Bulletin 284 - Colombia #7 - Tanagers part 2

Pablo Florez, the main guide, has co-written a book where to bird in Colombia. In it, he has a list of the Top 30 Most Sought-after Birds by a group of 40 birders visiting Colombia. I saw 12 of them on the trip and got photos of 10. When I show one of these birds,  I will mention its placement on the list.

As everyone knows, the tanager family (Thraupidae) has some of the most colorful birds. In the first part we saw a number of them, so here are the rest from this remarkable trip.

The Bangsia genus consists of just 5 species of tanagers. These are birds of the mountains and until recently some of them have been rarely seen. These tanagers have relatively short tails. One of them is resident in Costa Rica and Panama, the Blue-and-gold Tanager. I saw and photographed it earlier this year. in Costa Rica. The other 4 are in Colombia and 2 are endemic and we saw both at Tatama National Park in the cloud forest.

The 6" Black-and-gold Tanager (Bangsia melanochlamys) is more common than the next one, but it still is an uncommon bird and is #8 on the list of most sought after birds in Colombia. It is listed as vulnerable.  This was a lifer.

Black-and-gold Tanager 

The 6" Gold-ringed Tanager (Bangsia aureocincta) is perhaps the most famous tanager in Colombia as it is on the cover of both 'Field Guide to Birds of Columbia' and 'Birdwatching in Colombia'.. In the Steven Hilty 1986 classic "Guide to the Birds of Colombia", he says this bird is poorly known from only 2 mountainous areas. It is listed as endangered and is #5 on the list of most sought-after birds in Colombia. The male is green with a black head and an incomplete gold ring on sides of head. This was a lifer.

Gold-ringed Tanager - male

The female is similar, except the black of head is replaced by green.

Gold-ringed Tanager - female

The 7" Blue-capped Tanager (Thraupis cyanocephala) is blue and yellow. It is much more colorful than the illustration in the guide books. This was a lifer. 

Blue-capped Tanager

The 7" Purplish-mantled Tanager (Iridosornis porphyrocephalus) has a purple hood and yellow throat. This was a lifer.

Purplish-mantled Tanager

The next one is a bird that I have loved the photo in the guide books for 20 years and finally I saw it on this trip. It is the 6" Swallow Tanager (Tersina viridis). The male is turquoise with a black face and a pale blue belly with some horizontal black streaks on flanks.

Swallow Tanager - male

The female is green and she lacks the black face.

 Swallow Tanager - female

The tangara genus of small tanagers are often the most colorful and here are 2 from the trip. Both were birds I had seen before. The 5" Plain-colored Tanager (Tangara inornata) as the name suggests is the exception to the rule. It is gray with a blue wing patch.

Plain-colored Tanager

The 5" Scrub Tanager (Tangara vitriolina) is aqua with a rufous cap.

Scrub Tanager

Finally, flowerpiercers are tanagers with a specialized hooked upper beak for making holes in the base of flowers and directly getting the nectar. 2 of them were colorful on this trip. The 6" Masked Flowerpiercer (Diglossa cyanea) is bright blue with a black mask and bright red eye.

Masked Flowerpiercer

The 5" Chestnut-bellied Flowerpiercer (Diglossa gloriosissima) is black with a rufous belly. This endangered species is endemic to Colombia and found only on two mountain tops. This bird was photographed at Tatama National Park. 

Chestnut-bellied Flowerpiercer

I have updated my tanager family photos and have 97 of the 370 species here.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2017 David McDonald

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

Bulletin 283 - Colombia #6 - Hawks, Parrots, Toucan

Pablo Florez, the main guide, has co-written a book where to bird in Colombia. In it, he has a list of the Top 30 Most Sought-after Birds by a group of 40 birders visiting Colombia. I saw 12 of them on the trip and got photos of 10. When I show one of these birds,  I will mention its placement on the list.

One of the stranger things I have noticed in the tropics is the scarcity of raptors (except vultures). In Texas we have hawks everywhere and in winter, it is not uncommon to see a dozen or more in a mornings outing. I did get 3 hawk photos on this trip, but no falcons.

The first is the 15" adult Double-toothed Kite (Harpagus bidentatus). I had previously photographed an immature of this species. The black vertical stripe in center of throat is diagnostic for this species.

Double-toothed Kite - adult

The 24" Savanna Hawk (Buteogallus meridionalis) is beige overall.

Savanna Hawk

And the last was a treat. I have looked for this bird for years and finally found it. It is the 19" Crane Hawk (Geranospiza caerulescens). It is named for the very long legs. It is gray with a red eye and red legs. It was a lifer for me.

Crane Hawk

I also saw several new parrots on this trip and the highlight was the 18" Yellow-eared Parrot (Ognorhyncus icterotis). This bird was thought to be extinct, but a small population of 81 birds was discovered in April 1999. The area was set aside as a reserve. The problem with this bird is that it only nests in wax palm trees. These palms themselves are endangered due to logging and use of the fronds in Palm Sunday celebrations. But a national education program was developed and land owners encouraged to preserve the trees. Also, nest boxes were provided to supplement nest cavities. The population has since climbed to over 1,000 birds and it has been downgraded from critically endangered to endangered. It is bright green with a long tail and yellow cheek patch and yellow underparts.

This bird is number 3 on the top 30 list mentioned above. The guide said that most visiting birders normally only see these birds flying high on the way to or from their night roost. In the morning it was foggy and I could just see that they were parrots. However we went back in the late afternoon and it was clear and several pairs were seen a long way off on the palms. A pair did fly closer and I got this photo.

Yellow-eared Parrot

And then they landed in a bare tree not too far away.

Yellow-eared Parrot

Yellow-eared Parrot

The 16" Scarlet-fronted Parakeet (Psittacara wagleri) is a resident of Venezuela to Peru. I had seen and photographed this species in Miami where many parrots have been released or escaped. But this was my first occasion to see the bird in the wild. It is green with a scarlet forehead.

Scarlet-fronted Parakeet

The 7" Orange-chinned Parakeet (Brotogeris jugularis) is a small green parakeet with a white eye ring and hard to see orange chin patch.

Orange-chinned Parakeet

The 11" Bronze-winged Parrot (Pionus chalcopterus) is blue with bronzy wings.

Bronze-winged Parrot

Lastly is the 5" Spectacled Parrotlet (Forpus conspicillatus). It is green with blue around the eye.

Spectacled Parrotlet

The only new toucan was a far off 18" Black-billed Mountain Toucan (Andigena nigrirostris). It is blue and white underneath with a solid black bill/

Black-billed Mountain Toucan

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2017 David McDonald

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