#White-booted Racket-tail

[bird-identifier]

White-booted Racket-tail (Ocreatus underwoodii)

[rondaincorporated]

Hummingbird Species, Part 193

Today we look at the white-booted racket-tail, Ocreatus underwoodii. The White-Booted Racket-Tail Hummingbird, scientifically known as Ocreatus underwoodii, is a remarkable avian species found primarily in the Andean highlands of South America. This species, belonging to the family Trochilidae, is a captivating subject of study due to its unique physical features, extraordinary behavior, and its…

[arthistoryanimalia]

For #NationalHummingbirdDay:

Ernst Haeckel (German, 1834-1919)

“Trochilidae - Kolibris (Hummingbirds)”, chromolithograph, Pl. 99 in Kunstformen der Natur (1899-1904).

Biodiversity Heritage Library

1. Male Ruby-throated Hummingbird

2. Male Horned Sungem

3. Male Crimson Topaz

4. Male Red-tailed Comet

5. Male Tufted Coquette

6. Male Sword-billed Hummingbird

7. Buff-tailed Sicklebill

8. Male Dot-eared Coquette

9. Male White-vented Violetear

10. Male Hooded Visorbearer

11. Female Juan Fernández Firecrown

12. Male Booted Racket-tail

[best-bird-tournament]

Booted racket-tail (Ocreatus)

[autistrix]

[https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/106523014]

White-Booted Racket-Tail || Ocreatus underwoodii

Observed in Ecuador

Least Concern in location of observation

[dragon-curse-au]

The deities are all based on several animals, mythical beings, and other things. Thought I'd list them here!

Millennial Tree - Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr and Duraþrór; Norse stags that feed on Yggdrasill's branches

Sugar Swan - Swan Maidens; Women able to transform into swans that are often revered as heroes as well as their beauty and grace

Sea Fairy - Seahorses; While general animals, sea horses often are associated with undying love and devotion.

Moonlight - Hecate and Porcelain Dolls; Hecate is a Greek goddess known for bestowing magic upon humanity.

UNKNOWN - Helios; The Greek god of the Sun.

Stormbringer - Qilin/Kirinn; Horse-like creatures of Chinese mythology that are often seen as symbols of prosperity and leadership, as well as being associated with auspicious omens.

Wind Archer - Various deities of the wind and hummingbirds, specifically the white-booted racket tail.

Fire Spirit - Several inspirations, but mostly the film Rise of the Guardian's depiction of Jack Frost.

Frost Queen - The Snow Queen and perytons; The Snow Queen is part of an old fairytale by the same name; Perytons are deer-like beings with several avian features such as wings, talons, and feathered tails.

Honorable mention is Dreamweaver, who was once a normal Star Imp who ascended to a new form of being after a spell went wrong.

[irradiatedsnakes]

the Big TMA Furry List

this list with commentary/choice rationale below the cut :] i wrote a lot of thoughts down do please check it out.

jon: common raven

martin: tan jumping spider

sasha: southern flannel moth

not!sasha: red postman

tim: jackson's chameleon

melanie: eastern copperhead

georgie: triceratops horridus

basira: domestic cat (calico shorthair)

daisy: domestic dog (german shepherd)

elias: barn owl. jonah: eurasian eagle owl.

gerry: domestic dog (black doberman)

annabelle: white-booted racket-tail

jane: cabbage white

michael: spiny softshell turtle

helen: common hermit crab

oliver: black vulture

peter: risso's dolphin

mike: caelestiventus hanseni

jude: black kite

agnes: ???

nikola: stealing major's carousel horse

jared: american dog tick

breekon&hope: Hog and/or Bear. you get no more information

dekker: mouflon

gertrude: great tit

leitner: domestic cat (persian)

manuela: gray long-eared bat

rayner: olm

salesa: sea otter

simon: dodo

elaboration below !

jon: common raven

this was a choice i made before i even finished listening to the podcast back in 2020. jon's 1000% a bird to me, and the curious nature of corvids works well here. plus, i think a bird so universally ominous as a raven works perfectly as a horror protag :P i used to draw raven!jon with a couple troodon traits, mostly just cus it was fun, but i wanted to make my designs more grounded for this iteration. made them plantigrade, didn't get silly with body styles like i have with mp100 designs.

martin: tan jumping spider

if you've been here for a while you'll know that my furry martin has gone through about two million iterations. he started off as a european pine marten, to bold jumping spider, to chinese pangolin, to nine-banded armadillo, finally to nurse shark.

out of all of these the spider and the shark are my favorites. i wanted to go back to the jumping spider though- the design is really fun and i wasn't able to get the expressions right, but i'm more confident in my skills now and i'm having fun with the design. i may revisit nurse shark at some point. i switched from bold to tan jumper- i originally chose bold just cus they're my favorite jumper, but their stark black/white and iridescent aqua coloration just doens't work for martin. so, the tan jumper!

sasha: southern flannel moth

another old choice. species chosen because of a friend's fic, pharos by right (another i'm planning to reread now that i'm dipping my toes back into tma..)! southern flannel moths are poofy and orange, and their caterpillars are those super painful teddybear ones. i really like the design.

not!sasha: red postman

wanted to have her be another lepidopteran, and with all the many examples of mimicry among the group i thought red postman was a fun choice. doesn't look anything like a southern flannel moth, but that's sort of the point.

tim: jackson's chameleon

yet another choice from the oldtimes- most of the main characters are, i've mostly switched around the more secondary chars. first suggested, i believe, by @/ofdreamsanddoodles. i think there's something very fun about chameleons being basically a living mood ring & tim's Descent s1-3 showing physcially not just through the worm scars but through like, constant stress coloration during s3.

melanie: eastern copperhead

one of my favorite choices. i have a young copperhead specimen named after her. this one is quite vibes-based, but i do really like the copperhead as a viper that is not deadly. and i'm always a sucker for the "animal perceived as scary and violent that in actuality only strikes when under extreme stress" thing in furry assignments.

georgie: triceratops horridus

another favorite choice. visually, i really like how this works out, and trikes as a social and protective animal works well. she's literally got a shield on her face. horridus was chosen because i like the shape of the head and horns better than prorsus.

basira: domestic cat (calico shorthair)

got a little cat/dog thing going on for dasira. i like the inversion of the usual cat/dog dynamic with their unhealthy devotion instead, and visually it just works very well for them both.

daisy: domestic dog (german shepherd)

yeah i know this one's an exceedingly obvious choice.

elias: barn owl. jonah: eurasian eagle owl.

it's the institute logo! it's him! barn owl for elias specifically because of its very sleek look, designing him went fantastically. also, i can make the eagle owl's face disk work as a mimicry of ben meredith's muttonchops, which i think is a fun design bit to give to magnus.

gerry: domestic dog (black doberman)

certified gerryguy @/gerrydelano's choice. to quote a discord message from 3 years ago (sorry ron): "i feel like.........my INSTINCT is some kind of canine because like. the whole symbolism thing about being either an obedient or rabid dog. something something muzzled all your life. being a dangerous figure if people only see the silhouette but you just want scritches and nobody'll get close enough to you." black dog symbolism + breed which has ears cropped and tail docked, unecessarily molded for a Purpose which the dog has no say in

annabelle: white-booted racket-tail

sort of my original choice- she used to be part white-booted racket-tail, part anna's hummingbird. kept with the racket-tail cus it's fun and very cute. i've had a couple people express surprise that she wasn't a spider, but i think that's way too obvious. hummingbirds, though- they steal the webs of spiders to use as material to make their nests, but can sometimes become trapped in the webs and eaten by the spiders themselves. which is probably the metaphor-via-fursona-assignment i'm most proud of in this whole list

jane: cabbage white

the cabbage white is a butterfly whose caterpillars are routinely parasitized by the parasitoid wasp the white butterfly parasite. in case you're not familiar, parasitoid wasps lay their eggs on (usually) caterpillars, which hatch on the still-living caterpillar, devouring it from the inside before eventually emerging from the consumed husk of the host. also, i really liked the image of parasitoid wasp larvae emerging from an adult butterfly, rather than a caterpillar.

michael: spiny softshell turtle

for michael and helen, i wanted to choose animals which were, in some way, their own home. turtle is an obvious choice- and spiny softshells are a favorite of mine, and sufficiently strange-looking.

helen: common hermit crab

see previous entry. also please google "hermit crab without shell"

oliver: black vulture

bit of an obvious choice, but i adore vultures so i had to. black vulture chosen because i think the monochrome color scheme + straighter face work better than a turkey vulture for him

peter: risso's dolphin

i really like the idea of a cetacean for peter and the lukases as a whole, a famously social animal for the seemingly contradictory nature of this lonely-but-huge family, plus with so many cetaceans being endangered getting that lonely angle (risso's specifically are not, though, as peter is lonely through his own choice, not by circumstance).

mike: caelestiventus hanseni

it's a dimorphodont. he feels like a pterosaur to me, and i like the idea of a vast avatar as a usually short-flying arboreal species, for the unnaturality/contrast of it.

jude: black kite

black kites are one of the species of kites known to intentionally spread fires by picking up burning sticks to flush out prey.

agnes: ???

the only one i'm still undecided on. will update.

nikola: stealing major's carousel horse

i can't top that

jared: american dog tick

great choice from @/magnusarchivememes. Takes Your Blood And Gets So Big

breekon&hope: Hog and/or Bear. you get no more information

vaguely russian animals that are large and imposing but remain somewhat generic. which is the hog and which is the bear is not consistent.

dekker: mouflon

dekker has very much mammal vibes to me. the mouflon is a neat species of wild sheep. i think the noble, imposing but kind image of the ram works well for dekker as that sort of true-good hero figure, and mouflons in particular are very nice looking with good shapes. the statement giver in distant cousin describes dekker as "though he was slightly shorter than I was, it seemed like he towered over me." which i think this sheep works well with.

gertrude: great tit

i wanted all the main eye avatars as birds, just like how i give them all glasses. just a fun little treat for me. great tit was chosen for gertrude as a kind of classic british bird, and as tits in general are VERY fiesty despite their round and adorable appearance. i really like this image of a great tit posing with a dead mouse like it's a hunter with a trophy deer. the cheek markings also work really well to bring to mind the image of old person jowls.

leitner: domestic cat (persian)

vibes. also i like the idea of him as a spoiled domestic animal. if i remember correctly, this was also @/ofdreamsanddoodles' suggestion

manuela: gray long-eared bat

she's a bat. what's to say. WELL actually okay there's the perception of bats as blind but actually having quite good vision which i think meshes in a fun way with the dark, and the way manuela does her sciency stuff.

rayner: olm

i mean, yeah

salesa: sea otter

largely design-oriented, suitably scruffy. ocean animal with strong social bonds, it was a slam dunk soon as i thought of it.

simon: dodo

how couldn't i, come on.

[herpsandbirds]

White-booted Racket-tails (Ocreatus underwoodii), male, family Trochilidae, Ecuador

photograph by Nick Athanas

[whatsthebird]

What's the Bird?

Location: Mindo, Ecuador

Date: January

We ask that discussion under questions be limited to how you came to your conclusion, not what your conclusion was.

Happy Birding!

Keep the game alive! Submit a bird HERE

Bird - 70 graciously submitted by Anon

[heart-buzz]

huzzah, art!! a tiny griffin, a pygmy griffin if you will, of field mouse and white-booted racket-tail hummingbird 👌

[kvetchlandia]

Bruce Rosenstiel White-booted Racket-tail Hummingbird (Ocreatus underwoodii), Sachatamia, Ecuador 2018

[supremebirdbracket]

Apodiformes Bracket Matchups

Now that the Shorebirds Bracket is over (congrats to the little auk!), I'll be setting up the Apodiformes bracket, created from your submissions! The first-round matchups will be:

Bumblebee hummingbird vs Bee hummingbird

Broad-tailed hummingbird vs Rufous hummingbird

Calliope hummingbird vs Vervain hummingbird

Costa’s hummingbird vs Anna’s hummingbird

Ruby-throated hummingbird vs Red-tailed comet

Black-tailed trainbearer vs Long-tailed sylph

Hispaniolan mango vs Black-throated mango

Horned sungem vs Purple-throated carib

White-booted racket-tail vs Sword-billed hummingbird

Glowing puffleg vs Rainbow starfrontlet

Violet sabrewing vs Crowned woodnymph

Red-billed streamertail vs Black-bellied hummingbird

Purple-throated mountaingem vs Fiery-throated hummingbird

Bohm’s spinetail vs Chestnut-collared swift

Common swift vs Chimney swift

Whiskered treeswift vs Crested treeswift

I'm not certain when I'll be finished making the visuals and fact blurbs, but I'll make an announcement when I am. In the meantime, I will be opening up the submissions form for our bracket after this, which will be a sort of sequel: non-Apodiformes Strisores birds, abbreviated to "Other Strisores." This includes nightjars, owlet-nightjars, oilbirds, potoos, and frogmouths.

Here is the link

[simplegenius042]

FC5 Silva Omar Aesthetics

Bold - YES

Italics - Somewhat

HOLLAND VALLEY.

red, gold, and orange leaves against a clear blue sky // rows of apple trees in an orchard // pick your own pumpkin patches // baskets of puppies // a sleeping fawn hidden away from predators // pumpkin spice // the bite of apple cider // a harvest festival // the faint smell of a bonfire on the wind // the slight unease of getting lost in a corn maze // a hint of fall in the air when it’s still warm // golden sunsets // leaves just beginning to turn from green to orange // the rumble of a tractor // the buzz of an airplane flying low overhead // golden wheat swaying in the wind // the smell of gasoline // sprawling river deltas // crystal clear water // an old wooden dresser // family heirlooms // jingling keys // crimson blood // dark ink on parchment // the sting of a bruise // the warmth of a grand fireplace // gunmetal // work boots in the mud // cattails // the harsh cry of crows // the faint musty smell of taxidermy animals // farm animals making a racket // open air farmers markets // catching your clothes on a barbed wire fence // a fresh breeze through an open window // white rocking chairs // old farmhouses // scarecrows // wild westerly winds // the barely contained excitement for the approach of autumn

WHITETAIL MOUNTAINS.

fishing at dawn // the smell of woodsmoke clinging to your clothes and hair // wolfsong // locking eyes with another predator // a night that falls faster than expected // the crisp hint of snow in the air // log cabins // the scent of evergreen trees // stone fireplaces // a well worn camouflage jacket // old field guide books// the smell of a cigarette still lingering on your hands // lager // the roar of whitewater rapids // cool dark caves // the rough wood of an antique gun // the scent of iron // woodland paths crisscrossed by gnarled tree roots // a haze of dust from a recent rockslide // losing your breath as you wade into an icy river // winding mountain roads // an eagle’s cry // the bright red flash of a foxes tail at the corner of your eye // the patter of rain on dead leaves // petrichor // seeing your breath in the cold morning air // the click of a projector // the jangling of a chain link fence // gunpowder // the sizzling of a grill // burnt hair // the grand lobby of a lodge // gravel crunching underfoot // the cry of blue jays // information boards // brochures piled on a table // cold metal bars // the sour smell of a lumber mill // the rough texture of scouting achievement badges // muffled oldies music from another room // sharpening a hunting knife // blood red leaves blooming from bone white birch trees // red bleeding into the edges of your vision

HENBANE RIVER.

cloying floral scents // the thick mist that gathers near the ground at dawn // dewdrops sparkling on spiderwebs // the almost too intense morning sun // unseasonable warmth // birdsong // honeyed wine // walking barefoot in the cool grass // the clanging of a jail cell door // spying hazy figures of animals in the fog // lemon balm and lavender // the low growl of a wildcat that you can’t see (but it sees you) // choking clouds of pollen settling on cars like snow // vineyards // faint humming and singing from an unidentifiable source // juniper berries // feeling uncomfortably hot in overly formal clothes // lace // burning incense // frogs in the reeds // soft brunette tresses // long winding rivers // mesmerizing music // glistening trout // the sweet nectar of honeysuckle flowers // rumbling of truck motors // glass beakers // bundles of dried flowers // wind chimes tinkling // rough concrete bricks // tumbling barrels // the ringing of a vintage phone // sweet words // broken promises // moonflower and datura // the smell of freshly cut grass // the faint sound of children laughing

JOSEPH’S COMPOUND.

babbling brooks // humming // whistling // dogs barking // grand oak trees // the faint sound of hymns // a crate of ripe peaches // melted wax candles // the smell of fresh newspaper clippings // caged birds singing // a warm embrace // wrought iron arches // flames reaching for the sky // gentle voices murmuring // your feet sliding in thick mud // pouring rain // vape smoke // the slight scent of sweat // ink on skin // the smell of wooden church pews // the rustle of hymnals // old book smell // slight hint of ozone from old electronics // bradford pear petals floating on the breeze

DUTCH’S ISLAND.

creaking metal hinges // the crackle of a radio // the scratch of an old record player // the smell of antiseptic // the flickering light of a projector // the feel of pushing pins into cork board // echoing footsteps // shelves stacked with canned food and mason jars // dark shadowy figures on the edge of your vision // gleaming metal badges // a table of bullet shell casings // vertigo from standing on swaying radio towers // the sound of shattering glass // whistling pipes // suffocating heat // the chatter of squirrels // faint scent of mothballs// the sputter of a boat engine // the high electronic whine of an old television turning on // the sound of distant gunfire // tear stained letters // old family photographs // the smell of a mildewy basement

[wingedjewels]

Female White Booted Racket Tail La Conchita Cali Valle Del Cauca Colombia by Adam Rainoff Via Flickr: Ocreatus underwoodii / Birdwatch La Conchita / Cali / Valle Del Cauca / Colombia

[topographicreversal]

absolutely obsessed with this hummingbird I just heard about, the white-booted racket-tail <3

[autistrix]

[https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/106523014] White-Booted Racket-Tail || Ocreatus underwoodii Observed in Ecuador Least Concern in location of observation