Y is for yellow-bellied asity
The yellow-bellied asity is a tiny, extraordinarily beautiful, brilliantly plumaged bird. It lives in high-elevation forests in Madagascar.
It has a downwardly curving, black beak and drinks nectar using its long, hollow tongue. Despite being very small it defends its nectar sources bravely, flashing its bright yellow throat feathers at creatures many times its size, even humans.
For some time this bird was thought to be extinct, possibly because it lives at high elevations, but it was then rediscovered. However there are still encroachments of deforestation in its territory and it is classified by the IUCN Red List for Threatened Species as Vulnerable.
Quickie poem:
Yellow-Bellied Asity
The yellow-bellied asity
is famed for its audacity,
defending with tenacity,
has gymnastic capacity
and black bill with curvacity
which tops many hued vivacity
and iridescentacity.
If you’d like to read more about this little bird, click here: Wikipedia.
If you’d like to read about the IUCN Red List for Threatened Species, click here: IUCN Red List.
If you’d like to blog hop to another blog doing the A-Z Challenge, click here: A-Z Challenge.
Illustration, poem © Liz Brownlee – all material protected by copyright, please do not repost. You can link to this post.
- Posted in: A-Z Blog Challenge 2012 - A-Z of Amazing threatened Animals!
- Tagged: animal, art, beautiful, bird, endangered, forest, madagascar, nature, poetry, science
lizbrownlee - poet 
Naures creative wonder surely brings us some fabulous birds!
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Hi Liz,
I was nominated for the Liebster blog award and have nominated you and four other blogs of this same award. Go here and read about it and copy and paste your blog award for yours! You deserve it!
http://authoradduling.blogspot.com/
A.D.
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Thank you so much, A. D. but even though I’ve only had the blog for 5 weeks, I do have 294 followers, which means I don’t qualify. You have to have fewer than 200 followers.
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I didnt see your numbers but still wanted to nominate, that is so awesome, you are too cool! :0)
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WOW!! Nice poem. You must have a large rhyming dictionary, if there is such a thing. That is amazing the words that went into that poem. Very good, or should I say – Bravo!
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I do have rhyming dictionaries, but luckily my brain supplies rhymes too! The last three words aren’t real words though, I made them up to go with the rhyme – its beak should be curvacious, and it would be vivid, and iridescent! Only in poetry can you do this…
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Another one I haven’t heard of. Thank for all these informative posts and brilliant poems.
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Thank you Shirley. It is exquisite isn’t it. Madagascar is very high on my list of places of to go when I wake up a millionaire.
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What a brilliant “quickie” poem for a brilliant little bird.
Hope the poetry weekend is living up to its promise.
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Thanks, Liz. Not a weekend, ’tis a week – I go on Monday. SO looking forward to it! It will live up to its promise, it always does, it can’t fail, it’s full of lovely poets.
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That was a tongue-twister!
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Only if you use your tongue…
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