Two hoatzins, perched in Brazil
© Morten Ross/500px
Two hoatzins, perched in Brazil
We’re still waiting for the poet who dares to write an ode to the hoatzin, a bird that earns its other common name: stinkbird. Native to the Amazon mangrove swamps and the Orinoco Delta, the hoatzin has a digestive system more like a cow’s than a bird’s. It digests the leaves it eats with a gut full of enzymes that ferment the food, and that fermentation gives off an unpleasant odour. Surely there’s some poetic inspiration there.
Related Images
Grey-crowned cranes forming a heart shape
A European goldfinch perched among rosehips in snow
Ground pangolin at Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique
La Digue, an island in the Seychelles
Sandhill cranes taking flight over the Platte River near Kearney, Nebraska
Japanese crane in Hokkaido, Japan
Eurasian lynx in the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands of the Czech Republic
Hoary marmot in Denali National Park, Alaska
Bing Today Images
Water lilies at Grand Cenote, Tulum, Mexico
Feb 24, 2026
Almond trees in full bloom, California
Feb 24, 2024
Mandarin duck, Richmond Park, London, UK
Feb 24, 2023
Vatnajökull, Iceland
Feb 24, 2022
Le Morne Brabant, Mauritius
Feb 24, 2021
Cumulus clouds over the Caribbean
Feb 24, 2019
Fog in Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah, USA
Feb 24, 2018
Aurora borealis over the coast of Iceland
Feb 24, 2016
