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The tropical zone of planet Earth contains many wonderful species which have adapted over time to their environment.  The Jaçana (the c is pronounced like the one in façade) consists of eight species; all are found within the tropical zone and all in possession of something quite special which equips them take best advantage of their habitat.  At home in shallow lakes with lots of vegetation, the Jaçana has evolved enormous feet and claws.  They are, literally, the big foot of the bird world.  Once seen, never forgotten.

The vegetation which floats upon many shallow lakes in the world’s tropical zone contains a veritable smorgasbord for any bird able to reach them.  Most are home to a huge variety of insects and other invertebrates.  Yet the vegetation which houses this feast is what disables access to it.  Now, if only a bird could walk on the vegetation without submerging it (and itself) with the weight, all this food would be theirs for the taking.  Enter the Jaçana.

The Trogon – it sounds like a species of alien out of Star Trek or Doctor Who. However, this family of somewhat overlooked birds has its roots very firmly on planet Earth. If asked to list bird families, where would the Trogonidae be on your list? Chances are, way down or not at all. However, these exquisite birds are well worth a look. Here are ten of the thirty nine species.

Very probably not, but it must be said that the mask worn by the brilliantly colored Paradise Tanger is more than a little reminiscent of the entire Green Lantern Corps.  This medium sized songbird is more than just a mask, however.  It has sky blue underparts and its upper body is a glossy black.  As for the tail – it can be either yellow and red or all red, depending on the species.

The bird is found in the Amazon Basin in South America, in over half a dozen countries there.  Such is the brilliance of the bird’s plumage that it is known locally as siete colores, which means seven colors.  There is no sexual dimorphism which means that the female, so often a dowdy color in other species, has the same magnificent plumage as the male.

As such it can be quite difficult to tell the genders apart.  The only thing which differentiates is that the male calls out more often than the female (whether or not you agree that that is extended to other species is entirely a matter of opinion).  Fortunately, the future of this species seems, for the moment, secure.  Although their exact number is not known, they are described as common throughout their extensive range.

The Paradise Tanager is a clean freak.  Each morning when the mist descends they awake before many other species of bird and ruffle and preen their feathers in order to keep them in tip top condition. Once a male has found a mate the pair elopes to the canopy of the rainforest.  This is because the higher they nest it becomes less likely that their eggs will be eaten by predators.  They chose a nesting spot and then the majority of each day is spent searching for nesting material, finding fruit to eat and hunting insects on the wing.

The species rarely lays more than two eggs at a time and another reason they nest in the canopy is because it puts them at a height where the humidity is just right for the eggs to develop.  After about two weeks the eggs will hatch.

A startlingly beautiful species, the Green Lantern may not, after all, have used them as an inspiration for his mask.  The Paradise Tanager is, however, a super bird in its own right.

Beneath the red hot sand of an Indonesian island something stirs.  A large egg is hatching and soon the newborn creature will dig its way out to the surface and take its first gulps of fresh air.  Yet no parent watches over it. This sounds as if it should be a young turtle, thrusting its flippers sideways as it makes its desperate lurch towards the ocean.  It is not, however. This is a bird.  More remarkable still is that when it emerges the chick will already be able to fly.

The Maleo is a surprising bird.  Although it only numbers around ten thousand in the wild – and close to zero in captivity – it is remarkable amongst our feathered friends for the unique way it cares for its young.  Instead of incubating their eggs, the Maleos lay theirs in the baking sand of Sulawesi island – the only place in the world in which they can be found in the wild.  It sounds like an April Fool trick, but be assured, this bird is very much alive and kicking.  Whether it will be around in another fifty years, however, is altogether a different question.

It is partnership between man and animal which has lasted over a millennia. A fisherman needs to catch enough fish to sell and feed himself and his family. Sometimes that means that he needs an assistant. Along the river ways of China that assistance has come from a member of the pelicaniformes order of birds – the bird we call the cormorant.

These are working animals in much the same way as dogs and horses on farms in the west with a specific role assigned to them. The major primary difference is that the cormorants are not born in to captivity. They are lured by bait and caught. The training process can then begin.

There are a number of things which separate the burrowing owl from other species. The first clue is in the name.  Another is that they are the smallest species of owl on the planet and more often or not they do not weight more than half a pound in weight and reach around ten inches in height. They also come out in the day time, unlike most other owls.

That is not a snake that the adult burrowing owl is feeding to its chick. It's a caterpillar - which goes to show just how small they are. They are also much more relaxed around humans than other species of owls.  They will happily colonize areas like airports and golf courses and have even been known to nest in larger gardens. As long as there are open areas and a good water supply they seem to be content to live near us.

Storks make their nests high. To us they look remarkably precarious structures, not exactly a desirable residence – the ‘des res’ of your dreams. The stork, however, thrives at height most of us would avoid like the plague. Take a look at some amazing nests of the stork.

Although many Europeans encourage storks to nest on the roof of their home – it is supposed to increase the fecundity of the householders – many would gasp at the inherent danger that lies in building one’s home on top of a deadly current of electricity. In Denmark, however, the stork is not a welcome guest and so this would be considered appropriate alternative housing. The Danish believe that if a stork builds a nest on top of your house then someone who lives there will die before the year ends. These parent storks, however, will not be on the nest for great periods of time. This stork in Hungary is flying back to the nest to feed its offspring. The visit will need to be fairly quick though – stork chicks can eat anything up to sixty percent of their body weight each day. That is quite a few fish and frogs.

You are looking at pictures of an incredibly rare bird.  This is the Spoon-billed Sandpiper.  It is thought that less than one hundred and fifty breeding pairs are alive today.  In the next fifteen years this amazingly adapted bird may well slip quietly on to the ever increasing list of species whose extinction has been caused by humans.  

Yet if a group of bird experts succeed the spoon-billed sandpiper may pull back from the brink.

Marco Polo wrote about them. Sideshows exhibited them as a cross between a chicken and a rabbit. Some say it is the closest thing the bird world gets to a tribble. Others that it must be some kind of refugee from The Muppet Show. This is the Silky. It is quite probably the coolest breed of chicken on the planet, particularly when it comes to its fabulous plumage. The general fluffiness of the Silkie makes it unusual, not to mention attractive, but it has many other endearing qualities as well as an interesting history.

They are one of the calmest chicken breeds and they generally never run around like, well, like a headless chicken.  In fact they love nothing more than to grab a perch and just watch the world go by.

They are kept for pets but the hens are renowned for being wonderful mothers. As well as incubating eggs they have laid themselves they are quite happy to do the same thing for any other eggs you might wish to pop underneath their fluffy frame.

In fact, it is not unusual to see them trotting around a farm yard with a host of (not so) ugly ducklings in tow behind them.

The Silkie makes a great mother and is unusually docile and trusting, even for a chicken.

Perhaps too trusting. BEHIND YOU!!!

I said, BEHIND YOU!!!  I can't look! You may not want to see the third picture in this sequence, reader. Seriously, rest assured that no silkies were injured in the creation of these pictures. In fact, cats and silkies have been known to share a crib.

"Excuse me? Could you make a little room? Just a little? Oh, sigh. Never mind."

Though sometimes a silkie can get home and discover unwanted house guests crashing the place. If that ginger tom could talk he would be just about to say one short sentence.  "What d'ya want, birdie?"

However, back to the breed itself rather than interspecies mingling. The plumage of the Silkie is what instantly attracts and the feel of it gives the bird its name. It also makes the Silkie unique among chickens. The light and soft feathers, so reminiscent to the touch of fur, can appear in individual chickens as a result of a recessive gene. However, the Silkie is the only chicken to possess it as a breed.

They come in a variety of different colors, from white to black, taking in red, blue and buff in-between. What you can’t see, however, is their black flesh and bones below, very unusual among chickens. Other features that set them apart from most chickens are their five (instead of four) toes and those striking blue earlobes.

The species is thought to have originated in China and, true to say, there in something eastern in their look and certain inscrutability. They arrived in Europe (and from there the New World) via the Silk Route. The most famous European to follow that path was Marco Polo and his accounts tell of a furry chicken which was possibly the Silkie.

They certainly didn’t fly out of China. Their feathers, so soft and downy render them incapable of flight. You may have noticed that in some of these wonderful pictures the bird(s) seem to have a muff of feathers under their beak which covers their blue ears, while some do not. These are not separate breeds but varieties and are known as bearded and, you guessed it, non-bearded.

It took quite a while for the breed to be formally recognised in the US. In fact it was accepted in to the Standard of Perfection in 1874 (which was, admittedly the first time it had been published0. Yet despite this acceptance rumors about the Silkie have abounded and persisted.

One of the most unrelenting tales is that the Silkie is, in fact, a hybrid of a chicken and a rabbit. While you can see – obviously – while the more credulous people may have believed this in centuries gone by it is a legend which has proven fairly difficult to dispel. In Victorian times they were often shown in travelling shows and billed as such an interspecies cross, with people being told that they had mammalian fur. You can just imagine Barnum buying a dozen and crossing his fingers. You can see why, perhaps.  Do these chickens have heads?

Today, however, the Silkie has become a popular breed of ornamental chicken. They are popular with smallholders not only for their looks but because the hen is about the broodiest bird on the planet. Any extra eggs from any breed of poultry will be gladly welcomed in to the brood to be of a mother Silkie who herself produces around three eggs each week.

Some of you are probably asking the question, yes, but what do they taste like? Perhaps because of their black skin (see a dead pair here if you must!) the breed has escaped intensive farming in the West – or it could be the simple fact that it does not produce as much meet as other breeds of chicken. Underneath that ball of fluff is quite a skinny chicken, believe it or not. In China, where they are known as wu gu ji – literally the chicken with black bones – they are regarded as suitable for gourmet tastes.

Although this is not a site that marks out animals as pets (or tells you where to buy them or how to look after them), it has to be admitted that if you want a chicken as a pet then the Silkie is an ideal. They are composed, amicable and sociable and they like children. In other words they are quite docile. Although this means that they can be bullied by other birds they tend to do well in human company.

We have now, hopefully, firmly established that the Silkie is not a rabbit – or indeed a tribble – but very much a bird. It has to be said it is an unusual looking winged, bipedal, endothermic, egg-laying, vertebrate but you know something? However, this, with apologies to EB White and Charlotte is some bird. Some bird indeed.

The Sanderling is a small wader. It is a circumpolar Arctic breeder, and is a long-distance migrant, wintering south to South America, South Europe, Africa, and Australia. It is highly gregarious in winter, sometimes forming large flocks on coastal mudflats or sandy beaches.

Oh and it is also a very funny bird to watch. They often stand on one leg and hop along like Long John Silver. Plus although they congregate close to the sea they really don’t seem to want to get wet so every time a wave comes in, away they hop and run!

This marvelous piece of filmmaking was created by Javier Salinas Laguna. It’s a gorgeous piece of film and the music ("Playful by the dozen" by Daniel Pemberton) is particularly well chosen.

Each Spring the woodlands of America resound to the birdsong of returning visitors.  Warblers – fifty three species of them all in all – arrive and right now is the best time to see them as they migrate.  Their arrival heralds a dazzling dash of colour as the greenness of American forests is peppered as if with the ravishing hues of thousands of tiny precious stones.  Here are some of the returnees announcing the spring in their unique way.  It must be said that they usually seem to be a little happier than the disgruntled looking Yellow-rumped Warbler above.

The male Chestnut-sided warbler (above) cannot be mistaken.  They have dark-streaked grey backs with white faces and black eyestripes.  This is topped off with an olive crown.  They breed in the eastern North America and the south of Canada.

Like all New World Warblers, the Hooded Warbler (above) winters in Central America, only to return to the United States to nest every spring.  They feed on insects which they find in low vegetation or, rather more spectacularly, they will catch their meals by hawking.  This is when they watch for their prey from a perch and then fly after it and snatch it from the air in their beak.  The Hooded Warbler is often the victim of brood parisitism by the Brown-headed Cowbird.

Townsend’s Warbler is named after the US ornithologist John Kirk Townsend who discovered the bird in 1833 on an expedition that went across the Rocky Mountains and on to the Pacific Ocean. They make shallow cups for nests and usually lay four or five eggs. Where ranges overlap they breed with the very similar Hermit Warbler.

The Yellow Warbler breeds all over North America and in the summer the males of this group are the yellowest of all warblers (although with some washed out streaks on their breast), as you can see from the picture above.    This bird is also parasitized by the cowbird but they will often smother the egg with new nesting material or abandon the nest altogether.  Occasionally though, they will raise the cowbird with its own brood as, notably, the cowbird nestling will not attempt to kill the young of its host.

With the black stripe over his eyes the Magnolia variety looks like the Dick Turpin of the New World Warblers. It breeds in coniferous woodland and, like most warblers, lays its egg in a rather flimsy cup of a nest.  They will also feed on spiders and other insects and will even take berries in inclement weather when their natural prey stay hidden.

This beauty is the Prothonotary Warbler, so called because of the resemblance between it and officials of the Roman Catholic Church who bore the name originally and who wore golden vestments.   Unfortunately these birds are declining in numbers due to loss of habitat and also competition from the House Wren.

Many of the warblers here have a consistent problem with nest parisitism and you may not think that is too much of a problem. However, when you look at the difference in size between this Wilson's Warbler and the cowbird nestling that it has unwittingly raised as its own the issue becomes rather more transparent.  The picture below gives you an even better idea about just how small the Wilson's really is.

The Blue-winged Warbler (above) is fairly common and breads in eastern North America where its range is extending northwards.  A bird was once found in Ireland but it usually stays put in the Americas.  It nests in a very low bush or even on the ground and can lay up to seven eggs in a single clutch.

This cheeky looking chap is the Cape May Warbler which breeds in virtually all of Canada and in to New England and the Great Lakes.  It winters in the West Indies but when in its breeding habitat at the edge of coniferous forest it likes to nest in the thick foliage at the base of its preferred tree, the Black Spruce.  It can lay up to a magnificent nine eggs.

The Yellow-throated Warbler loves to live in coniferous forests but can also be found in swamps.  Although they eat insects and can catch them using a hovering technique they will also eat a large amount of berries and will consume nectar outside of their breeding time.  They will hide their nest with either conifer needles or Spanish Moss  and will usually lay four eggs.

The Yellow-rumped Warbler get its name for obvious reasons.

Our final warbler is the Northern Parula, the male of which develops rufous and bluish breast bands in the summer as well as very prominent white eye crescents. I would like to thank Michael McCarthy of the Independent newspaper, whose recent article on these birds (where he bemoans their lack of fame in the animal world) was the inspiration for this attempt to bring these warblers to a wider audience.