Bulletin 315 - Guatemala 2018 #1 - Parrots, waders and others

I went for a third visit to Guatemala in May. Once again, I used the wonderful local guide Knut Eisermann of Cayaya Birding. On this visit, we went to new locations to get new species.

The 13" Buffy-crowned Wood Partridge (Dendrortyx leucophrys) was a treat as quail are so difficult to see and photograph. We also saw Singing Quail, but I was not able to get a photo.

Buffy-crowned Wood Partridge

Another target bird was the last of the cracids in Guatemala, the 24" Highland Guan (Penelopina nigra). It is a large black guan with red bill, throat patch and legs

Highland Guan

 The 38" male Ocellated Turkey (Meleagris ocellata) is a beautiful bird and the same genus as our turkey.

Ocellated Turkey - male

A pair of juvenile 20" Boat-billed Herons (Cochlearius cochlearius) were practically at arms length away. They are an easy ID with the massive bill.

Boat-billed Heron - juvenile

Another wader was the 24" Limpkin (Aramus guarauna). This is a brown bird with white spots and a long bill. It is its own family. I had photographed it years ago in Florida where is the only place to find it in the USA. This was second time to get pics.

Limpkin

They eat snails and he has a snail in his beak.

Limpkin

I also got a couple of new parrot species. The 9" Olive-throated Parakeet (Eupsittula nana) is green with an olive throat and chest.

Olive-throated Parakeet

The 13.5" Red-lored Amazon (Amazona autumnalis) is a green parrot with red in front of the eyes and yellow cheek.

Red-lored Amazon

Red-lored Amazon

The 16" Northern Mealy Amazon (Amazona guatemalae) was high in the treetops in afternoon sunlight.

Northern Mealy Amazon

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

I have photos of 9 of the 34 species of new world quail

I have photos of 16 of the 58 species of guans, chachalacas, currasows

I have photos of 12 of the 180 species of pheasants, grouse. turkeys


I have photos of 25 of the 66 species of herons

I have photos of 37 of the 174 species of new world parrots

Happy birding and photography,


David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2018 David McDonald

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Bulletin 220 - Best of 10 years #3 - waders, water and marsh birds

In this edition, I will look at my favorite photos of the groups that include cranes, waterfowl, herons and rails etc. Many ducks are beautiful in the breeding plumage. The first is the amazing Wood Duck. I photographed this bird in Hermann Park in downtown Houston in 2008.

Wood Duck - male

The next one is the Ruddy Duck. The male in breeding plumage is rusty red, with a black and white head, stiff black tail and blue bill. I saw this bird in Carmel California in 2007 and is the only one I have ever seen in this plumage.

Ruddy Duck - male

The next two birds were photographed in Barrow Alaska in 2010. The male King Eider has a colorful face.

King Eider - male

The Long-tailed Duck was formerly know as Oldsquaw. The breeding male here has a black head and neck with a white face. The body is brown and of course he has long spiky tail feathers.

Long-tailed Duck - male

The Nene is the state bird of Hawaii and it is a handsome goose. The easiest place to see it is on Kauai as there are no introduced mongoose. They can be seen around the resorts etc. On Hawaii and Maui, they are high up on the mountains to avoid predation by the mongoose, so are much more difficult to find.

Nene

The 52 " Whooping Crane is the tallest bird in North America. It is also one of the rarest birds in the world with a wild population less than 500 birds. In the 1941 the population fell to just 23 birds and a joint USA and Canada project was launched to save the species. They summer in northern Alberta and winter on the Texas coast. Attempts are being made to establish other flocks in Florida, Louisiana, and a migratory flock in Wisconsin that was taught to migrate to Florida using an ultralight aircraft as was pioneered in the movie 'Fly Away Home'. See the article in Wikipedia for more info on these efforts.

Whooping Crane
Aransas NWR - Texas

Herons and egrets are very common in the Houston area so we get kind of blase about seeing them, but I have selected 4 for inclusion in my favorites, 2 from my local area, and 2 from Panama.

The most difficult to find member of this family in the USA is the secretive 13" Least Bittern. Fortunately, Anahuac NWR is considered the best place in the USA to look for them. In the summer of 2008, my goal was to get a good photo of this bird. I went there Saturday and Sunday for 2 weekends in a row, but just got some mediocre photos. The next weekend, I tried again. I parked my car at the boardwalk and I guess this bird felt sorry for all my efforts as it climbed up on the reeds to eye level right in front of my car, 15 feet away.

Least Bittern - female

The Reddish Egret is a salt water bird. It occurs around the Gulf coast, and on the Pacific coast from Mexico southwards. Some of the birds are pure white however, and they are rare. Sibley says about 2-7% of the Gulf coast birds are white. None of the Pacific coast birds are. This bird was reported on Bolivar flats in July 2008, and I went the next weekend and found it. It is the only pure white morph bird I have ever seen. So how does one ID this all white bird as this species rather than some other common white heron or egret. First by the size, it is large 30" and much taller than 24" Cattle or Snowy Egrets. Also the location, along salt water. But the pink lower mandible is a clue as the Great Egret has a yellow bill. Also the shaggy plumes on the neck and chest are diagnostic for this species.

Reddish Egret - white morph

The Capped Heron is a really pretty bird with its blue skin around the eye, black cap, yellowish neck and long plumes. It is a South American bird whose range extends into Panama. We only saw this one bird, but he sat still and allowed multiple photos.

Capped Heron

The last heron is the Boat-billed Heron. This nocturnal bird uses stays hidden during the day, but the guide in Panama knew of a roosting place and we saw perhaps 20 birds, both adults and juveniles. It is similar to the common Black-crowned Night-Heron, but has the peculiar enormous bill. I think I had seen this bird only once before in Brazil.

Boat-billed Heron - adult

The rails, coots and gallinules make up a family of chicken-like marsh birds. The coots and gallinules are common and easily seen in the open. Rails, however, are secretive and in general hard to see as they stay in the reeds. My best rail photo in the USA is this Virginia Rail that I photographed in Carmel, California in 2010.

Virginia Rail

The most easily seen rail in the Central America is the 15" Gray-necked Wood-Rail. I had seen it several times before, but on the Costa Rica trip, I got my fist photo of this bird.

Gray-necked Wood-Rail

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2015 David McDonald

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

Bulletin 192 - Panama #3 - Waders and shorebirds

Lisa and I had the pleasure of 7 days birding in central Panama in early February. We hired a guide to show us around and find the birds. The guide was Gonzalo Horna, whom we found on the Birding Pal web site. Gonzalo knew his birds and where to find them. You can contact him by his email.

We saw several of the same herons and egrets that we have in Texas, but also there were 4 new ones.
The first is the smallish (19") elusive Boat-billed Heron (Cochlearius cochlearius) This bird appears similar to the Black-crowned Night-Heron, but has a huge bill. As it is nocturnal primarily, it is difficult to find unless you know where they roost. Even roosting, they tend to be deep in the foliage. Our guide knew of a roost and we saw perhaps a dozen birds. I have only seen a single bird before in 4 previous birding trips to the tropics. The range of this bird in Mexico to Argentina.

Boat-billed Heron - adult

The juvenile is brownish.





Boat-billed Heron - juvenile

The next new bird was the beautiful Capped Heron (Pilherodius pileatus). It is IDed by the black cap, yellowish neck and blue bill and facial skin. The range of this bird is from the Canal Zone in Panama south to Brazil.

Capped Heron

The Cocoi Heron (Ardea cocoi) is a tall (40") heron similar in size and color to the Great Blue Heron. However, the neck is white rather than gray. It replaces the Great Blue Heron in South America. We had to take a boat trip to find this bird.

Cocoi Heron

The last of the new herons was the Rufescent Tiger-Heron  (Tigrisoma lineatum). This bird is 27" tall and has a rufous neck.

Rufescent Tiger-Heron

The Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) is a dark ibis that occurs in eastern USA and throughout much of the world. It is a rare visitor to Texas, and is listed as uncommon in Panama, but we found a flock in some rice fields. In breeding, it is rufous on the body.

Glossy Ibis - breeding

This bird shows the distinctive facial markings of light lines on a dark face.

Glossy Ibis

n unusual and unknown shorebird (at least to non birders) is a jacana. There are 8 species world wide of this unique bird. They have very elongated toes enabling the bird to walk on lily pads and other floating vegetation. 2 species occur in tropical Americas. The Wattled Jacana (Jacana jacana) ranges from Panama to South America. The birds have yellow wing linings which can be seen in flight. The bird is IDed by black body, red face and yellow tip of bill.



Wattled Jacana - adult

Here is one in flight showing the yellow wing linings.



Wattled Jacana - adult

The juvenile has a striped neck, and is brown and white. Notice the long toes.

Wattled Jacana - juvenile

We also saw a downy chick.

Wattled Jacana - chick

And another photo with his foot up, showing he is all toes.

Wattled Jacana - chick

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2014 David McDonald

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