Birds of the World and Bible – Groove-billed Ani

November 9, 2015 by Ian

Groove-billed Ani (Crotophaga sulcirostris) by Michael Woodruff

“every raven after its kind, and the owl, and the night-hawk, and the cuckoo, and the hawk after its kind,” (Leviticus 11:15-16 YLT)

While browsing through some of the latest photos from photographers I follow on Flickr, I came across these photos by Michael Woodruff of the Groove-billed Ani. Then I found more by two others I follow; barloventomagico and Ross Tsai.

Groove-billed Ani (Crotophaga sulcirostris) ©Flickr Ross Tsai

So what is a Groove-billed Ani anyway? The groove-billed ani (Crotophaga sulcirostris) is an odd-looking tropical bird in the Cuculidae – Cuckoos family with a long tail and a large, curved beak. It is a resident species throughout most of its range, from southern Texas, central Mexico and The Bahamas, through Central America, to northern Colombia and Venezuela, and coastal Ecuador and Peru. It only retreats from the northern limits of its range in Texas and northern Mexico during winter. Dan and I was able to see these birds in South Texas in 2001.

Groove-billed Ani (Crotophaga sulcirostris) by Michael Woodruff

The groove-billed ani is about 34 cm (13 in) long, and weighs 70–90 g (2.5–3.2 oz). It is completely black, with a very long tail almost as long as its body. It has a huge bill with horizontal grooves along the length of the upper mandible. It is very similar to the smooth-billed ani, some of which have bills as small as the groove-billed and with grooves on the basal half. The two species are best distinguished by voice and range. In flight, the ani alternates between quick, choppy flaps and short glides.

Groove-billed Ani (Crotophaga sulcirostris) by Michael Woodruff

Like other anis, the groove-billed is found in open and partly open country, such as pastures, savanna, and orchards. It feeds largely on a mixed diet of insects, seeds, and fruits.

Groove-billed Ani (Crotophaga sulcirostris) ©Flickr barloventomagico

The groove-billed ani lives in small groups of one to five breeding pairs. They defend a single territory and lay their eggs in one communal nest. All group members incubate the eggs and care for the young. (Wikipedia)

It’s a different kind of beak, but the Lord made the Ani like this so that he could eat the available food in its terrain. Bills are not an evolutionary after-thought, but the design of a Creator, that loves His critters and provides for them.

Groove-billed Ani (Crotophaga sulcirostris) ©Flickr barloventomagico

GBNA – Guide to Birds of North America eField Guide: Groove-billed Ani

Black overall with iridescent purple and green sheen
Long tail, very wide at end
Bulky bill with grooves (visible only at close range)
Bill does not extend above crown
Entirely black plumage
Sexes similar
Often found in small groups
Inhabits grassy, scrubby areas

Groove-billed Ani (Crotophaga sulcirostris) by Michael Woodruff

“and the owl, and the night-hawk, and the cuckoo, and the hawk after its kind;” (Deuteronomy 14:15 YLT)

The YLT and two other versions of the Bible, list the “Cuckoo” in the list of birds not to be eaten by the Israelites. Other versions use the word, “Cuckow.” Therefore this family of birds have been listed as Birds of the Bible.

Sneaky Roadrunner

July 9, 2014 by James J. S. Johnson

Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) Reinier Munguia

Sneaky Roadrunner ~ by Dr. James J. S. Johnson

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. (1 John 4:18 KJV)

Orni-Theology

Roadrunners are unusual birds. When you think of birds, usually you think of birds that fly. But not roadrunners – mostly they run (up to 20 miles per hour!), or walk very quickly (“race-walking”). But roadrunners sometimes fly short distances, if they want to escape someone. Once I saw one fly from my home’s front yard to the roof of our house. But a roadrunner’s usual exit strategy is to run. But not always. Sometimes they try to be sneaky. Before recalling a memorable example of roadrunner sneakiness, however, a few fact about roadrunners should be reviewed.

Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) by Daves BirdingPix

Roadrunners have longer legs, in proportion to their bodies, than do most birds. Obviously God designed these roadrunners to get around on foot! Taxonomists (i.e., those who categorize creatures into groups of common traits, by “lumping” on similarities and “splitting” on dissimilarities) classify the Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus – meaning “Californian earth-cuckoo”) as a member of the cuckoo family, birds that look like half-starved chickens with long tails. Roadrunners thrive in desert habitats, yet these black-and-white fowl are also found living in shrub-dominated lands known for hot, dry climates, such as the western half of Texas (as well as most of Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, and California). See Roger Tory Peterson, WESTERN BIRDS (Houghton Mifflin, 3^rd ed., 1990), range map 192. Roadrunners can also be seen, though less frequently, in contiguous states, such as Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Missouri, and Arkansas.

Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) ©©Alan Murphy Flickr

Roadrunners are not picky eaters. Roadrunners are happy to eat bugs (insects and spiders), seeds, fruits, millipedes, centipedes, scorpions, and even small birds (and their eggs), small mammals (usually rodents like mice, rats, and voles), and small reptiles (such as lizards). One of the more unusual insects, that roadrunners are known to eat, is the tarantula hawk wasp – an amazing spider-killing wasp that the U.S. Army named one of its “unmanned aircraft” reconnaissance units after. [See my article at www.icr.org/article/slow-death-for-tarantula-lesson-arachnid/ — “Slow Death for a Tarantula”.]

Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) ©©Flickr

So how can a roadrunner be “sneaky”? A few months ago I walked out of my house’s front door, and saw a roadrunner in my path. Startled by my approach, the roadrunner skittishly scuttled around my van, which was parked in the driveway in front of my house. So now I was standing on the north side of my van, and the roadrunner was standing on the south side of my van.

How do I know that, since I don’t have “x-ray eyes” that can see through a parked van? As I slowly and silently crept, counter-clockwise around the west side of my van, I could see the roadrunner, standing on the south side of my blue van: he (or was it a she?) was bent over with his head turned to the southeast, with his slender bill and face aimed directly away from me. By bending down his head, and aiming it away from where I was standing, the roadrunner must have thought that he was hiding from me, and that I could not see him – because he could not see me! If I had impolitely startled him, then, surely it would have hurt his feelings, or his pride, because he obviously thought he really had me fooled. So I stood silently, unmoving, for quite a while, to see if he would notice me – only about 3 feet form him – with nothing but air between us! The roadrunner never moved, and he never turned his head to see me, so perhaps he thought I still could not see him. Not having the heart to correct him, I slowly and silently backed up to the north side of the van, then retreated back through my front door, into my house. To this day the roadrunner probably thinks that his bent-over, head-turned “hiding” had fooled me.

Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) ©©thedrinkingbird Bing

Then I got to thinking about how often we humans act as though we could hide ourselves from God. When our first parents first sinned (Genesis 3:8-10) they tried to hide from God, among the trees in the Garden of Eden. (If there had been a blue van there they might have tried to hide behind it.) Of course, the very thought of hiding from God is silly because He is omnipresent and omniscient (Psalm 139). But, because the Lord Jesus Christ provides us with a free redemption (John 3:16), there is no good reason to be afraid of God (Hebrews 10:19), because “perfect love casts out fear” (1^st John 4:18).

Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) ©©Nathan Davis Bing

Roadrunners are fun to watch – I love watching them scoot around on their fast, race-walking legs! If roadrunners only knew how kindly I regard them they would not fear me – they don’t need to sneak around to escape me. And, because of Jesus, there is no good reason for us to try to hide from God.

(Dr. James J. S. Johnson, now apologetics professor at ICR, previously taught ornithology at Dallas Christina College. Mrs. Thelma Bumgardner, his second-grade teacher, introduced him to creationist ornithology.)

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Channel-billed Cuckoo

January 21, 2013 by Ian

Channel-billed Cuckoo (Scythrops novaehollandiae) by Ian 1

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Channel-billed Cuckoo ~ by Ian Montgomery

Newsletter ~ 1-21-13

Last week, sorry fortnight, we had the Little Bronze-Cuckoo, the smallest Australian Cuckoo. Here is the Channel-billed Cuckoo, the largest parasitic cuckoo in Australia, and the world for that matter, with a length to 65cm/26in and a weight exceeding 900g/2lbs. (Coucals, such as the Pheasant Coucal , to 75cm, are larger and are now included in the Cuckoo family, but are not parasitic.)

The bird in the first photo is an adult, distinguishable by the grey back (no buff patches) and the red eye and facial skin. The genus name Scythrops means ‘angry eye’ in Greek. The second photo shows a juvenile and you can see the buff patches on the wing, head and throat, though the grey facial skin looks as if it is beginning to acquire the red colour of the adult. This photo was taken in April when the birds would about to migrate to New Guinea.

Channel-billed Cuckoo (Scythrops novaehollandiae) by Ian 2

Channel-billed Cuckoos lay their large eggs in the nests of Currawongs, Crows, Ravens, Magpies and even Sparrowhawks. The third photo, which appeared as the bird of the week in 2005, shows a very demanding chick with a very nerve-wracked looking foster parent Pied Currawong in the Sydney Metropolitan Area. The adult Cuckoos may break the eggs of the host bird but the chicks do not usually evict the eggs or chicks. Instead they out-compete them for food.

Channel-billed Cuckoo (Scythrops novaehollandiae) by Ian 3

Channel-bills are mainly migratory, though some are though to remain in the Northern Territory throughout the winter. The juvenile in the fourth photo was being fed by Torresian Crow foster parents in the Top End in early September, so it would have hatched in July.

Channel-billed Cuckoo (Scythrops novaehollandiae) by Ian 4

Typically of Cuckoos, Channel-bills are quite shy and usually remain hidden in foliage but their loud trumpeting calls give them away. They do fly in the open, particular before dusk and look very striking – their long tails and long pointed wings look rather raptor-like, though the large bill doesn’t, and they are often likened to flying crosses.

Best wishes
Ian

**************************************************
Ian Montgomery, Birdway Pty Ltd,
454 Forestry Road, Bluewater, Qld 4818
Tel 0411 602 737 ian@birdway.com.au
Check the latest website updates:
http://www.birdway.com.au/#updates

Lee’s Addition:

And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckoo, and the hawk after his kind, (Deuteronomy 14:15 KJV)

The Cuckoos are in the Cucuilidae Family and are also one of the Birds of the Bible, listed in the Unclean Birds.

See:

Ian’s Cuckoos, Coucals & Allies

Cucuilidae – Cuckoo Family

Birds of the Bible – Cuckoo

Birds of the Bible – Cuckoo III

January 7, 2013 by Lee

Crested Coua (Coua cristata) by Lee Lowry Park Zoo

And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind, (Leviticus 11:16 KJV)

What an interesting Family to which the Cuckoo belongs. Having posted Ian’s Bird of the Week – Little Bronze Cuckoo yesterday, I worked on the Cuckoo – Cuculidae Family to find some more photos. There are a few missing photos, but some of them are of endangered or rarely seen birds. There are some interesting species and some beautiful one also. The Coua genus have the most beautiful eyes. They remind me of the Egyptian Eyes on statues and paintings. We get to see the Crested Coua every time we go over to the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa. We have to photograph through the mesh, but this one of my better attempts. (See Above) Click through these links and you will see some of the Lord’s Creative Hand at work.

Crested Coua (Coua cristata) by Lee at LowryPkZoo – *LLABS*
Verreaux’s Coua (Coua verreauxi) IBC
Blue Coua (Coua caerulea) ©WikiC
Red-capped Coua (Coua ruficeps) IBC
Red-fronted Coua (Coua reynaudii) IBC
Coquerel’s Coua (Coua coquereli) IBC
Running Coua (Coua cursor) IBC
Giant Coua (Coua gigas) WikiC
Red-breasted Coua (Coua serriana) IBC

Aren’t they amazing? Wow! At least I think they are.

In Birds of the Bible – Cuckoo II it was explained how Leviticus 11:16 and Deuteronomy 14:15 uses Cuckow, Cuckoo, Sea-gull, Sea-hawk in the different versions. I have since added several more Bible Translations to my e-Sword program, so lets see if anything new shows up. The “cuckow” is in the AKJV, “sea gull” in the AMP, the “coockowe” in the Bishops, CJB calls it the “seagull”, Geneva has “seameaw”, the Tyndale calls it a “cocow” and UKJV the “cuckoo.” Seems that it is still split between the same birds. Thus they get to be one of our Birds of the Bible to study.

As mentioned before, it gives us a chance to learn about the many birds that we are blessed with and a reason to concentrate on this family. Notice that both references mention after their kind:

And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind, (Deuteronomy 14:15 KJV)

The whole family of the Cuculidae includes not only the Cuckoo, but also the Ani, Roadrunner, Ground, Bronze, Coucal, Coua, Malkoha, Koel, Bronze Cuckoo, Long-tailed Cuckoo, Hawk-Cuckoo, Drongo-Cuckoo, and Lizard Cuckoos. Most in America are familiar with the Roadrunner if by no other way than by Wile E Coyote who is always chasing the Roadrunner in the Looney Tune Cartoons.

Wile E Coyote – Looney Tunes ”©WikiC

Roadrunner – Looney Tunes ”©WikiC

Here is a real Roadrunner:

Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus) by Daves BirdingPix

Notice the Eyes even on a Roadrunner. Roadrunners are fast-running birds that have long tails and a crests. The birds are found in southwestern United States and Mexico. They range from 18-22 in. (46-56 cm) from the beak to the tail. Speeds of up to 20 miles per hour (32 km/h) have been reported. They can fly, but prefer to sprint instead.

More about this family later. Thought you might enjoy seeing some more of our Birds of the Bible that are here to enjoy and be blessed by from the Hand of the Lord.

Formed By Him – Coua

July 5, 2011 by Lee

Crested Coua (Coua cristata) by Lee LPZ

Dan and I stopped by the Lowry Park Zoo on the Fourth of July for a few minutes. We only had a few minutes and with a yearly pass, it made it easy to “duck-in” for a visit. The Aviary is just inside the gate, so we visited there as usual. I have been trying to get a decent photo of the Crested Coua. It is difficult because they are kept behind fine wire that gives me a fit trying to shoot through it. You would not want to know how many great photos of wire that have been deleted. Not only did I get a fair photo, but they were the most active I have seen them. They are beautiful birds and I love the way the Lord created them and especially their eyes. The eyes remind me of:

For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. (1 Peter 3:12 KJV)

To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. (Acts 26:18 KJV)

The Crested Coua, Coua cristata, is a medium-sized, approximately 17.3 in/44cm long, greenish-grey coua with grey crest, blue bare orbital skin, rufous breast, brown iris, black bill and legs, white belly and long white-tipped purplish-blue tail feathers.

Crested Coua (Coua cristata) Pair by Lee LPZ

The Crested Coua is distributed and endemic to forests, savanna and brushland of Madagascar. Widespread and a common species throughout its large habitat range. It is found from sea-level to altitude of 2,950 ft/900 metres. They feature brightly colored bare skin around the eyes. Some resemble Coucals in their habit of clambering through plant tangles while foraging, while the arboreal species move between tree canopies with gliding flight. Four species occur(red) in rainforests while the remaining six are found in the dry forests of western and southern Madagascar.The diet consists mainly of various insects, fruits, berries, seeds, snails and chameleons.

Crested Coua Video by J. del Hoya at IBC

They were created with large feet, with a reversible third toe like all cuckoos. The female usually lays two white eggs in nest made from twigs. Couas build their own nests and lay white eggs. The Crested coua is notable for the highly unusual markings that chicks display on their inner beaks, video of which can be seen on the Zoo’s YouTube channel. Coua Chick Mouth Markings. Cuckoos are know for placing their eggs in other bird species’ nests. It appears that this Coua chick may even imitate the mouth markings of the host chicks. The Lord commanded the birds to multiply and fill the earth. It appears, some even in the cuckoo family, are taking this to the limit.

And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth. (Genesis 1:22 ESV)

Couas’ calls are short series of evenly spaced notes, which are sometimes answered by other individuals.

Other Coua are the Verreaux’s, Blue, Red-capped, Red-fronted, Coquerel’s, Running, Giant, and Red-breasted Couas. They are members of the Cuculidaes, which is called the Cuckoo Family. The cuckoo family, in addition also includes the roadrunners, koels, malkohas, couas, coucals and anis.

Blue Coua (Coua caerulea) by WikiC

The Blue Coua is a deep blue with a bare blue oval around the eye and beak. It averages a size of 18.9-19.7 inches long and weighs approximately 8.2 ounces. The Blue Coua’s diet consists of insects, varied fruits, and small reptiles. Blue Coua’s can be found in the NorthWest and East areas of Madagascar. Specifically in the sub-tropical to tropical moist lowland, mangroe forest, and moist montane ares. It is a species of cokoo birds. In spanish it is known as the Cua Azul. The bird only lays one egg in a nest hidden in trees and bushes.

Giant Coua (Coua gigas) WikiC

One of the most important distinguishing features of the Cuculidae family are the feet, which are zygodactyl, meaning that the two inner toes pointed forward and the two outer backward. There are two basic body forms, arboreal species (like the Common Cuckoo) which are slender and have short tarsi, and terrestrial species (like the roadrunners) which are more heavy set and have long tarsi. Almost all species have long tails which are used for steering in terrestrial species and as a rudder during flight in the arboreal species. The wing shape also varies with lifestyle, with the more migratory species like the Black-billed Cuckoo possessing long narrow wings capable of strong direct flight, and the more terrestrial and sedentary cuckoos like the coucals and malkohas having shorter rounded wings and a more laboured gliding flight.

What an amazing Creator that has provided such a diverse and interesting creation that we can enjoy watching and learning about. We will never run out of things to observe and be delighted about enjoying His many feathered wonders.

Crested Coua (Coua cristata) foot away by Lee LPZ

The Couas are in the Cuculidae Family of the Cuculiformes Order.

The Smooth-billed Ani – The Corporates…

November 13, 2010 by a j mithra

Smooth-billed Ani (Crotophaga ani) by Daves BirdingPix

The Smooth-billed Ani – The Corporates… ~ by a j mithra

The Smooth-billed Ani (Crotophaga ani) is a large near passerine bird in the cuckoo family. It is a resident breeding species from southern Florida, the Bahamas, the Caribbean, parts of Central America, south to western Ecuador, Brazil, and northern Argentina. This ani is found in open and semi-open country and areas under cultivation.

The Smooth-billed Ani is about 33 cm (13 in) long and weighs 95 g (3.4 oz). The adult is mainly flat black, with a long tail, deep ridged black bill and a brown iris. The flight is weak and wobbly, but the bird runs well and usually feeds on the ground. This bird’s flight maybe weak, but, God had created it to run well..

You may not be able to do what other can do…
At the same time, you have realize that you too can do something what the other can’t do..
God had not created anyone like you.. You are unique..
David did not know how to use a sword, but still, God gave him victory over the giant,
with what he had..

You may have very little to offer, but, remember that, you have an awesome God..

Go with what little you have, cos, you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you…

All things are possible with God…

Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. Zechariah 4:6

Smooth-billed Ani (Crotophaga ani) by Ian

This is a very gregarious species, always found in noisy groups. Smooth-billed Ani is often seen in pairs or in small groups. They climb and flutter in bushes, hop on the ground with loosely cocked tail. When they roost together during cold nights, they perform mutual preening during long moments.

One member of a Smooth-billed Ani group often sits on a high perch and watches for danger while the rest forage. These birds know the importance togetherness..

Did not the Bible ask us to be in peace with one another?
Did not the Bible advocate brotherhood?

Look at these birds, they take time to preen one another and take turns to watch out for danger..

We say that the churches are the body of Christ…

Does one church care for another?
Does the church practice what it preaches?

We are the church, who needs to change our attitude and care for our fellow being…

Unless churches unite together as one, it would be hard to defeat satan..

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.
For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.
Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?
And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4 :9-12

Smooth-billed Ani (Crotophaga ani) ©ArthurGrosset

The nest of the Smooth-billed Ani is built communally by several pairs. Eggs are laid by several females, deposited in layers separated by leaves or grass. Several Smooth-billed Ani females typically lay eggs and incubate in the same nest. Late-laying females bury the eggs of early-laying females with twigs and leaves, which can create a number of layers of eggs; only the top layer eventually hatches. As many as 36 eggs may be found in a single nest.

This bird species is a classic example of corporate living… Communal nest building, communal incubation, communal feeding, communal preening and communal territorial guarding is not seen among many species..

We as church have so much differences in faith, worship, teaching and so on..
Corporate worship and corporate prayer has brought victories to the early church…
We say that we are the church but, are we as powerful as the early church?
It’s time to switch on the search lights to see where we went wrong…

A Song of degrees of David. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!
It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments;
As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore. Psalm 133

Have a blessed day!

Your’s in YESHUA, a j mithra

Please visit us at: Crosstree

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Pheasant Coucal

March 9, 2010 by Ian

Pheasant Coucal(Centropus phasianinus) by Ian

Newsletter – 3-6-2010

White I was making a cup of coffee this morning and pondering what to choose as Bird of the Week, this Pheasant Coucal supplied the answer by posing on a small tree, having just had a drink in the pond below. Coucals, like other cuckoos, are shy birds so I photographed it through the window – first photo – before carefully opening the French door onto the verandah to try to get a clearer view. I got the door open all right, but it spotted me raising the camera and large lens and took off before I had managed to take more than a couple of shots – second photo.

Pheasant Coucal(Centropus phasianinus) by Ian.jpg

Pheasant Coucals are splendid birds: large (to 70cm/28in in length), red-eyed with richly patterned short wings and a long tail. In breeding plumage, the head and body is blackish with shiny feather shafts and the bill is black. In non-breeding plumage the black, of both the plumage and the bill, fades to buff.

Their usual call is a wonderful “deep, hollow, descending, descending ‘coop-coop-coop-coop-coop’, like liquid glugging from bottle” to quote Pizzey and Knight. They also have a sharp alarm call that sounds coarse paper being torn suddenly. There are several territories near my place, mostly along the creek, so the sound of their ‘bottle’ call is very characteristic of summer and I realise how much I’ve missed it when they start calling in the spring.

The range of the Pheasant Coucal includes coastal north western, northern and eastern Australia from the Pilbara to the Sydney region. It is generally common, but less so at the edge of its range in central New South Wales. It also occurs in New Guinea and related species, such as the Greater Coucal, are found in the warmer parts of Asia and in Africa.

Unlike other cuckoos, Coucals build their own nest and were until recently placed in their own family (the Centropidae). Genetic studies have shown that they close affinities with other cuckoos, and it is now usual to treat them as a subfamily of the cuckoos (Centropodinae within Cuculidae).

The Pheasant Coucals fly very poorly. The usual strategy is to climb to the top of a tree and glide with a few wing-beats to the destination. Sadly, they lack traffic sense and are frequently casualties on highways. Here in North Queensland, they are called ‘pheasants’ in the same way Bush Stone-Curlews are called ‘curlews’.

Links:
Pheasant Coucal
Greater Coucal

Recent additions to the website:
Photos of Brown Goshawk and Collared Sparrowhawk in flight
Diamond, Brown Cuckoo– and Bar-shouldered Doves .
Little Corellas in flight
Double-barred Finch
Southern Cassowary and Emu and
Rainbow Lorikeet (including Orange-collared race)

Best wishes,
Ian
—
Ian Montgomery, Birdway Pty Ltd,
454 Forestry Road, Bluewater, Qld 4818
Phone: +61-7 4751 3115
Preferred Email: ian@birdway.com.au
Website: http://birdway.com.au

Lee’s Addition:
Here is the sound of a Pheasant Coucal (duet from a pair in undergrowth) by Vicki Powys from xeno-canto:

What a neat bird. From the pictures, the bird seems sort of plain, but very beautiful. Since they are closely related to the Cuckoos, they are in the Cuculidae family, which is in Cuculiformes order.

and the owl, and the night-hawk, and the cuckoo, and the hawk after its kind, (Leviticus 11:16 YLT)

See the Cuckoo page

Birds of the Bible – Cuckoo II

November 19, 2009 by Lee

Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) Neal Addy Gallery

And the owl, and the night hawk, and the cuckow, and the hawk after his kind,
(Leviticus 11:16 KJV) and (Deuteronomy 14:15)

Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) by Nikhil

The verses above are interesting because the cuckow (cuckoo) is taken from the Hebrew word, ” שחף or shachaph” (H7828), and is only used in those two verses. Some translate it as “cuckow” (KJV, Webster), “cuckoo” (YLT), “seamew or sea-mew” (ASV, JPS, RV), “sea-hawk” (BBE), and the rest “sea-gull or sea gull” (Darby, ESV, GW, MKJV, NASB, NKJV). From the Jewish Encyclopedia about the Cuckoo, “The A. V. rendering of (shaḥaf) in Lev. xi. 16 and Deut. xiv. 15. In both places it occurs in the list of unclean birds. This identification, however, is only a conjecture, and there is no certain tradition to support it. The Targum transcribes the Hebrew word. The Septuagint gives λάρος (“sea-gull”). The R. V. rendering is “seamew,” which is accepted by Gesenius, Bertholet, and Driver in their commentaries, and by Baentsch and Lewyson (“Zoologie des Talmuds,” p. 182). The cuckoo, however, is found in Palestine, where it passes the summer. Two varieties are met with—the common and the spotted cuckoo.”

Asian Emerald Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx maculatus) by Nikhil

Whether it is in the cuckoo or the gull family, it is not clear. What is clear is that it was not to be eaten. For this article, I am going to concentrate on the Cuculidae Family which includes the Cuckoo, Ani, Roadrunner, Coucal, Coua, Malkoha, Koel, Drongo-Cuckoo, and Hawk-Cuckoo. All of these are in the Cuculiformes Order and all were created by the Lord.

“The Cuckoos are medium to large birds some with a long tail; species range in lenght from 6.6-28 in. (16-70 cm). The bill of all species is basically the same, varying only in size: fairly short, strong or stout, and slightly decurved”. (Complete Birds of the World, National Geographical) They are generally medium sized slender birds. The cuckoos feed on insects, insect larvae and a variety of other animals, as well as fruit. Many species are brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other species, but the majority of species raise their own young.

Zygodactyl arrangement of toes – Wikipedia

“One of the most important distinguishing features of the family are the feet, which are zygodactyl, meaning that the two inner toes pointed forward and the two outer backward. There are two basic body forms, arboreal species (like the Common Cuckoo) which are slender and have short tarsi, and terrestrial species (like the roadrunners) which are more heavy set and have long tarsi. Almost all species have long tails which are used for steering in terrestrial species and as a rudder during flight in the arboreal species. The wing shape also varies with lifestyle, with the more migratory species like the Black-billed Cuckoo possessing long narrow wings capable of strong direct flight, and the more terrestrial and sedentary cuckoos like the coucals and malkohas having shorter rounded wings and a more laboured gliding flight.”

Below are photos of some of the birds in the Cuculidae Family in IOC 2009 order.

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Lee's Birdwatching Adventures Plus

Birdwatching from a Christian Perspective

Tag Archives: Cuculidae

Birds of the World and Bible – Groove-billed Ani

Sneaky Roadrunner

Sneaky Roadrunner ~ by Dr. James J. S. Johnson

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Channel-billed Cuckoo

Birds of the Bible – Cuckoo III

Formed By Him – Coua

The Smooth-billed Ani – The Corporates…

Ian’s Bird of the Week – Pheasant Coucal

Birds of the Bible – Cuckoo II

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Sneaky Roadrunner ~ by Dr. James J. S. Johnson

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