Beautiful and terrific bird Sunbittern

 

From - Earth Unreal & Wikipedia,

By -  Vinuri Randula Silva,

This terrific bird is so different to any other it’s in a family of its own. It is a beautiful sight when hunting, stalking prey quietly along watercourses, but when threatened it looks stunning, because it spreads its broad wings wide, faces them forward and displays what look like two giant eyes. The sunbittern has a long and pointed bill that is black above, and a short hallux as in shorebirds and rails.

 It occurs from Guatemala south through Central America to Brazil and may be seen at quite a lot of sites but the best places in the world to see Sunbittern include the Llanos in Western Venezuela, the Iquitos area in Northeastern Peru,  in the lower subtropical zone at altitudes of 800–1,830 m (2,620–6,000 ft). Manu National Park in Southern Peru and the Pantanal in Southern Brazil.

The sunbittern consumes a wide range of animal prey. Insects form an important part of the diet, with cockroaches, dragonfly larvae, files, katydids, water beetles and moths being taken. Other invertebrate prey includes crabs, spiders, shrimps and earthworms. They will also take vertebrate prey including fish, tadpoles, toads and frogs, eels and lizards.

 Sunbitterns start nesting in the early wet season and before it starts they make flight displays 10–15 m (33–49 ft) high in the forest canopy. They build open nests in trees, and lay two eggs with blotched markings. The young are precocial, but remain in the nest for several weeks after hatching.