Birds of the Week: Verreaux's Eagle and Tropical Royal Flycatcher
A titan of South America and a titan of Africa are sharing the crown this week for a big, bold Halloween spectacular.
It’s always (always!) a bit of a jump scare for me that Election Day and Halloween fall within days of each other. I’m a Halloween lover—NOT an opinion shared by everyone at Discourse Blog—so for me, it’s usually a case of the sublime followed by the demoralizing. The enlivening followed by the immensely wearying. The heaven of fantasy followed by the hell of reality.
There are exceptions, of course. I hope this Tuesday brings some of those! But this time of year contains multitudes within multitudes. And as I was pondering good birds recently, as I often do, I found myself pondering two in particular that exemplify these shades and contrasts. It was only after said pondering that I realized they also, quite appropriately, loudly brandish the shades of the spooky season.
That’s right, it’s a double header this week. We’re celebrating the Verreaux’s eagle and the tropical royal flycatcher. If the movie The Birds looked more like this, I’d still be screaming, but from delight instead of terror:
These birds could not be more different, which makes them a perfectly dEmEnTeD pairing on All Hallows’ Eve. Two birds, both alike in dignity. One dark, one light. One black, one orange. A goth and a clown. Both worthy of their own BOTW column, but forced to share a blog. Sorry to them, but happy for us. Thank god they live on different continents, I would not want to see them actually face off.
The Verreaux’s eagle was named after French naturalist Jules Verreaux, and it lives on cliffs and in the caves and rocky terrain of Africa. It’s a positively huge jet black bird of prey that is mostly a silent, lurking beast. Occasionally, it screams. Somehow, it manages to be severe and cute at the same time. A true feat!
Verreaux’s eagles also have a distinctive wing pattern with dramatic white flourishes. Like come on, this slays so much harder than any designer cape sent down the runway during New York Fashion Week:
To truly get a sense of just how majestic and how goth these birds are, you must see them in motion. Criss Angel wishes he had this kind of juice:
Marvel at how chill and evil this bird looks as it cruises the skies with a dang stick in its mouth:
If you know what’s good for you, look up the Verreaux’s eagle-owl, another perfect and seasonally appropriate specimen. I’d go down that road myself here, but we have to get to the tropical royal flycatcher, because oh my god this bird!!
I’ll be forthright here and say there are not very many public domain or even buyable photos of this bird online??? That’s why I had to use a screenshot above and frankly, why I’ve put off doing the tropical royal flycatcher for so long. So long! You have no idea! As soon as I laid eyes on it I knew it was an all-timer, but I waited and waited thinking I’d figure out a solution in the meantime. Alas. And while I’d argue that, like the Verreaux’s eagle, seeing this bird move is better than seeing it in photographs, let me tell you, there are some truly unbelievable pics of this glorious and oft-screaming bird (go down the rabbit hole yourself if you’re so inclined!). What a stunner.
The tropical royal flycatcher hails from Central and South America. Its crowning achievement is its beautiful, ornate crest, which it can tuck away or trot out as desired. Please do yourself a favor and experience the transformation in slo-mo before reading on.
This feathered tiara ranges in shade from red to orange (it’s more subdued in females) with black and blue dots, and has what’s described as a “hammerhead” appearance. And as you’ve seen above, as if the crown itself wasn’t enough, they also rhythmically sway their heads from side to side and all around—kind of horror movie adjacent on several levels tbh!—as if to say “look at my fucking headpiece, doesn’t it rule?” It rules.
Perhaps even cooler than its stunning crown is the fact that you’d almost have no idea it was capable of such a garish display when it’s in business mode. We love a costume change:
Could one of these birds be your last minute Halloween costume? Imagine the possibilities, AND how cool it would be to have someone ask you what you’re dressed as and you get the chance to talk about birds instead of literally anything else going on in the world right now.
See? Halloween can be good.
Do you have a bird you’d like to see featured on Bird of the Week? Reach out to us at hello@discourseblog.com. And as always, check out our full Bird of the Week list here.
The last party I went to pre-Covid was a theme party where you had to wear a bird costume. The details were up to interpretation, but you had to be a recognizable species (almost everyone in attendance was a birder).
I printed up the word "vireo" in the font that the Phillies used on their late 70's/early 80's uniforms (and still wear for Thursday home games), pinned it to a light blue shirt, wore the Phillies hat from that era, and went as a Philadelphia Vireo.
Yes, love to see more eagle representation in BOTW! Perfect spooky season picks.