Other waterbirds
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
This final group of photos covers a few remaining species that I wanted to include, but didn’t conveniently fit within one of the other defined 'waterbirds' sets or within the separate ‘shorebirds and small waders’ collection. The set starts with three rather special birds, which are the Hamerkop, Limpkin and Sunbittern, all of which are truly unique species with their own monotypic families. I’ve followed those with the Anhinga and African Darter, and four species of cormorant that are more likely to be found on inland rivers and wetlands rather than on the coast, and then to finish off a couple of shots of the American Flamingo that I took in Galapagos.
Looking briefly at the taxonomy of these particular species, we first have the interesting Hamerkop [family Scopidae], which is placed within the order PELECANIFORMES with pelicans and the Shoebill - the latter being another unique species that I would dearly love to see in the wild. We then have the Limpkin [family Aramidae], which is within the order GRUIFORMES together with cranes, rails, coots etc. It didn’t sit right in the set I have for rails and coots and, in my opinion, would have been better placed with herons, but to avoid mixing the taxonomy I thought it would be better to include the one decent shot I have of the bird in this general set. And then, to complete the initial trio, we have the beautiful Sunbittern [family Eurypygidae] from the order EURYPYGIFORMES, which includes just one other species being the Kagu.
The Anhinga and closely related African Darter [family Anhingidae] and the four cormorants I’m featuring, being the Reed, White-breasted, Pygmy and Neotropic species [family Phalacrocoracidae], are all within the 'seabirds' order SULIFORMES together with frigatebirds, boobies and the other cormorants. And finally, the American Flamingo [family Phoenicopteridae], which is placed within its own order PHOENICOPTERIFORMES together with the other five extant species of flamingo.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
This final group of photos covers a few remaining species that I wanted to include, but didn’t conveniently fit within one of the other defined 'waterbirds' sets or within the separate ‘shorebirds and small waders’ collection. The set starts with three rather special birds, which are the Hamerkop, Limpkin and Sunbittern, all of which are truly unique species with their own monotypic families. I’ve followed those with the Anhinga and African Darter, and four species of cormorant that are more likely to be found on inland rivers and wetlands rather than on the coast, and then to finish off a couple of shots of the American Flamingo that I took in Galapagos.
Looking briefly at the taxonomy of these particular species, we first have the interesting Hamerkop [family Scopidae], which is placed within the order PELECANIFORMES with pelicans and the Shoebill - the latter being another unique species that I would dearly love to see in the wild. We then have the Limpkin [family Aramidae], which is within the order GRUIFORMES together with cranes, rails, coots etc. It didn’t sit right in the set I have for rails and coots and, in my opinion, would have been better placed with herons, but to avoid mixing the taxonomy I thought it would be better to include the one decent shot I have of the bird in this general set. And then, to complete the initial trio, we have the beautiful Sunbittern [family Eurypygidae] from the order EURYPYGIFORMES, which includes just one other species being the Kagu.
The Anhinga and closely related African Darter [family Anhingidae] and the four cormorants I’m featuring, being the Reed, White-breasted, Pygmy and Neotropic species [family Phalacrocoracidae], are all within the 'seabirds' order SULIFORMES together with frigatebirds, boobies and the other cormorants. And finally, the American Flamingo [family Phoenicopteridae], which is placed within its own order PHOENICOPTERIFORMES together with the other five extant species of flamingo.
