Wompoo fruit-dove (Photo: Joe Novella)
Eastern Whipbird (Photo: Brian McCauley)
Isolated from all other rainforests on Earth, in Northeastern Australia they are home to many unique species. BirdNote's Mary McCann describes some of the peculiar-looking birds found only "down under".
CURWOOD: It's Living on Earth, I'm Steve Curwood.
[MUSIC - BIRDNOTE® THEME]
CURWOOD: We head down-under now – to an exotic, strange, damp world full of unique creatures. Here’s Mary McCann with today’s BirdNote®.
http://birdnote.org/show/australias-rainforest-birds
BirdNote®
Australia’s Rainforest Birds
[http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/193295, 0.02-.05]
The rainforests of Northeastern Australia are isolated from all other rainforests on earth. As a result, they harbor many species of birds found nowhere else.
[http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/193295, 0.02-.05]
The Eastern Whipbird hangs out in the dense understory. It’s dark, crested, 10 inches long – and more often heard than seen. Like its neighbor, the Spotted Catbird, that’s nearly a foot long and emerald-green with white spots.
[http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/202015, 0.37-.42]
Easier to lay eyes on is the large, pigeon-like Wompoo Fruit-Dove, perching high in a tree, gulping down small fruits. Feathered in a stunning combination of green, purple, and yellow, this bird is clearly named for its voice. [http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/202015, 0.37-.38]
While pig-like grunting on the forest floor tells us we’re in the company of the largest bird on the continent – the Southern Cassowary.
Wompoo fruit-dove (Photo: Joe Novella)
http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Casuarius-casuarius
On average, the female weighs 130 pounds and stands around 5 feet tall, looking like a giant, lush, black hairpiece on thick legs.
http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Casuarius-casuarius
A helmet called a casque makes it look as much like a dinosaur as any living bird.
http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Casuarius-casuarius, first recording in list]
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Written by Bob Sundstrom
Southern Cassowary (Photo: Jan Anne)
Bird sounds provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York: Eastern Whipbird [193295] recorded by David A McCartt; Spotted Catbird [189064] recorded by Cedar A Mathers-Winn; Wompoo Fruit-Dove [202015] recorded by Emma I Greig.
Southern Cassowary recorded by Marc Anderson, sourced from
http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Casuarius-casuarius
BirdNote’s theme music was composed and played by Nancy Rumbel and John Kessler.
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Dominic Black
© 2016 Tune In to Nature.org March 2016 Narrator: Mary McCann
http://birdnote.org/show/australias-rainforest-birds
I’m Mary McCann.
CURWOOD: For photographs of these strange birds from down-under flutter on over to our website, LOE dot org.
Links http://birdnote.org/show/australias-rainforest-birds - Australia’s Rainforest Birds on BirdNote© http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/193295 - The call of the Eastern Whipbird http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/202015 - The call of the Wompoo Fruit-Dove http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Casuarius-casuarius - About the Southern Cassowary