficult to recognize as a bird. Within the lek, each bird has its own perch on a low branch, with a "court" on the ground below that is cleared of dead leaves by the draughts of each male taking off and landing. They also have a variety of calls and movements, showing off the crest and elongated filaments on the rump and secondaries, and snapping their bills. Males display on branches about 2.5 m (10 ft) from the ground until a female approaches, when the males display and call from individual plots on the ground. The female chooses a male by landing on the ground behind a male and pecking him on the rump, the male turns round, and mating takes place almost immediately.
Be sure to check out this show when it airs this Saturday morning on your local Fox Sports Network or affiliate network.
Guianan Cock-of-the-Rock by David Shackleford
BIRDCAM!
The BATV crew always brings at least one BirdCam along whenever we travel to film birds in remote destinations. We've found the BirdCam incredibly easy to set up and operate and it allows us the wonderful opportunity to record birds that we might be missing whilst filming. Take these Plain Chachalacas for instance...Whilst filming in the Rio Grande Valley we left the cameras set up at a bird feeding station and got hundreds of awesome shots of Chachalacas (with babies!), Whitewinged, White-tipped and Inca Doves and some other specialy birds like Buff-bellied Hummingbirds.
It always amazes us how much we miss when we're out shooting! And the birds behave so much more naturally when there are not humans around.
The BirdCam is an awesome birding tool and every birder should have one of these set up in his/her garden.