Devaanshi Nathany

10 Years

53 Years

Modern High School for Girls

Kolkata

Nature

The unique Oilbirds of South America| Epistolary by Devaanshi,9,Kolkata+ Cool facts

Today’s write up is an epistolary work, which means in the form of letters by 10 year old Devaanshi Nathany from Kolkata.

December 8, 2020

Dear Uncle,

Your previous letter is still with me. Apologies for not responding as I was busy with my trip. It’s so lovely in South America that I don’t get time to see the letters.

By the way, do you know that when I went to the jungle for studying the animals with my mates, we saw the most unusual bird! Oilbird was the creature’s name. It was mainly reddish brown with white spots on its nape and wings. Its lower parts were cinnamon-buff with white diamond shaped spots edged in black. These spots started to decrease towards the throat and grew bigger as they reached the back.

Their stiff tail feathers were rich brown spotted with white on either side. I came to know that they are a small nocturnal cave-dwelling creature, which hunts its food by echolocation just like bats and dolphins do. It is also the only flying, fruit- eating nocturnal bird in the world.

The oilbirds forage at night, with specially adapted eyesight. When I searched about them in google, I found out that they favor oily, fatty wax palm and avocado fruits, which they pluck from trees with their formidable-looking hooked beaks. I am not sure whether they migrate but they surely aren’t in broods. And do you know that the oil birds are so oily that people used to boil them to extract their oil and use it as a fuel! It was a strange observation!

It was a jolly good experience knowing about the bird.

Yours Loving
Devaanshi

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Nature with Sara activities for kids Bookosmia

Hey, Sara here again. Did you enjoy that informative write up by Devanshi? It is the first time I have heard of this unique bird. How about some some cool facts on Oilbirds?

Cool Fact#1 : Oilbirds maneuver within its cavern using ‘echolocation’

The oilbird’s most impressive adaptation might be its ability to maneuver within its cavern using echolocation. Unlike bats, which call at a frequency too high for human detection, Oilbirds emit a series of audible-to-humans clicks that ricochet off upcoming obstacles, providing a map of the terrain ahead. How can Oilbirds keep track of their own clicks with so many other birds in the colony? Each Oilbird clicks at a slightly different frequency.