The Beautiful Fruit-Dove is appropriately named! This dove has gorgeous coloring, from its purplish-red crown to its green wings and orange underbelly. The Beautiful Fruit-Dove is found in New Guinea, where it lives in all levels of primary and secondary forests, from understory to canopy. They are frugivorous (fruit-eating), and forage either alone or in pairs. The Beautiful Fruit-Dove is not globally threatened, and appears to be adaptable to human-altered habitats.

The Black Crake is a water bird found throughout sub-Saharan Africa. With its bright yellow bill, red legs, and sleek black body, this bird is among the most common and least secretive of Africa’s rail species. They are well-suited for life in a wetland habitat: their long toes help them move easily along floating vegetation, and their specially adapted bills help them hunt aquatic animals like fish, crabs, and shrimp. They build their nests in vegetation over water, and sometimes build nests that float. They have a distinctive call performed as a “duet.” The Black Crake is not globally threatened.

The Black Kite is a medium-sized, primarily brown raptor. Kites are characterized by their long wings and tails, buoyant and acrobatic flight, and ability to catch food in mid-air. Black Kites are widespread and adaptable and can be found throughout portions of Africa, Europe, and Australasia. They eat small mammals, other birds, carrion, and insects. Their most notable trait is the ability to catch and eat prey while still in flight and they have been observed catching large insects fleeing from wildfires. Unlike most raptors, Black Kites are a fairly social and gregarious species and often gather in large flocks to roost and feed.

The American Black Vulture is one of several vultures of the Americas which feed almost entirely on large animal carrion. Appropriate habitat for the Black Vulture must combine open areas where carrion can be found, suitable isolated nest sites such as abandoned buildings, rock outcrops, or hollow trees for breeding, and large, undisturbed stands of trees for roosting. At night, Black Vultures often roost in the same tree, and their communal roosts may contain hundreds of birds. Black Vultures conserve energy during the night by reducing their body temperature. When morning comes, they warm up by spreading their wings in the sun. Although not currently threatened, vultures, like other species at the top of the food chain, are always susceptible to being fatally contaminated by residues of heavy metals, chemicals, and other contaminants that bioaccumulate in the tissues of the carrion that they consume.

The Black-faced Ibis is found throughout open fields and meadows in southern South America. Black-faced Ibises are sociable birds, often nesting in colonies of up to 50 pairs, and sometimes among other species like Black-crowned Night-Herons or cormorants. They may feed alone or in small flocks, and their diet consists of insects and occasionally frogs, salamanders, and small rodents. This species is not globally threatened.

Black-naped Fruit-Doves are colorful birds, common on the islands of Java, Bali, and Sulawesi. Males are a rainbow of colors, with a yellow throat patch, purplish wing tips, red undertail feathers, and a silvery head topped with a black cap. Females are almost entirely green. They forage for berries and fruits in pairs or small flocks, plucking fruits directly from the trees. Black-naped Fruit-Doves may eat as many as 36 different fruits, making this species ecologically important as a seed disperser. This species is not globally threatened.

Blue-bellied Rollers are a colorful species native to central Africa. Males and females look identical, and have a brilliant royal blue abdomen, dark and light blue feathers on their wings, and a tan head. They are powerful flyers and have a loud, croaking call. During the breeding season, pairs of Blue-bellied Rollers engage in elaborate courtship flights, which include nosedives and the rolling action for which they were named.

Blue-billed Curassows are large, turkey-like birds found in small, fragmented lowland habitats in Colombia. Males and females both have a fleshy blue wattle that hangs below the bill, but only the male grows a cere, or a knob, on the bill. They are primarily found on the forest floor, where they find worms, insects, fruits, and seeds, but they do roost in trees. Males have a loud, distinctive booming call that they use to attract a mate. Blue-billed Curassow young are precocial, meaning they hatch fully feathered and ready to leave the nest shortly after hatching. They stay close to home, though, for several months.

Blue-billed Curassows are Critically Endangered, with an estimated 150 to 700 individuals remaining in the wild. These birds rely on large, undisturbed tracts of humid forest in lowlands and foothills, and habitat fragmentation has led to a sharp decline for the species.

Both the male and female Blue-crowned Motmot have green and blue plumage with a chestnut chest. They have a large head with a blue crown, black eye mask around red eyes, and a short serrated beak. Their most distinguishing features are their long central tail feathers that feature bare sections near the tips. These oddly shaped feathers are often twitched back and forth like the pendulum of a clock — a peculiar behavior that is typical of motmots. Their call is a repeated “mot-mot” sound, which is the source of their common name. Motmots build elaborate underground nests that they dig during the rainy season and use several months later. One of the hypothesized reasons for this time gap is to hide the evidence of their nest when they actually lay their eggs.

Blue-fronted Amazon parrots, also called Turquoise-fronted Amazons, are loud, social, and intelligent birds that live in family groups in their native South American habitats. They are cavity nesters, and rely on old-growth forested areas for breeding. Like all parrots, Blue-fronted Amazons have the ability to mimic different sounds in their environment — an ability that varies widely between individual birds. Their social nature makes them popular pets, but they can be difficult to keep as pets. While they are one of the most abundant Amazon parrot species in South America, they are vulnerable to the illegal wildlife trade.

One of the most familiar tanagers of the Neotropics, the Blue-grey Tanager ranges from Mexico south through Central and South America. This species uses a wide variety of non-forest and human-altered habitats, including cacao and coffee plantations, city parks and gardens, and second growth forest and forest edges. Typically seen in pairs, this tanager may join mixed-species flocks while foraging on arthropods and fruit. The nest is a deep cup of rootlets, moss, grass, and other materials, sometimes constructed of materials taken from other tanagers, euphonias, and flycatchers. The Blue-grey Tanager is widespread and abundant, and is not considered threatened.

Boat-billed Herons have shorter legs and squatter bodies than most herons, but their distinguishing feature is their very large and broad bill and huge, dark eyes. The eyes are an indication of their foraging behavior, which takes place at dusk and early night. Native to the Neotropics, this heron is an inhabitant of coastal mangroves and other kinds of dense forest along low-lying rivers, freshwater creeks, and lakes, the Boat-billed Heron feeds mostly on fish, small rodents, and reptiles. Although not considered threatened, human disturbance at nesting colonies has been known to negatively impact reproductive success.