Tag: american bird conservancy

A flock of pink flamingos atop a mountain sounds like some sort of weird hallucination … After all, don’t these long-legged wading birds live in low-lying wetlands, like the American Flamingo?

Incredibly, there are three flamingo species that make their homes high in the Andes Mountains of South America: the Andean, Chilean, and James’s Flamingos. The James’s Flamingo is the smallest and rarest of these, and was first described to science from Chile in 1886. Also known as the Puna Flamingo in recognition of its high-altitude habitat, the James’s Flamingo

The shy, stunning Purple Quail-Dove belongs to a larger family that includes familiar species such as the widespread Mourning Dove and Rock Pigeon. It was once considered a subspecies of the Sapphire Quail-Dove, a close relative found in southern Colombia, eastern Ecuador and Peru, and western Brazil. The Purple Quail-Dove was split into a separate species in 2010 based on differences in its plumage and song.

This bird’s genus name, Geotrygon, is derived from the Greek words for “earth” and “dove,” and refers to its ground-dwelling habits. Its species name,

ABC President Michael J. Parr shares highlights and stories from the new book “Birds of the Tropical Andes,” co-authored with wildlife photographer Owen Deutsch.

This beautifully illustrated large-format book celebrates the splendor and extraordinary diversity of Andean birds and the habitats they depend on. It draws on the latest findings from the field and sheds light on the lush alpine and forested terrains that make this avifauna so rich and plentiful. With illuminating essays that share invaluable perspectives from some of the region’s leading bird conservationists, Birds of the Tropical