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CREATURE FEATURE: Gouldian Finch

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The Gouldian Finch (Erythura gouldiaeor Chloebia goldiae) is a small passerine bird in the Estrildidae family. It is an estrildid. It is also known as the Gould Finch or the Rainbow Finch. 

The Gouldian Finch is brightly coloured and varied, with mainly black, green, yellow, and red markings. The male has a purple chest and the female has a light mauve chest. Its head is red, black, or yellow. Its beak is light-coloured with a red tip. It has pale legs and feet. 

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Eurasian Wigeon

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The Eurasian Wigeon (Mareca penelope orAnas penelope) is a bird in the Mareca genus of dabbling ducks. It is also spelled Widgeon. 

The male Eurasian Wigeon has grey feathers on its back and sides during the breeding season, with a black tail, a dark-green speculum, and a white patch on its upper wings. It has a pink chest, white belly, and a chestnut-coloured head with a cream-coloured crown. In the non-breeding season, the male and the female look similar. 

The female Eurasian Wigeon is light brown with a paler head and white feathers on its underwing. Sometimes, the female has a rufous (red-brown) body with a redder head or a grey body with a grey head.

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Eurasian Tree Sparrow

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The Eurasian Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus dilutus) is a passerine bird in the sparrow family.

The Eurasian Tree Sparrow has a chestnut crown and nape, with a black patch on each white cheek. It also has a black patch on its chin, throat, and the area between its beak and throat. Its beak is grey in summer and darker, almost black, in winter. Its upperparts are light brown, streaked with black. Its brown wings have two distinct, narrow, white bars. Its legs are pale brown. 

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Rook

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The Rook (Corvus frugilegus) is a large bird in the Corvus family of crows. It is a corvid.

The Rook has shiny, black feathers with a whitish, featherless area on its face. It has black, shaggy feathers on its legs. Its feet are also black. Its eyes are brown. Its large beak is grey-black.

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Bearded Vulture

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The Bearded Vulture (Gypaetus barbatus) is a large bird of prey, an accipiter, and a raptor. It is closely related to the Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus).

The Bearded Vulture is dark-grey, rusty, and white. It is grey-blue to grey-black along its back with a cream-coloured forehead and orange-rust feathers on its head, chest, and legs. Its tail and wings are grey. It has black bands across its eyes. It has chin bristles that look like a beard. It has a small, feathered head with a powerful neck, long narrow wings, and a long, wedge-shaped tail. It has sharp talons (claws). When it walks, its gait appears like a waddling duck. It has bright red eye-rings. 

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Blue Masked Lovebird

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The Blue Masked Lovebird (Agapornis personata personata var.)is a small bird in the Psittacidae family of lovebird parrots. It is also known as the Blue Lovebird. It is a colour mutation of the Yellow-Collared Lovebird (Agapornis personatus), which is also called the Masked Lovebird. 

The Blue Masked Lovebird has a black head, blue body, and a white collar around its neck. It is white on its upper chest. The color occurs naturally in the wild. It has a wide white eye-ring around its eyes. Its beak is pinkish. 

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White-Cheeked Turaco

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The White-Cheeked Turaco (Tauraco leucotis) is a medium-sized bird in the Musophagidae family. Turacin is the red pigment in its feathers.

The White-Cheeked Turaco has a green forehead, neck, throat, chest, and upperparts. Its rounded crest is glossy dark-blue. Its tail is deep greenish-blue. It has crimson-red underwing feathers. Its cheek is white and its beak is red. It has red eye-rings. Its fourth toe can rotate forward and backward. 

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Upland Goose

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The Upland Goose (Chloephaga picta) is a large bird in the Anatidae sub-family of sheldgoose birds, that includes ducks, geese, and swans. It is also called the Magellan Goose.

The male has a white head and white chest, with a grey back and black wing feathers. The male has a great beak and grey legs. The female is brown with black striped wings and yellow feet. The male and female have webbed feet.

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What are the differences between the Greater Rhea and the Lesser Rhea?

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What are the differences between the Greater Rhea (Rhea americana) and the Lesser Rhea (Rhea pennata)?

The Greater Rhea and the Lesser Rhea are both large, flightless, ratite birds with long legs and a long neck, with a body of fluffy grey feathers.

The Greater Rhea is larger than the Lesser Rhea. 

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Lesser Rhea

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The Lesser Rhea (Rhea pennata) is a large flightless bird. It is also known as Darwin’s Rhea. It cannot fly. Birds that cannot fly are called ratites. The ostrich, kiwi, and cassowary are also ratites.

The Lesser Rhea is emu-like with a body of large fluffy grey or brown spotted feathers, a long neck, and long legs. It has three toes like the emu (the ostrich has two toes). Its toes have sharp claws. Its head, neck, rump, and thighs are feathered. It has a small head and a small beak. 

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Hottentot Teal

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The Hottentot Teal (Spatula hottentota) is a bird in the Spatula genus of dabbling ducks. 

The Hottentot Teal male is dark-brown with a paler face, throat, chest, and side. It has a blackish mark near its ear. The back of its neck is spotted with black. It has an iridescent green speculum. It has brown eyes. Its beak, legs and webbed feet are bluish-grey. The female is brown and not as colourful as the male. 

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Falcated Duck

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The Falcated Duck (Mareca falcata) is a wetlands bird in the dabbling duck family. It is related to the Gadwell, Mallard, Pintail, Wigeon, and Shoveler.

The Falcated Duck has a large head with a peaked forehead. The male has a purple-chestnut and bright green head and mane, with a white throat, white foreneck, and yellow beak. It has a green collar, grey body, and black crescents (sickle shapes) on its chest. The female is dark-brown with a long grey beak. Both the male and female have orange webbed feet. 

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Abyssinian Ground Hornbill

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The Abyssinian Ground Hornbill (Bucorvus abyssinicus) is a large terrestrial bird. It is also known as the Northern Ground Hornbill. 

The Abyssinian Ground Hornbill has black feathers with white primary feathers. The male has a patch of blue featherless skin around its eyes and an inflatable patch of bare red skin on its neck and throat. Its beak is long and black with a reddish base. On top of its beak is a black hard structure called a casque. The female is similar to the male, but with dark blue bare skin. Both the male and the female have long eye feathers that look like eyelashes. 

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Madagascar Fody

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The Madagascar Fody (Foudia madagascariensis) is a small bird in the Ploceidae family of weaver birds. It is also known as the Red Fody or the Red Cardinal Fody.

The male Madagascar Fody is bright red with black markings around each eye and on its wings. Its wings and tail are olive-brown. Its underbelly is red. The female is olive-brown with a greyish-brown underbelly. Both the male and female have a short black beak and pinkish legs. 

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American Flamingo Juvenile

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The American Flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber) is a large wetland wading bird with reddish-pink feathers, a large beak, long legs, and a curved S-shaped neck. 

The adult Flamingo measures 120-145 centimetres (47-57 inches) tall. 

The photographed American Flamingo chick was born on 18 March 2019 in the Paris Zoo in France, so it is now 8 months old. It was first photographed when it was one month old. 

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Fieldfare

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The Fieldfare (Turdis pilaris) is a small bird in the Turdidae family of thrushes. It is related to the Song Thrush and the Mistle Thrush. 

The Fieldfare is mainly brown, with a brown back, dark-brown wings, dark-brown tail, and white underwings. Its wings are long and pointed. It has a bluish-grey crown, grey rump, and grey neck. Its chest and sides are spotted with dark-brown markings. It has a rounded head with dark-brown eyes. Its beak is short and yellowish. Its legs and feet are brown.

The male and female are similar in appearance, but the female has more brown feathers than the male. 

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CREATURE FEATURE: Toco Toucan

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The Toco Toucan (Ramphastos toco) is a large bird. It is also known as the Common Toucan or the Giant Toucan. 

The Toco Toucan has a black body, white cheeks, white throat, white chest, and white uppertail coverts, with red undertail coverts. It has a very large, yellow-orange beak with a black band at the base and a large spot at the tip. Its beak is hollow and light. It has bright blue eye-rings. Its tongue is long and flat. Its legs are dark-grey. The male and female have a similar appearance.

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