That Bird Blog – Bird Care and History for Pet Birds

Hello, Frank Indiviglio here.  Ranging from easily- overlooked little wrens to large owls and brilliantly- colored barbets, a variety of spectacular new bird species were discovered or described in the past year. Fossils of dinosaurs that may have displayed colorful feathers in a manner similar to modern-day peafowl and turkeys also grabbed our attention as 2012 drew to a close.  Unfortunately, some depressing findings concerning accelerating avian extinctions also came to light. Today I’ll highlight a few species and news items that were of particular interest to me. I hope you enjoy, and please post your own favorites (whether covered here or not) below.

Sira Barbet, Capito Fitzpatricki

Montane cloud forests are well-known for sheltering creatures new to science, but even so ornithologists were surprised that the large, colorful, Sira Barbet was able to remain hidden from view for so long.  Beautifully clad in scarlet, black and white, this bird was first glimpsed in 2008, but was misidentified as the related Scarlet Barbet (please see drawing). Read More »