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Saturday 16 June 2012

Bellbird

The bellbird is a bird native to Central and South America. Three of the four species are restricted to South America, while the last, the three-wattled bellbird, is restricted to Central America between western Honduras and eastern Panama.

It gets its name from its call which sounds like a bell. The bellbird uses this call to attract its mate. 

The male white bellbird, which lives in the mountains of the Northern Amazon is identified as the noisiest bird in the animal kingdom. When it opens its beak, the noise sounds like an emergency siren and reaches up to a deafening 125 decibels.  

Its call is louder than an eight lane motorway or a pneumatic drill. The male white bellbird is so loud it can be heard a mile or more away.

Female bellbirds, which are the target of the cacophony, risk hearing damage if they get too close.

Male white bellbirds are white but for their black ‘wattle’ – the flesh on the beak similar to a turkey’s. Females have a dusky olive crown and black streaking on the throat. 

Male white bluebird By Hector Bottai from São Paulo, Brasil

The male white bellbird is the size of a dove, weighing only half a pound (250 grams). 

While the white bellbird is easy to hear, it is hard to see because it perches at the top of large trees

Bellbirds can swallow fruit whole, the seeds are later regurgitated.

Source Daily Mail


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