Scale-crested Pygmy-tyrant Tues 30th Oct 2012

October 30, 2012 in Wildlife Village by Susan M

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Good Morning All

I thought we could have a little look at this little beauty………The Scale-crested Pygmy-tyrant

Scientific Name: Lophotriccus pileatus

The scale-crested pygmy tyrant is a tropical forest bird. It likes to live in subtropical and tropical forests, both in the lowlands and in mountain areas. It also lives happily in forests where people have cut down a lot of the trees. It lives in lots of places across south and central America, including Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Venezuela, and also possibly Honduras. You can see a map of where it lives at http://maps.iucnredlist.org/map.html?id=106004213

 

Now, you might already be familiar with this little guy, as he pops up a lot around mongabay.com. That’s because the scale crested pygmy tyrant is mongabay.com’s mascot! You’ll probably agree that it’s a really lovely looking bird, but it’s very tiny and hard to spot in the wild. This little bird only eats insects, and has a sharp beak to catch them. It lives in the darker, lower levels of the forest, and flies from branch to branch all day, searching for food. If you were in a forest looking for one, it would be very hard to see, but you would probably be able to hear its call as it flew through the trees.

The scale-crested tyrant is listed as “Least Concern” on the IUCN Red List, which is a scorecard of the extent to which animals and plants are endangered. This means that scientists aren’t too worried about this bird, and it seems to be doing well. But, we must make sure this doesn’t change in the future.

The bird in the picture above is being studied by scientists. They have put a small ring around its leg, so that if they catch it again, they know exactly which bird it is.

The scale-crested pygmy tyrant gets its name from the lovely feathers on top of its head. In the picture above, the feathers are lifted up into a crest – it looks a bit like a headdress or a crown! It can also fold the feathers down when it doesn’t need to show them off. The lovely head feathers (that look a bit like scales) might be used when the birds are trying to attract mates, or when they’re frightened to make themselves look bigger.

Not much is known about how this lovely little bird lives, where it nests, or how many eggs it has.

Information from http://kids.mongabay.com

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The Dyfi Osprey Project and the Scottish wildlife Trust  have kindly given their permission for us to post still and video images from their webcams. To visit their sites please click on the relevant link.    Loch of the Lowes.  Dyfi Osprey Project.


 


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