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Hoatzins


Hoatzins
Photo Information
Copyright: Aivar Mikko (metcher) Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 526 W: 12 N: 990] (4239)
Genre: Animals
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2007-07-18
Categories: Birds
Camera: Canon 5D, Canon EF300mm 4/L IS + 1.4x EXT
Exposure: f/7.1, 1/125 seconds
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): Birds of PERU, Birds of South America [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2007-10-21 6:05
Viewed: 1121
Points: 42
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
English Name:Hoatzin, Local Name:Shansho, Scientific Name: Opisthocomus hoazin
Description
Length: 61 -66 cm (24 - 26 in). Weight: 816 g (1.8 lb - male) Chicken-sized bird, with large wings, small head, long neck, long tail. Head almost bare, with frizzy red crest, large bright blue area around eyes, which are red. Short bill. Bronze olive color above, buff streaks on hindneck and mantle; tail black, shoulders and tip of tail pale buff; throat and breast buffy white; remaining underparts and primaries, chestnut colored. Sexes similar but female slightly smaller and has lower crest. "Prehistoric" appearance.
Range
South American only; Guianas and Venezuela south to Bolivia, Peru and Amazonian Brazil. Lowland, to 500 m altitude.
Habitat
Found in vicinity of swamps, mangroves, lowland flood forest, river banks, oxbow lakes, where aquatic vegetation and giant arums plentiful. Perch on low or middle branches of vegetation overhanging water; occasionally found in treetops, especially when roosting.
Niche
Feed primarily on leaves and shoots of some marsh and swamp plants, mainly arums (philodendron family). Leaves are ground in the large double crop, and ferment there, giving bird a musky odor. Weak fliers because of size of crop, which displace some of breast flight muscles; thus they are sedentary and somewhat ungainly. Live in pairs in groups of 50 or more. Perch on branches, while resting a callous on sternum on branch. When alarmed, open large wings, displaying bright chestnut flight feathers around a large black spot surrounded by white - this simulates an "eye". Diurnal and nocturnal, tends to rest during hottest part of day. Not palatable to humans but preyed on by monkeys. Some evidence of relationship to cuckoos.
Life History
Breeds during rainy season. During breeding, live in small groups of two to ten; a few of which are breeders and the others, "helpers". Entire group incubates eggs and cares for young, which are fed from crop of adult caretakers. Mating probably polygamous and promiscuous. Build loose stick platform two to eight meters above water. Each nest contains two (occasionally three) creamy oblong eggs spotted with pink, blue or brown. Incubation about 28 days. Newly-hatched hoatzins almost featherless, but rapidly grow down, and have claws on first and second digits, so they can climb on vegetation. When endangered, they drop into the water, using claws, bills and feet to climb out (they may not return to nest). Claws disappear at time of definitive plumage formation. Remain in nest for several weeks after hatching.
Status
Locally common, but not near human habitation because of human predation on eggs, and on adults for meat for bait, feathers for fans.
Source:http://www.rainforestconservation.org/data_sheets/birds/hoatzin.html
claudine, fartash, Argus, scottevers7, Alex99, falke, keanhoon, Debz, tiklod, pablominto, jcoowanitwong, pirate, uleko has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To AnimalExplorer: Hoatzinsmetcher 1 12-01 10:49
To pablominto: Hoatzinsmetcher 1 10-22 11:38
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Critiques [Translate]

What fascinating birds! Well done photo - excellent details and wonderful lighting! Just splendid!

Hello Aivar
Very intersting spiece to shoot,
Perfect details,exposure and composition,
Superb shot,Welldone.

Regards
Fartash

  • Great 
  • Argus Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2754 W: 147 N: 7948] (24747)
  • [2007-10-21 6:31]

Hello Aivar,
Superb capture of a pair of these remarkable birds, Hoatzins. Technically excellent with good lighting, colours, POV and composition.
Nice to see!
TFS and best regards,
Ivan

Hi Aivar,
Another new species for me, so this is very good. Beautiful and unique plumage in these birds. Spot on exposure has the colors and detail looking excellent. Great notes. Thanks,
Scott

  • Great 
  • Alex99 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3160 W: 148 N: 4787] (15449)
  • [2007-10-21 6:48]

Hi Aivar.
What a cute pair you have pictured. I have never seen these beauties. Amazing lighting, terrific details (even spider web is seen perfectly), huge DOF and true 3D-effect (owing to remote BG). Bravo and TFS.
Alexei.

  • Great 
  • falke Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 158 W: 17 N: 450] (1614)
  • [2007-10-21 6:56]

This is a great photo of a specie I hope to see one day.
Great pose, good detail and colours. One funny thing, it looks like the spiders web are fastened at the tail... ;o)

Best regards/Bengt

Interesting species, nice DOF and POV.
TFS
Best regards,
Kean

Hello Aivar,
Excellent photo of these Hoatzins. Not easy to photograph them in the wild. But this is brilliant. Very good natural colours and perfect sharpness and focus. Great POV, BG and composition.
Regards,
Peter

What a lovely couple that you captured here! Those birds are so unusual to me :) Details, exposure, POV and composition are beautiful! Thanks for those interesting notes as well. This is really well done! Thanks,
Claudine

great pic of these amazing birds, TFS Ori

  • Great 
  • jesst Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 371 W: 0 N: 164] (2244)
  • [2007-10-21 10:24]

Funny birds... Great detail (even a web could be seen), picture is sharp, with nice color and composition

  • Great 
  • Debz Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 582 W: 0 N: 866] (3283)
  • [2007-10-21 10:53]

Hellow Aivar, these are stunning looking birds, very exotic. Great shot and pov showing their fine feathers and head dress. Wonderful pov, great colours and all nice and sharp.
tfs
debz

Hi Aivar,

A good sharp picture, of two very pretty subjects. Well done.

Jan-Hendrik

Hi Aivar,
Very fine details on these birds. Amazing colours. BG is lovely. The spider web is very nice... a bonus!
TFS,

Claude

Hello Aivar,
Those are two funny guys!
Skilfully captured, great details in the plumage and the colours are very well reproduced...
Hopefully I'm wrong but there looks like spiderweb on the tail of the one to the right side? If so he must have been there for a while...
Greetings,
Pablo -

Hello Aivar,
Wow, another exotic bird from Amazon. Perfect sharpness and exposure. Beautifully composed. Very well done and tfs.
JC

  • Great 
  • EOSF1 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1422 W: 127 N: 5219] (23113)
  • [2007-10-23 6:15]

Wow ! Great birds ! Hello Aivar, that's a fine capture of those two Hoatzins. Great composition with the birds looking in the same direction, so sharp and well exposed. Great shot !

Mario

  • Great 
  • pirate Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 461 W: 101 N: 600] (3035)
  • [2007-10-23 11:25]

Hi Aivar
great picture of amazing birds with perfect bg and great sharpness
tfs
tom

  • Great 
  • pilonm Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 552 W: 99 N: 836] (2721)
  • [2007-10-30 12:17]

Hello Aivar,

WOW!!! What a remarkable birds you are presenting us here! Colors are great and the exposition, perfect... I'm just wandering what ISO you used becase using a higher ISO, with a smaller aperture and same speed, you could have get a less noisy bg...

But it is still a great picture!

TFS!

Michel

  • Great 
  • uleko Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2577 W: 170 N: 7864] (24859)
  • [2007-10-30 12:27]

Hello Aivar,
Fantastic capture of these Hoatzins not often seen portrayed! They're both sharply in focus displaying very sharp details and I like their profiles. Amazing plumage in bright colours and a very fine composition.
Many thanks, Ulla

Hi Aivar,
Well looks like you got some hoatzins as well as I, I love the dual display of these magnificant birds you captured so well. Not always an easy task to approach this species without scaring them off into the foliage.TFS.
Paul :)

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