I finally made it back to Colombia for my second visit and again used the guide services of Pablo Florez. I went with my friend Martin Jackson. We visited Inirida on the Orinoco, Santa Marta of course, Guajira Peninsula on the Caribbean coast, and a couple of National Parks around Bogota.
Hawks and falcons are always favorites of birders because of the sense of power and strength. We saw several species of hawks as well as 2 falcon species. Some were life birds and some were 1st time photos of species.
The 20" Black-collared Hawk (Busarellus nigricollis) is a beautiful rufous colored raptor with a white head and black chest. It is found along swamps, mangroves and lakes. It usually perches low to the water as it hunts for fish, amphibians and snails.
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| Black-collared Hawk |
The 20" Common Black Hawk (Buteogallus anthracinus) is also found along waterways. This juvie was photographed in a palm tree on the Caribbean coast.
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| Common Black Hawk - juvenile |
His larger cousin, the 24" Great Black Hawk (Buteogallus urubitinga) is found perched along the waters edge. This was a lifer for me. I had been looking for this bird on all my tropical trips. We were able to approach in the boat to within 10 meters from the bird. Wow
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| Great Black Hawk |
Another smaller cousin is the 15" Slate-colored Hawk (Buteogallus schistaceus). He is also associated with water - but the still black water in flooded forests. He was also a life bird for me.
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| Slate-colored Hawk |
The 18" Grey-lined Hawk (Buteo nitidis) is identical to the Grey Hawk in southern USA. They were split and this bird is south of Costa Rica.
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| Grey-lined Hawk |
The last hawk is the very common 15" Roadside Hawk (Rupornis magnirostris). It has a range from Mexico to Argentina - so a person should see it on every trip.
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| Roadside Hawk |
The 11" Bat Falcon (Falco rufigularis) was a treat to see again. I saw it for the first time in 1993, on my first trip to the tropics in Belize. I had not seen it again until this trip.
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| Bat Falcon |
The 17" adult Black Caracara (Daptrius ater) is an all black bird with reddish facial skin. The juvenile has yellow facial skin.
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| Black Caracara |
I put the different bird/mammal families in single folders for easy viewing
David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com
photos copyright 2006 - 2022 David McDonald
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