Hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin)
Brazil
A prehistoric looking bird with a punk haircut, there is considerable debate about which birds are most closely related to the Hoatzin.
Hoatzin aka Hoactzin, Stinkbird or Canje "Pheasant"
The Hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin), also known as the Hoactzin, Stinkbird, or Canje "Pheasant", is an unusual species of tropical bird found in swamps, ...
Hoatzin
Related Category: Vertebrate Zoology
(wätsn´) [Aztec], common name for a peculiar marsh bird, Opisthocomus hoatzin. The hoatzin is a slender bird with a brownish plumage spotted with white above and reddish-yellow to rust below.
Hoatzins are social birds, living in a small colony or group of upto 40 birds. They breed during the rainy season of the marshlands and build nests in the forked trees along the river bank.
Hoatzin chicks show us how archaeopteryx may have used its wing hooks to climb.
Getting airborne
Life of Birds ...
Hoatzins
Opisthocomidae
†Hoazinoides (Late Miocene)
†Hoatzi - may be same as Foro ...
The Hoatzin feed in the early morning and evening for about 4 hours a day. All adults hlep take care of eggs and raise the young, feeding them on a mash of half digested leaves.
We also had Hoatzin at the lake. The air had become very hot and humid, a sure sign that rain was on the way. On the way back we met two young women who were working with the research groups. They had been clearing heavy vegetation with machete.
My favorite Mamirauá birds were the hoatzins (Opisthocomus hoazin). On one boat trip to Lake Mamirauá, we saw dozens of these strange critters in groups perched in foliage along the water's edge.
Volume 3: Hoatzin to Auks. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.
Robson, C. (2007) Birds of South-East Asia. New Holland Publishers, London.
Perrins, C. (2009) The Encyclopedia of Birds. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
BIRDS WITH WING CLAWS
The Hoatzin has small claws on the first and second wing digits when it is young (it uses the claws to climb trees). The African touraco also has wing claws when it is young. The ostrich has three claws on each wing.
Common Cuckoo Characteristics: The Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes, which also includes the roadrunners, the anis, the coucals, and the Hoatzin.
Sorenson, M., E. O'Neal, J. Garcia-Moreno, D. Mindell. 2003. More taxa, more characters: the Hoatzin problem is still unresolved. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 20(9): 1484-1499.
del Hoyo, J., Elliot, A. and Sargatal, J. eds. Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 3. Hoatzin to Auks. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. 1996.
The Great Spotted Cuckoo, Clamator glandarius, is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes, which also includes the roadrunners, the anis, the coucals, and the Hoatzin.
Recent Encounters ...
Sub-order 4. Opisthocomi.-Arboreal, with long spina externa; without basipterygoid processes. Opisthocomus hoatzin, Guiana, Venezuela and Amazon countries.
 See also: Cuckoo, Tinamou, Ratite, Sandgrouse, Grebe
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