When it involves the weirdest birds, we now have a wealthy crop to select from. For instance, there’s the gaudy-hued king vulture, the unusual nice potoo – and remember the prehistoric-looking shoebill with its unnerving stare.
Here are our favorite weirdest birds.
12 weirdest birds
Crested Owl
Despite a passing resemblance to Gizmo from Gremlins (that’s the lovable, furry Mogwai with the ears, clearly), the crested owl is certainly one of a form – the only real member of its genus, Lophostrix and positively worthy of a place on our weirdest birds listing.
The species is widespread and pretty widespread throughout massive swathes of Central and South America, but its basic biology stays largely mysterious. Its name is understood to be extra k-k-kkk-krrrrrrao than twit-twoo, and pairs are sometimes seen snuggling as much as roost collectively throughout the daytime, however its nest has not but been described and it’s not even clear what prey animals it targets. Whatever these change into, let’s simply hope the owl doesn’t eat them after midnight.
Southern Cassowary
Weird birds do not get a lot weirder than the Southern Cassowary. They are prehistoric-looking birds with deep blue heads and necks, two shiny crimson wattles (flaps of pores and skin), a casque, and dense, lengthy, black feathers. Reaching as much as six ft tall, southern cassowaries are the third-tallest birds on Earth.
They are present in northeastern Australia and south Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, and their favoured habitat is dense tropical rainforest.
Shoebill
The shoebill seems to be prefer it belongs to the prehistoric age, a throwback to the dinosaurs with its huge shoe-shaped invoice and fluffy head. It would not be out of place as a legendary creature in Harry Potter.
The highly effective, sharp invoice is completely tailored to prey on fish in aquatic vegetation. Shoebills can even opportunistically feed on frogs, young turtles, snakes and different small animals.
Classed as Vulnerable, these unusual and peculiar birds are distinctive to Africa, with the Sudd wetlands of South Sudan having the most important inhabitants, adopted by Bangweulu, and smaller populations in Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Shoebill taxonomy has lengthy been debated – this big has been variously thought of to belong to the stork, heron and pelican households. In truth, it’s monotypic, or the only real member of its household, Balaenicipitidae.
Jacanas
Jacanas are most likely most well-known for his or her terribly lengthy toes, which permit them to unfold their weight over floating aquatic vegetation, incomes them the sobriquet of ‘lily trotters’. But that isn’t the one quirk of those tropical waders.
They are additionally peculiar for his or her mating system, by which females run harems of males, every of whom broods a clutch of her eggs and raises the chicks alone.
Cock-of-the-rock
One of probably the most flamboyant birds of all, the male cock-of-the-rock is a cloud forest dandy but surprisingly shy and elusive more often than not.
Except, that’s, at its communal dancing floor (or lek). Males collect right here at first gentle then leap, bow, wing-flutter, gurgle and moan in an effort to outdo one another and impress females.
Such an extravagant plumage and breeding system (males play no half in nesting or elevating young) is simply doable due to the riches of South America’s tropical forests, with year-round provides of fruit.
Great potoo
There comes a second in life if you realise that you just can’t make your self invisible to others simply by closing your eyes actually, actually tight. Oh to be an important potoo.
These denizens of South and Central American jungles are shut family members of nightjars and swifts. By evening, they chase down flying bugs and bats.
By day, they conceal in plain sight, perching immobile in timber. It’s laborious to think about a hen bearing better resemblance to a damaged department than this cryptic creature – solely the massive, shiny brown eyes might give the sport away, so all it has to do is maintain them closed.
We named the potoo one of many weirdest animals on the earth.
Secretary hen
Some animals seem like they’ve been cobbled collectively from the elements of disparate species. There’s the duckbilled platypus, with its odd combination of mammalian and avian options; the vulturine guineafowl, which seems to be half peacock and half vulture; after which there’s the secretary hen, which resembles a hawk balanced on the legs of a flamingo.
This native of East Africa is the most important species of guineafowl, and with its hooked beak and bald head you would possibly anticipate it so as to add flamboyant splashes of color to the throng of scavengers gathered across the carcass of an unlucky buffalo or elephant. But you’d be mistaken: it’s nonetheless very a lot a guineafowl in its habits, consuming seeds and small invertebrates.
Hoatzin
There’s no denying that the hoatzin is just a little strange-looking, with its spiky hair do, however that is not the place the weirdness stops, for its odor is fairly odd too. This so-called ‘stink bird’ reeks of contemporary cow manure or sweet-smelling hay due to the large amount of foliage it must eat.
The hoatzin’s gullet and crop – a meals storage pouch close to the throat – function fermentation chambers. Inside are specialist micro organism that begin the method of breaking down the plant’s tissue. The hen ‘chews’ leaves earlier than swallowing, and ridges inside its crop assist to interrupt up the leaf bulk additional so it may be processed extra simply.
Frigatebird
You cannot deny the male Frigatebird is unquestionably a weird-looking hen with its vibrant crimson gular pouch, and it is this unusual neck that draws the women. And on this case dimension is all the pieces as throughout the breeding season it inflates to be even greater and extra spectacular to draw females.
The frigatebird is often known as the ‘man-o-war’ hen as it may steal meals from different birds in flight and dwell on the coasts and islands in tropical and subtropical waters.
Common hoopoe
These flamboyant birds are dressed to impress and have a beguiling tune to match. Hoopoe have a pinkish-orange physique, with black and white bars on the again and wings. A spectacular, erectile crest has cinnamon feathers with black and white suggestions – and its these unusual seems to be that earns them a place on our weirdest birds listing.
They breed all through southern and central Eurasia and in Africa. Northern populations migrate to Africa and southern Asia in winter.
What do hoopoes want for an excellent life? Firstly, some sort of gap by which to nest, in a tree, wall, cliff and even an old rabbit warren. Secondly, dry floor with sparse, low-growing vegetation or naked sandy soil, the place they will run round unhindered on their brief legs to seek out meals, and, lastly, just a few timber to which they will retreat when hazard threatens.
King vulture
Surely both the pinnacle or the physique of the gaudy king vulture actually belongs to a different hen? Its vibrant head and neck give strategy to a white physique and black wings, and you need to surprise the place the color has gone because it appears like nothing matches.
It additionally owes its barely unusual look to a bizarre fleshy wattle on the aspect of its invoice, referred to as a ‘caruncle’.
This massive scavenger hen lives between southern Mexico and northern Argentina and is the one surviving member of the Sarcoramphus genus.
Swordbilled hummingbird
You cannot deny the invoice of aptly named swordbilled hummingbird is a bit bizarre.
This hen’s wonderful beak, which might attain lengths of about 12cm, is longer than its physique, permitting it to access nectar from the longest, thinnest blooms that different hummingbird beaks can’t attain.
As such this little hen has the longest beak on the earth
More fascinating hen info
