- Winter is also time of... (2)
Erythrina Mulungu and its "customers"
July and August are months rich in beauty and color here.
Crossing the mountains that separate Rio de Janeiro from São Paulo, with a halfway detour to Minas Gerais, this is the time when the green is punctuated by many trees with red flowers, others in coral tones.
Erythrina mulungu, known by the common names of Murungu, Mulungu-coral, is an endemic tree in Brazil, found in several national ecosystem including the Amazon and Atlantic Forest.
The species is used as an ornamental tree in tropical and subtropical regions and as a medicinal plant in traditional South American medicine, especially in Brazil. The tree is 10 to 25 m tall, blooms from mid-August with the tree completely leafless, lasting until the end of September. Its flowers are much sought after by hummingbirds and other birds to suck their nectar.
The fruits ripen in October-November with the plant still without leaves, but they are not edible.
Studies show that the plant has sedative, anxiolytic and anticonvulsant properties.
In my hometown I saw specimens of this beautiful and exuberant flowering being attacked by flocks of Maritacas, and I ended up feeling a small shower of flowers on my head, as the clumsy creatures lose a lot of food on these wild visits to the trees where they feed on.
Maritaca is a popular term to refer to the various species of birds in the parrot family. Depending on the region, Maritaca is the name used for medium-sized birds, which are smaller than parrots.
In the first photo you can see the Psittacara leucophthalma (Periquitão Maracanã) which has an “oval” shaped head, general green coloration with the sides of the head and neck with some red feathers. The average size is 32cm. In juveniles, the red feathers on the head and under the wings are absent, being entirely green in color.
The species flyes in flocks of 5 to 40 individuals, sleeping collectively in different places.
Found from the east of the Andes, from Colombia and Venezuela to the north of Argentina and Uruguay, including part of the Amazon and almost all of Brazil.
In the second photo another species, the Brotogeris chiriri (Yellow-winged Parakeet or Star Parakeet).
It is found in Central and Eastern Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Eastern Paraguay, Uruguay and Peru. In the national territory, it occurs from the South to the extreme of Pará, Ceará, Maranhão, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Pantanal, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
Both species were feeding from the same tree when I took these photos.
- Winter is also time of... (2)
Erythrina Mulungu and its "customers"
July and August are months rich in beauty and color here.
Crossing the mountains that separate Rio de Janeiro from São Paulo, with a halfway detour to Minas Gerais, this is the time when the green is punctuated by many trees with red flowers, others in coral tones.
Erythrina mulungu, known by the common names of Murungu, Mulungu-coral, is an endemic tree in Brazil, found in several national ecosystem including the Amazon and Atlantic Forest.
The species is used as an ornamental tree in tropical and subtropical regions and as a medicinal plant in traditional South American medicine, especially in Brazil. The tree is 10 to 25 m tall, blooms from mid-August with the tree completely leafless, lasting until the end of September. Its flowers are much sought after by hummingbirds and other birds to suck their nectar.
The fruits ripen in October-November with the plant still without leaves, but they are not edible.
Studies show that the plant has sedative, anxiolytic and anticonvulsant properties.
In my hometown I saw specimens of this beautiful and exuberant flowering being attacked by flocks of Maritacas, and I ended up feeling a small shower of flowers on my head, as the clumsy creatures lose a lot of food on these wild visits to the trees where they feed on.
Maritaca is a popular term to refer to the various species of birds in the parrot family. Depending on the region, Maritaca is the name used for medium-sized birds, which are smaller than parrots.
In the first photo you can see the Psittacara leucophthalma (Periquitão Maracanã) which has an “oval” shaped head, general green coloration with the sides of the head and neck with some red feathers. The average size is 32cm. In juveniles, the red feathers on the head and under the wings are absent, being entirely green in color.
The species flyes in flocks of 5 to 40 individuals, sleeping collectively in different places.
Found from the east of the Andes, from Colombia and Venezuela to the north of Argentina and Uruguay, including part of the Amazon and almost all of Brazil.
In the second photo another species, the Brotogeris chiriri (Yellow-winged Parakeet or Star Parakeet).
It is found in Central and Eastern Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Eastern Paraguay, Uruguay and Peru. In the national territory, it occurs from the South to the extreme of Pará, Ceará, Maranhão, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Pantanal, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.
Both species were feeding from the same tree when I took these photos.