Amazing Birds of Central America

Bare-necked umbrella birds are unusual with awkward hairdos and bizarre courtship displays. The male birds have throat sacs on their chests that they inflate and resemble giant ripe tomatoes, making grunts, deep chuckles, and dry coughs to increase their appeal. Bare-necked umbrella birds live only in forests, and their diet consists mainly of fruits.

Blue-footed Boobies are the famous dancing Galapagos birds that spend part of the year in Central America. Their name "booby" comes from the Spanish bobo, meaning "stupid" or "clumsy," which refers to their mating dance. Before indulging in this dance male boobies find a shapely stone and present it to a female, if she’s impressed, the male starts dancing. The color of their feet comes from carotenoids, nutrients found in oily fish like sardines and anchovies. These pigments travel through the bloodstream and concentrate in the feet. Boobies nest in large colonies called rookeries. These carnivorous birds enjoy feeding on fish.

Brown-billed scythes have long, thin curved bills. They belong to a class of birds known as woodcreepers and live in “mixed flocks.” These are large groups of birds that consist of many different species all foraging together. Scythe's strategy for food is to start at the base of a tree, hop up the trunk, and pluck delicious earwigs, spiders, and beetles from the bark.

Keel-billed toucans are known for their very big and colorful bills. Even though their bills look heavy, they are very delicate, made of a protein layer on hollow bone. These birds use their bills to pluck fruits from treetops, throw them in the air, and catch and swallow them. Keel-billed toucans primarily inhabit tropical and subtropical rainforests. 

Laughing falcons make calls that sound like laughter. They love to prey on vipers or rattlesnakes. These birds prefer open areas with tall trees to perch on. These falcons tend to be most vocal right before and at dawn and dusk. They prey on lizards, small mammals, birds, fish, and large insects, such as grasshoppers.

Long-tailed manakins make their homes in Central and South America with about 50 species of manakins. These birds have an unusual courtship ritual where males select and clean a patch of forest to be their stage and then perform hopping and jumping dances with clicks and groans. This performance display is known as "lekking" and is common to all manakins. Females and young birds are greenish with orange legs and long tails. Males have sky-blue backs. They inhabit both wet and dry tropical and subtropical forests.  These birds are herbivores.

Montezuma oropendolas are known as some of the best weavers of all birds on Earth. They created intricate nests that are lined with a soft layer of leaf fragments for the eggs to rest on. These birds  are large sized, havew chestnut body plumage, yellow outer rectrices, bicolored bills, and pale patches of bare skin on the sides of their heads. The loud, gurgling song of the male is given as the male bows forward, cocking the tail and spreading the wings. Montezuma Oropendolas usually forage in small groups in the canopy, searching for fruit and large insects; at least occasionally they also eat small vertebrates. 

Ocellated Ant Birds natural habitat is the understory of tropical moist lowland forest, foothill forest, and tall secondary growth woodlands. (pictured above) They are striking birds with olive above and below with black feather centers and golden fringes to the feather tips, which impart a scaled appearance to the bird's body and wings; in addition, it has a chestnut collar, black throat and facial border, gray crown, electric blue facial skin, and stout, pink legs. Ocellated antbirds can be located by their call, a rising series of whistles. As indicated by their name these birds dine on ants.

Three-Wattled Bellbirds are rather odd-looking with beards, which are actually three sacs of skin known as “wattles” hanging from their beaks. They have olive-green feathers with hints of yellow on their undersides.  Male bellbirds sit up high in tree branches to get visibility and attract mates with a loud call. They inhabit rainforests. Three-wattled bellbirds are frugivorous, feeding on fruits and berries. They play a vital ecological role as a seed disperser, aiding in forest regeneration. In addition to fruit, these birds also consume insects and other arthropods.