An Elusive Bird

Last week we dropped in on some big-eyed birds in Australia. The owlet nightjars are like teenagers: they like to take naps during the day!

Very little information on this week’s kind is available. It is a highly understudied species of bird from the forests of Sulawesi. Other than a few studies trying to determine where these birds fit in the classification system, very few scientists have researched this species.

I don’t expect anyone to get this week’s kind. Even as familiar as Inspector Barry Mins is with created kinds, I don’t think I could have figured this one out on my own. This week’s kind is the family Hylocitreidae, known as the Olive-flanked whistler. I know this week is a bit of a downer with not a lot to talk about. That will not be a problem next week. There are over 1500 species in this lizard kind from diverse habitats worldwide.

Olive-Flanked Whistler: Hylocitrea bonensis bonthaina
Adolf Bernhard Meyer, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Next Week’s Clue

Many of these species are well known, and some are even kept as pets because of their personality and color.