It bakes its eggs in an oven and will probably abandon its babies, but is stubbornly faithful to its partner

To call the rufous hornero (Furnarius rufus) unprepossessing would be generous. Compared to the ostentatious plumage of other South American birds, its reddish-brown feathers are vanishingly modest. The species might escape notice entirely were it not for its architectural mastery. Hornero means baker in Spanish, in reference to the oven-shaped nests constructed by breeding pairs to protect […]