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Warakabra the snake killer
Interesting Creatures…
Kaieteur News-The Grey-winged trumpeter locally known in Guyana as the Warakabra is a small bird that packs a punch and reportedly has an eye for evil.
Fully grown it stands at some 52 centimeters tall but don’t underestimate it. According to locals it can be aggressive and “fight just like a dog” to protect itself and territory, even killing venomous snakes.
Grey-winged Trumpeters at Guyana’s Zoological Park and rescue centers.
If you have never seen these interesting birds then you can take a trip down to the Georgetown Zoological Park and Rescue Center, located at the Botanical Gardens, to observe them.
Scientists have given them the name Psophia (pronounced as Sofia) crepitans and said that they belong to a small family of birds called Psophiidae.
They are native to the Amazon Rainforest along the Guiana Shield in South America and can be found not only in Guyana but Brazil, Suriname, Colombia Venezuela, Peru and Bolivia.
These forest birds are described as chicken-like because of their long neck and legs combined with a humpback. The name grey-winged trumpeter is because of its stand-out ashy grey-coloured wings and rump. The rest of its plumage is mostly black.
The bird’s stout is slightly decurved and the bill is yellowish green while the legs and feet are greenish olive. Some also sport a violet-purplish crescent on it breast closer to the neck.
Their unique body structure has some disadvantages and one of them is that they are weak flyers and prefer mostly to run. To thrive in the wild, warakabras nest in hollow trees and would normally live in flocks of up to 15, feeding mostly on fruits that fall on the forest floors or left overs from monkeys foraging in the overhead trees. Their diet also consists of small arthropods.
However, only the young ones would prefer this cuisine. Adults rarely eat the invertebrates and prefer sticking to a full fruit diet.
When it comes to family life and reproduction a dominant female in the flock has her luck. Up to three males can mate with her and the responsibility of incubating the eggs and raising the young is a shared one among the flock.
Warakabra the snake killer
Although these birds are considered to be wild ones they can be easily tamed and raised as pets.
The indigenous people of Guyana love treating them as family and having them in their yards and around their home.
One of the main reasons for this is because they are the perfect watchmen.
A woman who had reared warakabras as pet in the past said they preform the same tasks as a dog.
“Dem does run yuh down and fight bad, you can’t come in the yard jussa dem would peck yuh -up just like how duh pigeon peck up the lady”, she said.
Scientists have an explanation for this behaviour claiming that the forest bird has a keen eye for dangerous predators and are always on the look-out for a threat. If a threat approaches, they would raise a loud alarm with a low humming vocalizing sound “wuh wuh wuh wuh”.
They are also rumored to be fierce snake killers but in Guyana some locals rear them for a different reason and it all has to do with a folk-lore that these birds can detect evil.
It is believed that if some-one plants “obeah” in your yard or home, the warakabras would peck it out, expose it and toss it away.
Remember this is only a folk-lore and cannot be scientifically proven, but the warakabra wins this week’s bid for The Waterfalls’ interesting creatures.
(Warakabra the snake killer)
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