Tag: american bird conservancy

Araripe Manakin: Little Soldier Bird

This YouTube video was produced by the American Bird Conservancy.

The spectacular Araripe Manakin was only discovered in 1996. The male’s bright, helmet-like crown led to its Portuguese nickname soldadinho-do-araripe, “Little Soldier of Araripe.”

Another local nickname for the Araripe Manakin hints at the bird’s specialized and very limited habitat. Local legend tells of a red-headed bird living by forest springs and streams at the foot of the Araripe Plateau in northeastern Brazil. This bird, known as the galo de nascente (cock of the springs), must not be hunted, as it is o dono do agua — owner of the

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Meet Elmer, the Cerulean Warbler

This YouTube video was produced by the American Bird Conservancy.

Migration is big. Especially when you’re a tiny Cerulean Warbler.

This species’ epic journey was tracked for the first time in Spring 2016, when 19 Cerulean Warblers were outfitted with high-tech backpacks capturing essential data about the birds’ migration route. We now know that over a period of six weeks, one of these warblers—dubbed “Elmer” by researchers—traveled thousands of miles. He flew from his Colombian wintering grounds all the way back to his namesake elm tree in Pennsylvania, where he had nested the year before.

Learn more about his journey

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Western Meadowlark: Neglected No More

This YouTube video was produced by the American Bird Conservancy.

A common and conspicuous bird across much of North America west of the Mississippi River, the Western Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta) was first officially described in 1805 by the famed explorer Meriwether Lewis. However, because this yellow-chested, ground-nesting bird looked so similar to the Eastern Meadowlark, it was not officially recognized as a distinct species until almost 40 years later, when painter and explorer John James Audubon proposed that the Western Meadowlark was a separate species based on its very different vocalizations. Audubon gave the bird its Latin species name neglecta,

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