Most Bizarre Birds in the Americas
Eco Birding's Totally Biased Top 10
1. Andean Cock-of-the-rock
Nothing on this earth should have an obscure brightly-colored disk-shaped head like this creature has. His eyes are in wrong places and his beak is so well-hidden that it is almost invisible. Just too bizarre!
2. Oilbird
They look pretty odd but what makes them really strange is where they live. They roost and breed in colonies inside caves. Yep, you heard it, CAVES. Oh so weird!
3. Sword-billed Hummingbird
Evolution works in mysterious ways. This hummer evolved a lengthy bill to reach nector other hummingbirds cannot get to. It's the only bird with a bill longer than the length of its body. It is also one of the few who can 'foot-preen' itself. Well, how else can this bird clean itself? Use its bill like everyone else? Oh come on!
4. Long-tailed Manakin
Peculiality comes in all different shapes and sizes. An initial look reveals no particular oddity to this handsome Manakin. Wait till you see his courtship display. He performs a group dance with another subordinate male to woo a female. At the end of the show, always only the alpha male gets to mate. Life ain't fair.
5. Long-wattled Umbrellabird
This bizarre looking bird sports a wacky umbrella-like hairdo and a ridiculously long inflatable wattle dangling from its chest. In their courtship display, male umbrellabirds inflate their crest to look like umbrellas and enlarge and swing their long wattles while making low booming sounds. Quite a bizarre sight!
6. Loggerhead Shrike
This rather ordinary looking North American bird holds one sinister secret. Nicknamed the butcherbird, Northern Shrikes prey upon insects, birds, lizards, and small mammals. For a larger prey, the miniture predator impales its prey onto thorns or barbed wire for easier consumption. Pretty gruesome sight.
7. Hoatzin
Besides their outlandish looks, this pre-historic looking creature has a peculiar diet and a digestive system. Hoatzins ferment leaves, which are their main diet, in their stomach to break down plant matter. Due to this process, Hoatzins are known to smell, hence the nickname, Stinkbird. Their oddity does not end there: Their youngs are only bird species known to have 2 craws on their wings which are used climb up trees when needed.
8. Common Potoo
A Potoo certainly is an odd-looking creature with its huge yellow eyes and an enormous mouth. This nocturnal bird sleeps in trees during the day, often perched upright on a stump or snag. Sounds like an easy bird to spot but its well-camouflaged plumage and posture make it impossible to spot.
9. Three-wattled Bellbird
Another bizarre looking 'wattler'. This one has not only one but three peculiar wattles extending out from the base of its bill. During the mating season, he makes a loud high-pitched bell-like noises while oscillating his wattles. How female Bellbirds find this behavior irresistable is beyond one's imagination.
10. Boat-billed Heron
How this particular heron ended up with such a bizarre looking bill is anyone's guess. As the name suggests, this heron has a bill that looks like a capsided boat.
