This dark tern with its reddish-orange beak and feat, and striking white moustache, is a resident of the coasts of Peru and Chile where it catches fish in the Humboldt Current. The Inca Tern nests along the Pacific coast on rocky cliffs or guano islands, sometimes utilizing the old nest of a Humboldt Penguin. Reduction of nesting habitat as a result of guano harvesting may affect population dynamics. However, Inca Terns are very flexible and successful in using any kind of coverage (natural or artificial) for nesting. They can nest inside abandoned buildings and huts on guano islands, and in any pile of wood and metal slabs. Inca Tern populations may be affected by the reduction of anchovy stocks due to commercial fishing, and by reduced breeding success caused by the presence of rats and cats on some islands.

When most of us think of the canary, we think of a cheerful, bright yellow bird in a decorative cage. In reality, this common canary (Serinus canaria domestica) is the domesticated cousin of the “true” Island Canary (Serinus canaria), native to the Canary Islands just off the northwest coast of Africa.

Spanish sailors first brought the canary to Europe in 1478, where it was prized among those wealthy enough to afford one for the male canary’s silvery, twittering song. The brilliant yellow color that we associate with modern domestic canaries is the result of a genetic mutation that suppresses the melanin in the birds’ feathers, effectively “erasing” the dark banding and streaking found on wild birds. For the next century, the Spaniards controlled availability of canaries by only selling male birds to the rest of Europe. When a shipping accident in the 16th Century allowed a shipment of the birds to escape to Elba Island in the Tuscan Archipelago, the Italians were quick to take advantage of the situation. Soon canaries were being bred and sold all over the world outside of Spanish control.

The ready availability of domestic canaries made them ideal candidates when, in the late 1890’s, pioneering physiologist John Scott Haldane recommended the use of small, warm-blooded animals as “sentinels” for the build-up of toxic gases in coal mines. A build-up of toxic gases following “firedamp” and coal dust explosions was known to be what killed most miners, but reliable gas detectors were hard to come by. The flame of a “safety lamp” could be used to detect rising levels of methane and “chokedamp” (a combination of gaseous nitrogen and carbon dioxide), but no mechanical means of measuring carbon monoxide existed. With their small body size and faster metabolism, animals such as mice and canaries would succumb to a build-up of carbon monoxide more quickly than a human. Canaries came to be preferred over mice because the birds more visibly demonstrated signs of distress in the presence of even small quantities of carbon monoxide gas. This few minutes of warning gave miners time to put on protective gas masks, or even to leave the mines entirely. In their capacity as sentinels, canaries saved the lives of thousands of miners during the nearly 100 years they were in use. Today, we still use the phrase “the canary in a coal mine” when we talk about species who are biological indicators for the health of an ecosystem – species who, like the canary for the miners, begin to suffer and die as an early sign that something is wrong. Changes in the function, health, or population of these indicator species can reveal such things as the accumulation of pollutants (lamp shell brachiopods), changes in overall air quality (milkweed and some strains of white pine are sensitive to ozone), and the threat of rising ocean temperatures (corals and marine fishes worldwide).

The Javan Pond-Heron is a wading bird found in Southeast Asia. Described as “stout,” this heron is sometimes mistaken for an egret with similar plumage. It inhabits swamps, marshes, and flooded plains, where it forages for crabs, insects, and fish by remaining motionless for long periods of time before snatching food from the water. This species is not globally threatened and its numbers may actually be increasing.

With its bright bill boasting a rainbow of colors, the Keel-billed Toucan is a recognizable bird that stands out in the forests it inhabits throughout southern Mexico and Central America. Keel-billed Toucans primarily eat fruit and seeds, and occasionally supplement their diet with animal proteins such as small lizards and insects. The call of a Keel-billed Toucan is very loud and can carry more than half a mile! While not considered globally threatened, their populations are declining due to habitat loss and hunting.

The third largest of the vultures of the Americas, the King Vulture has one of the strongest beaks out of all the American vultures and is able to open carcasses that the others cannot. While some of its food may be dead fish or lizards, other times it feeds on sloths, monkeys, or cattle. This is a vulture of the tropical lowland forests of Central and South America. Like other vultures, the King Vulture requires variety in its habitat so that it combines open areas where carrion can be found, isolated nest sites such as rock outcrops, and undisturbed stands of large trees for roosting. Although not considered threatened at this time, there are few data on population trends and some concern that the King Vulture may be declining as a result of habitat destruction.

Lanner Falcons are strong, stocky birds with long wings and a relatively short tail, very similar to the North American Peregrine Falcon. Males and females of this species tend to look the same, but females are slightly larger. Lanner Falcons have been used in the sport of falconry for centuries, and are prized for their ability to capture other birds such as pigeons. Lanner Falcons are fast, agile flyers that use both a vertical stoop and a horizontal hunting style to pursue their prey. They can fly low over the ground at speeds of up to 90 miles per hour.

You may not think you’ve heard the rollicking call of the Laughing Kookaburra, but you almost certainly have. The Kookaburra’s loud “laugh” — that echoing koo-koo-koo-koo-KA-KA-KA! in the background of every jungle movie ever made — actually comes from a squat, unassuming bird who would never be found anywhere near a jungle. In fact, the traditional home of the wild Laughing Kookaburra is the wide-open eucalyptus forests of Australia.

The Laughing Kookaburra is the largest member of the kingfisher family. But while many kingfishers are brightly colored and famed for their dramatic dives down into the water in search of fish, the brown-and-beige Laughing Kookaburra prefers dry woodlands and city parks, not to mention a more practical sit-and-wait style of hunting. Kookaburras will eat almost any kind of meat they can get hold of — insects, small mammals, hotdogs, snakes. Once caught up in the Kookaburra’s strong beak, prey is carried up into the trees and whacked repeated against a branch to kill it and soften the insides up for easy eating.

When they’re not stealing food from picnics or beating up snakes, Kookaburras use their distinctive call as a territorial marker. Everywhere you can hear their laughter belongs to them! Unfortunately, they like nothing better than to sound off first thing in the morning. This tendency to wake people up, whether they want to or not, has earned the Laughing Kookaburra the local nickname “The Bushman’s Alarm Clock.”

Linnaeus’s Two-toed Sloths are expert climbers. When you visit the Tropical Rainforest, you may catch Wookiee hanging upside down high in the canopy, or moving slowly along branches and vines. They have two claws on their hands and three claws on their feet, all measuring about 4 inches in length, that help them to hang. Sloths only come down from the trees once every week or so to defecate. Sloths live life in the slow lane, moving about 0.2 miles per hour in the trees, and sleep upwards of 15 hours each day! Sloths are anything but lazy, though. All of this sleeping helps them to conserve energy—an important thing for an animal whose diet of leaves, shoots, and barks is not very nutritious. They have a large, multi-chambered stomach that can hold huge quantities of food. It can take up to a month for a sloth to digest one meal!

The beautiful Luzon Bleeding-heart gets its name for the scarlet markings on its chest. Found throughout primary and secondary forests in the Philippines, the Luzon Bleeding-heart feeds on seeds, berries, and insects along the forest floor. Their call is a mournful coo. The species is generally considered rare or scarce, and is considered to be Near Threatened. It is vulnerable to habitat destruction and hunting.

Malayan Flying Foxes are the largest member of Pteropus! With their striking red or russet heads that turn deep orange during breeding season, these bats are a true wonder of nature. They have large, well-developed eyes for flight navigation and form feeding groups of up to 50 and roosting colonies of up to 20,000 individuals. And let’s not forget about their unique ability to hang effortlessly upside-down in trees with their long, sharp, curved claws. As the world’s only flying mammals, these bats truly are a sight to behold.

Despite their impressive size and territorial behavior, the Malayan Flying Fox is facing a decline in their population. In some areas, colonies of up to 52,000 individuals have been reduced to only 3,000.

A very common dabbling duck of the Nearctic region, and introduced elsewhere where it is sometimes considered an invasive pest, the Mallard occurs on almost any body of shallow water, but especially those with submerged or floating vegetation. In the breeding season the Mallard eats mostly animal foods such as aquatic insect larvae and snails, but at other times of year they favor seeds, aquatic vegetation, and cereal crops. The Mallard usually nests near water but on the ground  in upland areas, with the nest hidden under overhanging vegetation.

The Marbled Teal is a duck of the Mediterranean region, particularly fond of shallow brackish and freshwater pools with abundant emergent vegetation. This is an omnivorous dabbling duck, eating seeds, roots, tubers, and green parts of aquatic plants, as well as aquatic invertebrates like midge larvae. The Marbled Teal is threatened by over-hunting, and by climate change which is causing droughts in an already arid region, reducing the shallow marshes that this duck depends on.