Another colorful bird from Ecuador, an Orange-breasted Fruiteater. Aptly named this bird eats small berries and fruits which it swallows whole. They will actively eat a number of these berries and then fly to a favored perch. There they will sit quietly while they digest these berries. Perfect for photography! More importantly, the birds then regurgitate the seeds to the ground below, thus serving as a very important factor in the spreading of the seeds of individual plants in the rain forest. In the Northern Hemisphere, we are accustomed to plants spreading their seeds via the wind. Deep within the rain forest, there is little to no wind-ever! Therefore the plants had to devise another way to spread their seeds and the birds and plants evolved together; the bird gets a meal and the plant gets its seeds spread far and wide.
This shot was taken in the Mashpi-Amagusa Reserve in NW Ecuador.
Shot with a Canon R5, 600 mm f/4.0 lens, ISO 1250.
Orange-breasted Fruiteater
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Country Ecuador
Location Mashpi-Amagusa Reserve in NW Ecuador
Gender Male
Age Adult
Activity Feeding in the Wild
- Created Timestamp01/01/1970 00:00:00
The Orange-breasted Fruiteater is such a beauty. Thank you for including the feeding and seed distribution story in your description. I never though about the lack of wind in a rain forest so the birds have to be a main source of seed distribution. Now I know!