• 

  Profile

• 

  In flight

Cranes & Waders

Sungrebe

Heliornis fulica

• uncommon
• 40 km/h
• Least Concern

The male carries chicks in skin pouches under each wing, even in flight.

Population

500,000-4,999,999 mature individuals, decreasing

Habitat

Quiet, heavily vegetated freshwater habitats: forest streams and rivers, ponds, and lakes with thick overhanging vegetation

Fun fact

Male Sungrebes have unique skin pouches (wing pockets) under their wings in which they carry their newly hatched, helpless chicks in flight until the young can swim and feed independently, earning the species the nickname "Marsupial Bird."

Range

Lowland Neotropics from northeastern Mexico through Central America and the Caribbean into South America, south to central Ecuador, the Amazon/Orinoco basins, the Pantanal, and southern Brazil/northern Argentina (BirdLife gives EOO ~16,700,000 km² across 19 countries)

Diet

Carnivorous: snails, aquatic and terrestrial arthropods (insects, crustaceans), small fish, frogs, and lizards; supplemented occasionally with seeds and fruit

Size

0.285 m