Photos of a Great Kiskadee, a bird with yellow underparts, a
white throat and a lot of brown above. It has a stout bill and a
white band around the head. In the heat of the day it will draw
your attention by calling its name
constantly, sitting on a telephone wire or on a roof. Most other
birds will keep silent around that time. They make their nest,
also on a conspicious place, from all kinds of plant-material,
often with hay. The kiskadee defends its nest vigorously and even
if it has no nest it wil be aggressive against other birds. It is
quite a common sight to see a kiskadee chasing a much bigger bird
of prey above the houses. But then a hummingbird might chase away
a kiskadee.
No national bird has been 'proclaimed' for Suriname, like the
Hoatzin in Guyana or the Scarlet ibis for Trinidad, but the
Kiskadee comes close: it is the best known bird in Suriname, I
think.
A video of a kiskadee feeding its
young was made by Raoul Ribot in Paramaribo. A second video
of a Kiskadee
showing off like in the photo below, was made by Leo Olmtak.
The first picture was made by J.H. Ribot of a bird feeding its
young, the second one was made by J.S. Dunning in Suriname.
Beneath the text a Great Kiskadee showing the, most of the time
concealed, yellow spot was seen by Leo Olmtak in his garden, like
the three birds on a feeding tray. Then comes a picture by Pascal
Dubois from French Guyane, the sixth by Foek Chin Joe in
Paramaribo (on that one you see the often concealed yellow crown
patch also), then one by K. Dijkstra and the last one by J.H.
Ribot, from Suriname.
They eat all kind of food, insects but also fruit and flowers
from a garden.
Each small square indicates the observation of at least one (group) of these birds, the medium ones at least 4 observations on different days and the largest ones 10 or more. The color of each square indicates: blue for coastal area, yellow for savanna and red for rainforest.
| Distribution in Suriname (explanation) | |
| Coastal area |  |
| Savanna | |
| Forests | |
| Mountain forests |  |
| Sipalawini savanna | |
Names in
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