Another "backyard bird" for the Pantanal. These fellows were on a bird table. There were a lot of them. The Pantanal has numerous parakeets and for some of us these were just too common, but for me these birds were too cute not to love.
The Amazon Kingfisher is a large kingfisher and perches to hunt in conspicuous spots. He will pursue fish and crustaceans by diving down to catch them. He then stuns the catch and swallows it whole, head first. He seems to be laughing too.
The smooth-billed ani lives in a community and has communal nests. Several females will build a deep cup nest, lined with leaves. There may be as many as 29 eggs in the nest, but less than half will hatch. Anis will have up to 3 broods in a season, with the first chicks helping to feed the newer ones. The ani is a member of the cuckoo family. The ani has benefited from deforestation, it is a weak flier, but runs well on the ground. It lives in large gregarious groups. I really like anis.
