Onychorhynchus coronatus
Well-Known Member
Such an enormous group with so many beautifull species so I decided to make 4 instead of 1 list of favorite species :
- Species taken care for myself
- Species seen in captivity but not taken care for myself
- Species seen in the wild
- Species not seen so far either in captivity nor in the wild.
I'll start with species seen in captivity but I didn't take care for myself :
- Superb fairy wren - Malurus cyaneus. 1985 I visited the London Zoo and among the highlights for me the Superb fairy wren was one of the most impresive. Had never seen a Fairy wren before and the one at London was in perfect condition and very active !
- Wilson's bird of paradise - Cicinurus respublica. Birds of paradise are in general of course already beautifull and the one I am most impressed by is the Wilson's bird of paradise. In the 1980s Blijdorp - Rotterdam Zoo had several of them and I loved to observe the displaying males of this species !
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- White-necked picathartes - Picathartes gymnocephalus. A very intresting and a very rare species. I was so lucky to have 3 zoos "nearby" in which the species was kept. I've seen it at Antwerp, at Artis Amsterdam ( were it even was bred succesfully ! ) and at Rotterdam Zoo.
For Rotterdam Zoo ZTL only list a single specimen but I know that in 1979 8 specimens were kept. Loved to observe these birds in the large aviary in the Rivierra Hall of Rotterdam Zoo !
- Regent bowerbird - Sericulus chrysocephalus. Closely releated with the birds of paradise and also only very rarely seen in western zoos are the bowerbirds and one of the most beautiful species I've seen is the Regent bowerbird, from which Rotterdam Zoo had a single male in the 1980s ( the Satin bowerbird is maybe even more beautiful but doesn't fit in this list because I took care for it ) :
- Taiwan blue magpie - Urocissa caerulea. Next to a number of black and black and white species the crow-family also has a lot of species which are realy very beautiful and the Taiwan ( or Formosian ) blue magpie is IMO one of the most beautiful of the family. Never seen it in any public collection but during the mid-1980 small numbers were imported from Taiwan into western Europe and I was so lucky to see the species at at least 2 different dealers.
- Bare-necked fruitcrow - Gymnoderus foetidus. Not a crow but a cotinga, another family with a load of beautiful and a load of strange members from which I've taken care for a good number of species. Not so for this Fruitcrow from which I've only seen one pair kept at Zoo Veldhoven - the Netherlands :
- Scarlet-bellied mountain tanager - Anisognathus igniventris. Tanagers in general are beautiful species and among the mountain tanagers some real gems can be found. I've taken care for a few species but the Scarlet-bellied I've seen only in one public collection in the 1990s : Artis Amsterdam. I've seen it also at several dealer-places in the mid-1980s.
- Lawrence goldfinch - Carduelis lawrencei. A beautiful species which is kept only at one European collection, Burgers Zoo - Arnhem - the Netherlands. Here in the Desert a small group of only males is kept and by watching these little beauties taking a bath in a small stream they became one of my favorite seed-eating songbirds !
- Maroon oriole - Oriolus traillii. A real beaty but it was more the fact that I was convinced that Old World orioles have to be yellow and by discovering this species in a small aviary at a bird-dealers place in the Netherlands I learned there is also a red and black species. After this one 'meeting' I've never seen the species again...unfortunately !
- Taveta golden weaver - Ploceus castaneiceps. In the weaver-family also a large number of very nice species and for a number of them I've taken care myself but not for this species. I realy enjoyed the nice colony at the old Bird-house at Hagenbecks Tierpark in Hamburg :
The other 3 lists of "Top 10 songbirds"will be posted later....
This is an excellent comment @vogelcommando !
I'm really looking forward to your list of the species that you have taken care of in captivity yourself as I know it is going to be very interesting and I'm probably going to have quite a few questions to ask you.
Although I loved reading the information about the personal significance of all of these birds to you I'll focus on the birds on your list that haven't yet featured in others as there are some very interesting species.
I've seen the lawrence goldfinch in Mexico and they are indeed a beautiful little bird with a lot of character.
The scarlet bellied mountain tanager is another gorgeous little bird which unfortunately I haven't seen in the wild or captivity. However, I totally see why it made your list and why tanagers do in general as they are one of my favourite bird families.
The white necked picathartes is an interesting choice for sure. I haven't seen them in either the wild or in captivity but I would love to as they are such an intriguing and strange looking bird and I'll bet they are fascinating to watch too. I remember reading that David Attenborough early in his career went on an expedition to obtain these for the London Zoo.
Like the picathartes, these are an interesting choice and I can see why they are so fascinating for you as they are one very strange looking cotinga indeed and quite distinctive from many species. I think I've seen this species in the São Paulo zoo but not 100 % sure.
The Taiwan blue magpie is a striking bird indeed, I've never seen one of these in the flesh. I really love the contrast between the red beak and feet, the gorgeous blue and black plumage and the bright yellow eyes and the long tail feathers too. Like most corvids / magpies they look like they would have quite large characters too.
The male of the maroon oriole looks like a really handsome bird with that sharply contrasting red / crimson and black plumage and bright yellow eye. Beautiful species and one that I don't think I've seen yet in captivity.
The Taveta weaver is another one I haven't seen. Lovely looking species, beautiful colours and strangely enough reminds me quite a lot of the saffron finch here in Brazil.
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