F Is For Fantail Warbler and Fuinha-dos-Juncos.

Fantail Warbler. Fuinha-dos-Juncos.

Common English and Portuguese names for the bird Cisticola juncidis, here perched on a maize tassel. It’s a small insectivorous bird with a characteristic “zit…zit…zit…zit” call and a zigzagging flight, easy to spot in flight but not always easy to figure out where it landed, as it rarely chooses such a conspicuous perch as in this photo. A funny thing is the Portuguese common name, which means marten-of-the-reeds. Yes, marten as in the mustelid. I don’t know why.

Click for full size!

© Nightjar, all rights reserved.

C Is For Cockatiel and Caturra.

Cockatiel. Caturra, Portuguese for cockatiel.

This sweetie is my pet cockatiel, simultaneously a complete accident and the best thing to happen to me recently. An accident because I never planned to have a pet cockatiel. But when I realized that 1) her parents had stopped feeding her way to early and she was starving on the aviary’s floor and 2) no one but me seemed to care, I decided to do something about it and hand-fed her. She’s part of the family now.

Click for full size! What a beauty. She looks on the mischievous side.

© Nightjar, all rights reserved.