Amazon Birds

More than 1500 bird species are found in the Amazon Basin, while South America as a whole is home to roughly one-third the world's birds.

• Many birds found in the Amazon are northern or southern migrants, wintering in or passing though the rainforest at certain times of the year.
• Macaws are famous for gathering by the hundreds, even thousands, along the clay cliffs of the Amazon river where they feed on minerals which help the birds process toxins found in the seeds they eat.
• The world's rarest bird is Spix's macaw, a beautiful bird with a dark blue head, a blue body, and a greenish belly with a black mask and bright yellow eye. It has always been rare, limited to palm groves and river edges in small area near the center of Brazil, but recent deforestation, importation of Africanized bees-which took their tree hollows, and over collection for the hobbyists caused this species' demise. In 1987 only four birds remained in the wild

Pictures of Amazonian Birds:

Parrot Blue-and-yellow macaws (Ara ararauna), Yellow-crowned parrots (Amazona ochrocephala), and Scarlet macaws feeding on clay Scarlet macaw (Ara macao) Scale-crested Pygmy-tyrant (Lophotriccus pileatus) Scarlet macaw (Ara macao) headshot Chestnut Eared Aracari (Pteroglossus castanotis) Lafresnaya lafresnayi hummingbird in mid-flight Coeligena (inca) torquata hummingbird Red-and-green macaws (Ara chloroptera) Macaws feeding on clay wall Red-and-green macaws (Ara chloroptera) in flight Red-and-green macaws (Ara chloroptera) in flight Pair of red-and-green macaws fighting in a tree as parrots watch Mealy Amazon Parrot (Amazona farinosa) Pteroglossus torquatus Aracari Mealy Amazon Parrot (Amazona farinosa) Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) White-throated Toucan (Ramphastos tucanus) Spix's Guan, Penelope jacquacu, on clay lick Scarlet ibis (Eudocimus ruber) Gray-winged Trumpeters (Psophia crepitans) Short-tailed Nighthawk (Lurocalis semitorquatus) Blue-and-yellow macaws flying toward clay lick "Red-and-green macaws (Ara chloroptera) in flight Hummingbird feeding on Heliconia flower Green macaw Blue and yellow macaw (Ara ararauna) Rufous-tailed Jacamar (Galbula ruficauda) Close-up on face of a Red-and-green macaw Blue-and-yellow macaw flying in front of purple flowers Fiery Billed Aracari Scarlet Macaws green macaws (Ara chloroptera) in flight Pair of Blue-and-yellow macaws (Ara ararauna) flying Red-and-green macaws (Ara chloroptera) Red-and-green macaws Blue-and-yellow macaws (Ara ararauna), Yellow-crowned parrots (Amazona ochrocephala), and Scarlet macaws feeding on clay Red-and-green macaw in flight Red-and-green macaws (Ara chloroptera) Pair of Blue-and-yellow macaws (Ara ararauna) flying Red-and-green macaw (Ara chloroptera) on clay lick Blue-and-yellow macaws, Scarlet macaws, and parrots on clay lick Cobalt-winged parakeet (Brotogeris cyanoptera) feeding on Kapok seeds Emerald toucanet (Aulacorhynchus prasinus) Keel-billed Toucan (Ramphastos salfuratus) Scarlet macaws (Ara macao) pair Macaws feeding on clay lick Flock of Blue-and-yellow macaws (Ara ararauna) flying toward clay lick Harpy Eagle at Summit Park Harpy Eagle, Harpia harpyja, in Colombia Rufous-tailed Jacamar (Galbula ruficauda) Collared Aracari (Pteroglossus torquatus) Harpia harpyja at Summit Park Neotropic cormorant (Phalacrocorax olivaceus) in Oxbow lake Chestnut Eared Araçari (Pteroglossus castanotis) Hyancinth Macaws Hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin) in vegetation along oxbow lake Hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin) in vegetation along oxbow lake Hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin) in vegetation along oxbow lake Blue and Gold Macaw (Ara ararauna) Captive harpy eagle Red Bill Toucan (Ramphastos tucanus) Blue-and-gold Macaw Scarlet macaw Brown-throated Parakeet (Aratinga pertinax) Blue-and-yellow Macaw Spectacled Owl (Pulsatrix perspicillata) Harpy eagle Tropical Kingbirds in flight Bird - page II | other rainforest birds

This article was written by Rhett A. Butler [citation]

THE AMAZON RAINFOREST

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