Bulletin 342 - 100 Birds to See Before You Die - # 3

I discovered this book "100 Birds to See Before you Die" by 2 Brits David Chandler and Dominic Couzens about 11 years ago while browsing in a bookstore on vacation. The sub title is "The Ultimate Wish List for Birders Everywhere". It sort of peaked my interest as a 'bucket list' of the rarest and most unusual birds in the world, according to the 2 authors.

It has the smallest (Bee Hummingbird)  and largest (Ostrich) birds, some of the most beautiful (Birds of Paradise) and some quite ugly (Shoebill) and strange (Hoatzin). There are birds on all the continents as well as Arctic and Antarctic regions. 

There are also a number of island endemics. In the south Pacific, there are entries for Hawaii (1), New Caledonia (2) , New Guinea (3), Sulawesi (1), Mindanao (1), and New Zealand (2). The Galapagos has 1 entry.  Madagascar has 3. The Caribbean is well represented with Cuba (1), Hispaniola (2) and Montserrat (1).

There are about 240 families of birds, so obviously they are not all represented on this list. There are 3 each of Birds-of-Paradise, Gulls and Terns, Cotingas, and Tyrant Flycatchers. There are several unique birds that are sole members of their family. These are the Hoatzin, Kagu, Oilbird, Crab Plover, Ibisbill, Wallcreeper and Shoebill, For those of us in North America, not a single New World Warbler is on the list.

Each entry has a full page photograph and facing page article of what makes the bird rare, unusual or interesting to warrant its inclusion.

This is the third group of 10 birds. The first installment is here. And the second is here.

Number 86 is the Paradise Tanager (Tangara chilensis). This very gaudy bird is what everyone thinks jungle birds should be like. It is a resident in Amazonia.

Paradise Tanager

Number 68 is the Golden-headed Manakin (Ceratopipra erythrocephala). These 3.5" birds are resident of northern South America. The males are black with a yellow head. the males perform elaborate dance displays on the lek to attract a female.

Golden-headed Manakin - male

Number 62 is the Little Forktail (Enicurus scouleri). This 5" black and white cutie is a resident along fast flowing streams in high mountains at an altitude of 5,500 to 11,000 feet in southest Asia. It is one of 8 species of forktails in the old world flycatcher family.

Little Forktail

Number 56 is the Pearled Treerunner (Margarornis squamiger). This brown bird with spotted breast is a common bird in the montane forests of the Andes from Venezuela to Bolivia. I have seen it several times. It is a member of the ovenbird family.

Pearled Treerunner

Number 53 is the magnificent Blue-and-yellow Macaw (Ara ararauna). It is resident in Amazonia and south-central South America. 

Blue-and-yellow Macaw

Number 51 is the Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops). This 11" bird has a huge crest and long thin bill. It is a common bird across Eurasia and one of 3 species of hoopoe. The photos in the book show it with its crest elevated but I have not seen that yet.

Eurasian Hoopoe

Number 36 is the strange looking Hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoatzin). This prehistoric looking bird resides along slow moving streams in Amazonia. It is the sole member of the Hoatzin family.

Hoatzin

Number 29 is the Andean Cock-of-the-Rock (Rupicola peruvianus). This is one of the 3 cotingas in the book and the most beautiful with his bushy crest and red and black with silver plumage.

Andean Cock-of-the-Rock - male

Number 27 is the huge Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus). It is the worlds largest bird of prey with a length to 50 inches, weight to 33 pounds and wingspan of 10.5 feet.

Andean Condor

Number 19 is the Oilbird (Steatornis caripensis). It is a noctunal bird related to nightjars, but it is a fruit eater. It is unique in its own family. They roost in caves during the day. This one was photographed in Colombia. It is a resident from Panama across northern south America and on Trinidad.

Oilbird

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2019 David McDonald

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

Bulletin 341 - South Africa #18 - Part 1 - Bulbuls and other songbirds, antelope, lion

I had an amazing 2 week trip to South Africa and scored almost 280 new species of birds as well as fantastic mammals and a few reptiles. My guide Casper Badenhorst was outstanding. You can see his web site here. He can be contacted through the web site or if you want his email it is info@birdingandwildlifesafaris.com. I recommend him highly as he showed me so many rare birds and animals. I will use him again when I go to Southern Africa. 

Bulbuls are a large family of medium sized songbirds in Africa and Asia. I first encountered them in China last March where I photographed 7 species. I found another 4 new ones on this trip. The 8" Dark-capped Bulbul (Pycnonotus tricolor) is a brown bird with light underside and dark brown face, The vent is yellow. Sexes are similar. I thought this was a cute photo with the pair sitting side-by-side.

Dark-capped Bulbul

 The 8" Terrestrial Brownbul  (Phyllastrephus terrestris) ha a reddish brown back, a white throat and red eye.

Terrestrial Brownbul

The 9" Yellow-bellied Greenbul (Chlorocichla flaviventris) had an olive back, yellowish underside and white eye arcs.

Yellow-bellied Greenbul

The 7.5"  Sombre Greenbul (Andropadus importunus) is olive above, pale below and he has a white eye.

Sombre Greenbul

Babblers are songbirds in several different families. The 9" Arrow-marked Babbler (Turdoides jardineii) is in the laughingthrush family. They forage on the ground in leaf litter. it is a gray-brown bird with spotted breast and yellow eye.

Arrow-marked Babbler

The 4" Cape White-eye (Zosterops capensis) is of course in the white-eye family. It is olive above with a yellow throat and bright white eye ring.

Cape White-eye

The estrildid finch family is a large (141 species) family of small colorful songbirds, many of which are used in the pet trade. All the rest of the birds in this bulletin are in this family.

The 5" male Green-winged Pytilia (Pytilia melba) is olive above and on the breast, with a gray and red head, and black streaked underside.

Green-winged Pytilia - male

Twinspots all have black undersides with white pots. The 4" male Green Twinspot (Mandingoa nitidula) has an olive back and red face.

Green Twinspot - male

The 4.5" male Pink-throated Twinspot (Hypargos margaritatus) has a brown back and pink face and breast. He also has a bright blue eye ring.

Pink-throated Twinspot - male

Firefinches are all reddish. The 4" male African Firefinch (Lagonostcita rubricata) has a brown back, red underparts and pink face with a bluish bill.

African Firefinch - male

Continued on part 2

Bulletin 341 - South Africa #18 - Part 2 - Bulbuls and other songbirds, antelope, lion

Continued from part 1

The 4" male Red-billed Firefinch (Lagonosticta senegala) has a brown back, red bill and red face and breast.

Red-billed Firefinch - male

The 4" male Jameson's Firefinch (Lagonosticta rhodopareia) is brown above and has a pink face and breast.

Jameson's Firefinch - male

Waxbills are popular cage birds and I photographed 3 species. The sexes are the same color. The 4" Common Waxbill (Estrilda astrild) is brown and gray with a red bill and red eye stripe.

Common Waxbill

The 4" Gray Waxbill (Estrilda perreini) is all gray with a red rump and black eye stripe.

Gray Waxbill

The 4.5" Blue Waxbill (Uraeginthus angolensis) is brown above with an aqua face and underparts. Here is one with nesting material. It is a beautiful little bird.

Blue Waxbill

The 3.5" Bronze Mannikin (Lonchura cucullata) has a brown back, black head and pale undersie.

Bronze Mannikin

The 4" Red-backed Mannikin (Lonchura nigriceps) is similar, but the back is rufous. There is a completely black head and breast

Red-backed Mannikin

There are a few remaining mammals that I have not described yet. The Black Wildebeest (Connochaetes gnou) appear dark brown to black with a black face and short curved horns. The males can weigh up to 450 pounds.

Black Wildebeest

The Blue Wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) is dark gray with black straking on the shoulders and neck. The males can weigh up to 550 pounds.

Blue Wildebeest

The Red Hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus) is reddish brown with distinctive horns that curve upwards and then sharply posteriorly. The males can weigh up to 330 pounds.

Red Hartebeest

The Bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus) is a medium sized reddish-brown antelope with white spots on the flanks and thighs. The males can weigh up to 110 pounds I did not photograph a male. This female went into the edge of a lake to eat the water lilies. The lake was full of crocodiles and I was expecting to see her grabbed and eaten. Fortunately, she finished her meal and went back to shore unharmed.

Bushbuck

One of the sights in Africa is the Dung Beetle. These beetles make balls for the manure of the large mammals and roll it to a chosen spot,. They bury the dung ball and lay their eggs in it. Here is a beetle pushing his ball along. They use their back legs.

Dung Beetle

Finally, the last Africa photo, the king of beasts. The Lion (Panthera leo) is the second largest of the cats. I learned that lions are very lazy animals as they only have to hunt every 4 or 5 days, so they spend most of the time sleeping and chilling out. The male has a mane as you know.

Lion - male

This is one of the few photos of a lion actually standing .

Lioness

Mostly we saw them lying down or like this pair sleeping.

Lions

Thanks again to my guide Casper Badenhorst for an amazing 16 day trip around eastern South Africa.

I put the different bird/mammal families in single folders for easy viewing

I have photos of 14 of the 153 species of  bulbuls

I have photos of 2 of the 129 species of white-eyes

I have photos of 6 of the 135 species of laughingthrushes

I have photos of 15 of the 141 species of waxbills, mannikins

I have photos of 23 of the 147 species of cattle, sheep, goats, buffalo


I have photos of 5 of the 39 species of cats

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2019 David McDonald

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

Bulletin 340 - South Africa #17 - Part 1 - Vultures, Cuckoos, Secretarybird, Mousebirds

I had an amazing 2 week trip to South Africa and scored almost 280 new species of birds as well as fantastic mammals and a few reptiles. My guide Casper Badenhorst was outstanding. You can see his web site here. He can be contacted through the web site or if you want his email it is info@birdingandwildlifesafaris.com. I recommend him highly as he showed me so many rare birds and animals. I will use him again when I go to Southern Africa.

The 55" Secretarybird (Sagittarius serpentarius) is a unique long-legged raptor in its own family. It has long plumes on the back of the head and very long tail feathers.

Secretarybird

Secretarybird

The Old Word vultures are included in the same family as hawks and eagles, unlike the New World vultures which are a separate family. I saw 6 species for the trip. The smallest is the 24" Palm-nut Vulture (Gypohierax angolensis). It is always associated with raphia palms as about 2/3 of its diet is the nuts of this tree. It is very rare in South Africa because that tree is not native there, but has been planted. The birds have followed.  This was another stroke of luck to see this bird. The guides 17 year old son, who is also a birder, has never seen this species. Here he is on top of that palm tree.

Palm-nut Vulture

The next larger is the 30" Hooded Vulture (Necrosyrtes monachus) It is a brown vulture with a white face, that turns red when excited.

Hooded Vulture

The 38" White-headed Vulture (Trigonoceps occipitalis) is black above, white below and a white head. This one has his crop full after gorging on a carcass, we will see later.

White-headed Vulture

The next larger is the 40" White-backed Vulture (Gyps africanus). It is beige or brown backed with a gray neck and black face and bill.

White-backed Vulture

The 46" Cape Vulture (Gyps coprotheres) is a huge white headed vulture that I only saw overhead.

Cape Vulture

 The 46" Lappet-faced Vulture (Torgos tracheliotus) is a huge brown vulture with a pink head. Because of its size, it is able to tear open some larger carcasses when the smaller vultures cannot. The locals call it the 'can opener'.

Lappet-faced Vulture

I am sure everyone has seen nature shows of vultures fighting over a carcass. We saw this spectacle once. Here is a dead hyena and the vultures are swarming around trying to get at it.

Vultures

And in this one, some jackals are trying to get in as well.

 Vultures and jackal

Most cuckoos in the Old World are parasitic which means they lay their eggs in other birds nests (like our cowbirds here in Americas). 

The 12" Red-chested Cuckoo (Cuculus solitarius) has a gray head and back and a brick red chest.

Red-chested Cuckoo

The 7" male Klaas's Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx klaas) is bright green above and white below.

Klaas's Cuckoo - male

The 8" male Diederik Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx caprius) is dark green on the back and wings with white spots on the wings and tail. It is snow white below and has a red eye.

Diederik Cuckoo - male

But the most beautiful is the 8" male African Emerald Cuckoo (Chrysococcyx cupreus) It is glossy green with a bright yellow breast and belly.

African Emerald Cuckoo - male

Continued on Part 2