Bulletin 269 - Ecuador 2016 #3 - Tanagers, cardinals and warblers

I have been asked to provide the location where the birds were found. I will try to provide proximity information, at least to the lodge where we stayed, when we saw the bird.

Shiripuno Lodge in Amazon  (SH)
Archidona a town on the east slope  (AR)
San Isidro Lodge at a higher elevation on east slope (SI)
Guango Lodge even higher on east slope (GU)
Puembo - a suburb of Quito at a B&B for birders (PU)
Antisana reserve on the paramo    (AN)
Yanacocha reserve   (YA)
Mindo area on west slope has several close reserves that we visited (MI)

At the end of each bird description, I will give the 2 letter code where the photo was taken.

We saw the beautiful tangara tanagers in Bulletin 267. Here are some other colorful tanagers. The 7" Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager (Anisognathus igniventris) is mostly black and red with a blue wing patch and rump.  YA

Scarlet-bellied Mountain-Tanager

The 7" Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager (Anisognathus somptuosus) is black and yellow with blue wings and tail.    MI

Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager

The dacnis genus are a group of small tanagers. The 4.5" male Yellow-tufted Dacnis (Dacnis egregia) is black and turquoise with a yellow eye and yellow wing patch.   MI

Yellow-tufted Dacnis - male

A similar bird is the male 4.5" Black-faced Dacnis (Dacnis lineata) It is black and blue with a yellow eye.    SH

Black-faced Dacnis - male

The largest tanager I have encountered is the spectacular 9" White-capped Tanager (Sericossypha albocristata). This was perhaps the most exciting bird for my guide on the trip as this scarce bird was found only 30 feet off the road and stayed in the open for several minutes. It is black with a snow white cap. The male has a red throat and it is duller in the female. A short time later we saw a flock of 1/2 dozen birds at a distance.     SI

White-capped Tanager - female

The 7" male Red-hooded Tanager (Piranga rubriceps) is now in the cardinal family. It is yellow with dark wings and a red head and breast. The female has less red on the breast.  GU

Red-hooded Tanager - male

Another cardinal family member is the 8" Golden Grosbeak (Pheucticus chrysogaster). The female shown here is yellow with black wings and dusky cheeks, head and back. The male would be bright yellow and lacks the dusky markings.    YA

Golden Grosbeak - female

I photographed 1 new warbler species on the trip, the 5" Three-striped Warbler (Basileuterus tristriatus). It is olive above, yellow below and a black and white striped face.   SI

Three-striped Warbler

The last bird is the 5" Spectacled Redstart (Myioborus melanocephalus). It is a an easy ID with charcoal upper, bright yellow below and yellow spectacles. Note also the red cap.  GU

Spectacled Redstart

You can see more of these families of birds, as I have updated the families with the new photos.

I have photos of 80 of the 370 tanagers here.

29 of the 65 cardinal species can be viewed here.

And 69 of the 120 New World warblers can be seem here.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2016 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.

Bulletin 268 - Ecuador 2106 #2 - Barbets and Toucans

I have been asked to provide the location where the birds were found. I will try to provide proximity information, at least to the lodge where we stayed, when we saw the bird.

Shiripuno Lodge in Amazon  (SH)
Archidona a town on the east slope  (AR)
San Isidro Lodge at a higher elevation on east slope (SI)
Guango Lodge even higher on east slope (GU)
Puembo - a suburb of Quito at a B&B for birders (PU)
Antisana reserve on the paramo    (AN)
Yanacocha reserve   (YA)
Mindo area on west slope has several close reserves that we visited (MI)

At the end of each bird description, I will give the 2 letter code where the photo was taken.

There are 15 species of New World barbets. They are small colorful fruit eating birds with heavy bills. They are closely related to the toucans. The 6" male Red-headed Barbet (Eubucco bourcierii) has a bright red head, green back, yellow belly and a yellow bill. I had photographed him before, but this was a better photo.    MI

Red-headed Barbet - male

The 7" male Scarlet-crowned Barbet (Capito aurovirens) has a red cap, orange breast and brown back.  AR

Scarlet-crowned Barbet - male

There is an even smaller family of just 2 species called the Toucan Barbets. I had photographed one in Costa Rica at Easter, the Prong-billed Barbet. The other is found in Columbia and Ecuador. The  9" Toucan Barbet (Semnornis ramphastinus) is an amazing multicolored bird with a very heavy bill. The sexes are similar, but the female is duller.  MI

Toucan Barbet

And another photo of this amazing bird.

Toucan Barbet

Even larger birds are the well known toucans. We found and photographed 8 species, 7 of which were new species to photo and most of these were life birds. The smallest of the toucans are the toucanets. The 13" White-throated Toucanet (Aulacorhynchus albivitta) has a green body, white throat, and brown bill with yellow along the top.   SI 

White-throated Toucanet

The 14" Crimson-rumped Toucanet (Aulacorhynchus haematopygus) is also green but has a red rump, and some turquoise on the chest and a brown bill. Notice this bird has his bill broken.   MI

Crimson-rumped Toucanet

Aracaris are mid-sized toucans with thinner pointed bills. They tend to have black back, with yellow underparts with some horizontal stripes. The 14" Ivory-billed Aaracari (Pteroglossus azara) has a wide red and black stripes above the yellow. The bill is almost all white.   SH

Ivory-billed Aracari

The 17" Many-banded Aracari (Pteroglossus pluricinctus) has a narrow black and red stripes and a brown and yellow bill.    SH

Many-banded Aracari

The 16" Pale-mandibled Aracari (Pteroglossus erythropygius) has a mostly yellow bill and just a single black stripe on his belly.    MI

Pale-mandibled Aracari

The toucans are mostly black with a colored throat and wide colorful bill. The 18" Choco Toucan (Ramphastos brevis) has a 2 tone bill and yellow throat. has has green skin around the eye.   MI

Choco Toucan

The huge 22" White-throated Toucan (Ramphastos tucanus) has a white throat, brown mandible with yellow and blue at the base and blue skin around the eye.     SH

White-throated Toucan

Another interesting group of toucans are the 4 mountain toucans. They have brown backs and pale blue underparts. I saw my first one ever on this trip, the 17" Plate-billed Mountain Toucan (Andigena laminorostris).    MI

Plate-billed Mountain Toucan

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2016 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.

Bulletin 267 - Ecuador 2106 #1 - Tanagers

I just got back from a 12 day tour to birding spots in northern Ecuador. I used the same guide as last year, Pablo Andrade. We started in the Amazon and visited several locations on both slopes of the Andes as well as way up on the paramo (tundra) at 15,000 feet elevation.

It was a huge success with 137 new species of birds, (23 hummers, 21 tanagers, 5 antpittas, condor) and 11 mammals, and a caiman and anaconda. Thanks Pablo for an amazing trip.

I have been asked to provide the location where the birds were found. I will try to provide proximity information at least to the lodge where we stayed when we saw the bird.

Shiripuno Lodge in Amazon  (SH)
Archidona a town on the east slope  (AR)
San Isidro Lodge at a higher elevation on east slope (SI)
Guango Lodge even higher on east slope (GU)
Puembo - a suburb of Quito at a B&B for birders (PU)
Antisana reserve on the paramo    (AN)
Yanacocha reserve   (YA)
Mindo area on west slope has several close reserves that we visited (MI)

At the end of each bird description, I will give the 2 letter code where the photo was taken.

So here are some of the tanagers. The tangara genus is considered to be the most beautiful tanagers. The plainest of them on the trip is the 5.5" Scrub Tanager (Tangara vitriolina). It is pale green with a rufous cap and dark mask. PU

Scrub Tanager

The  5" Black-capped Tanager (Tangara heinei) is blue with light blue throat and black cap.  SI

Black-capped Tanager

Another blue and black one is the 5.25" Beryl-spangled Tanager (Tangara nigroviridis). Is is several shades of blue.  SI

Beryl-spangled Tanager

And a third one is the 5" Blue-necked Tanager (Tangara cyanicollis). This one has a splash of yellow on the shoulder.  MI

Blue-necked Tanager

A real stunner is the 5.25" Saffron-crowned Tanager (Tangara xanthocephala). We got several good views of this bird from a rooftop deck at San Isidro lodge.

Saffron-crowned Tanager

The 5" Golden-naped Tanager (Tangara ruficervix) is another black and blue one, but he has a yellow patch on the back of his head.   MI

Golden-naped Tanager

The 5.5" Golden Tanager (Tangara arthus) is a bright orange-gold with black markings on wings and a spot on the cheek.  MI

Golden Tanager

The 4.75" Rufous-throated Tanager (Tangara rifigula) has a black head, spotted breast, scaly back and rufous throat.   MI

Rufous-throated Tanager

The last of the these is the 5.5" Flame-faced Tanager (Tangara parzudakii). It is black and blue with a red and orange face.  MI

Flame-faced Tanager

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2016 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.

Bulletin 266 - Costa Rica 2016 #10 - woodpeckers, trogons, monkeys

This is the last of the Costa Rica series from my 2016 trip. Thanks again to my wonderful guide, Johan Fernandez who showed me many amazing birds and also taught me some photography tricks.

Trogons are 9-14" colorful birds that usually sit quietly and are fairly easy to photograph. That makes them popular with me!

The 11" male Black-headed Trogon (Trogon malanocephalus) has a black head, yellow belly and a blue eye ring.

Black-headed Trogon - male

The 9" male Black-throated Trogon (Trogon rufus) has a gren head with black throat anfd yellow belly and bill.

Black-throated Trogon - male

The 12" Lattice-tailed Trogon (Trogon clathratus) is endemic to Costa Rica and Panama. I only saw the female. She has a gray head, red belly and finely barred tail.

Lattice-tailed Trogon - female

There were 2 melanerpes woodpeckers seen. The 7" Red-crowned Woodpecker (Melanerpes rubricapillus) has a red head and belly along with the streaked back typical of this genus. I though it was neat to photo him on a banana flower that matched his head.

Red-crowned Woodpecker - male on banana flower

A new species to photo was the 7" Hoffmann's Woodpecker (Melanerpes hoffmannii). The male just has a red cap on top of his head. It is found from southern Honduras to northern Costa Rica. The female has no red at all.

Hoffmann's Woodpecker - male

I got closer photos of a 13" Pale-billed Woodpecker (Camppophilus guatemalensis). The male has an all red head with a white eye. This is one of the 2 largest woodpeckers in Costa Rica

Pale-billed Woodpecker - male

The smallest woodpecker was also a new one for me. The 4" Olivaceous Piculet (Picumnus olivaceus). This bird was also in the Alexander Skutch preserve. The guides there knew where the nest hole was and the male was there with his head out. He is olive with a red forehead and spotted crown

Olivaceous Piculet - male in nest hole

A real treat was getting 2 new monkey species photos. The 42" Central American Spider Monkey (Ateles geoffroyi) has a brown body and darker head and limbs. We saw a troop one day and I got several photos.

Central American Spider Monkey

I did not see it while I was taking the photos, but one had a baby on her back.

Central American Spider Monkey - with baby

The other monkey was a life mammal. The 36" White-faced Capuchin (Cebus capucinus). This distinctive monkey has a black body and cream chest and head with a bare pink face. There was a group of them and I had to walk through the bush to get a photo (always a scary thought to go off the trails). One stayed down almost at eye level, but the rest had climbed into the canopy. I got one photo and he too scrambled up the tree. I asked the guide, whether they were subject to skin cancer with the bare pink face. He didn't know. Well when I got home and developed the photo, he has the end of his nose gone. This could certainly be an injury from a fight, but it could also be typical of a skin cancer. I think he must have been the old man of the troop to stay down and assess the danger as I approached,. If so, then he certainly would be old enough to get skin cancer if they are susceptible to it. The life span is up to 50 years.

These are very intelligent monkeys and use tools frequently. They are the traditional monkey for the organ grinder and can be taught to assist paraplegics as helpers.

I was so close, this is the whole photo.

White-faced Capuchin with tip of nose missing

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2016 David McDonald

To have these trip reports sent to your email, please email me at the above address and ask to subscribe.