U is for Umbrellabird {Blogging Through the Alphabet}

July 12, 2019

U is for Umbrellabird {Blogging Through the Alphabet}

Well, I missed being able to link up my letter "U" because life turned hectic; well, more hectic. We had company from out of town.

I couldn't come up with a North American bird beginning with "U," so I headed south. Umbrellabirds are found in the rainforests of Central and South America.

There are three species of Umbrellabirds: Long-wattled Umbrellabird; Amazonian Umbrellabird; and Bare-necked Umbrellabird.

Photo © Stephen Davies

The Long-wattled Umbrellabird is found from the southwestern part of Colombia to the province of El Oro in Ecuador, in the bioregion of Tumbes-Chocó-Magdalena.

Rest of photos from Wikipedia

The Amazonian Umbrellabird is native to the Amazon basin with a separate population on the eastern slopes of the Andes.

The Bare-necked Umbrellabird is found in the Talamancan montane forests of Costa Rica and Panama. My mom lived in Panama and Costa Rica when she was a girl; perhaps she saw some back then.

Umbrellabirds feed on fruits, large insects and occasionally small vertebrates (e.g. lizards). The males gather in loose leks (mating arenas), where they call and extend their wattle to attract females. The flimsy nest is built entirely by the females, which incubate and raise the chicks without help from the males.

The long-wattled and bare-necked umbrellabirds, are threatened by habitat loss and to a lesser extent by hunting.

Read more about Umbrellabirds at these websites:
Beauty of Birds
A-Z Animals
One Kind Planet
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology