Tracks
Long-billed Curlew in the Nebraska Sandhills
(by Lee Rentz)
African Fish Eagle Haliaeetus vocifer) is a large species of eagle found throughout Sub-Saharan Africa.
Great grey owl, Finland
Picture: Danny Green / Rex Features
The Bluethroat (Luscinia svecica) is a migratory insectivorous species breeding in wet birch wood or bushy swamp in Europe, Asia and western Alaska.
The White-fronted Bee-eater (Merops bullockoides) is a species of bee-eater widely distributed in sub-equatorial Africa.
Birds, highly commended: ’Clowns im Schnee’, Werner Bollmann
Griffon Vulture
Greater Rhea
Photograph by Nicole Duplaix
The male rhea, a large, flightless bird from South America related to the ostrich, has a bit of a wandering eye when it comes to mating. But no one could accuse him of being an absentee dad. Each mating season, male rheas build a nest and invite the members of their harem, up to 15 females, to deposit their eggs. The females then go off to look for other mates while the male stays to incubate the clutch, which can contain 25 to 50 eggs. For six weeks the father eats little and rarely leaves the nest. He then rears the hatchlings, defending them aggressively and charging any animal—even a female rhea—that approaches too closely.
