Bulletin 332 - South Africa #9 - Part 2 - Tall Waders, Primates

Continued from Part 1


The 22" Hamerkop (Scopus umbretta) is a brown heron-like bird with a long crest giving a hammer-head appearance. It is in its own family.

Hamerkop

Flamingos are well known long legged waders. The 40" Lesser Flamingo (Phoeniconaias minor) is pale pink with a dark bill. This was the only bird I saw on the trip.

Lesser Flamingo

The 60" Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) has brighter pink wings and a pink bill tipped with black.

Greater Flamingo

And in flight, the wings are beautiful.

Greater Flamingo

The 36" African Spoonbill (Platalea alba) is white with a red face and gray bill.

African Spoonbill

There were 3 ibis species. The 23" Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) is a dark ibis with iridescent wings. It is found worldwide including the southeastern USA.

Glossy Ibis

The 32" Hadada Ibis (Bostrychia hagedash) is a gray ibis with a white shoulder and red on the upper mandible. This was a very commonly seen bird on the trip. Interestingly, it is spelled Hadeda in the Southern African book and Hadada in the East African book and on my IOC master list, so I guess that is the correct spelling.

Hadada Ibis

The 32" African Sacred Ibis (Threskiornis aethiopicus) is an easy ID with the white body and black neck, head and bill.

African Sacred Ibis

I saw 4 primates on the trip and photographed 3. The smallest is the 4 pound Greater Galago (Otolemur crassicaudatus). He is also known as Thick-tailed Bushbaby

Greater Galago
aka Thick-tailed Bushbaby

Here is another photo of the same one. I saw this nocturnal animal 3 times on the trip.

Greater Galago
aka Thick-tailed Bushbaby

The most common primate was the 17 pound Vervet Monkey (Chlorocebus aethiops). It is gray with a black face. 

Vervet Monkey

Here is a mother nursing her baby.

Vervet Monkey

The ugly Chacma Baboon (Papio ursinus) is gray with a long black snout. There is a marked sexual size difference with males weighing up to 90 pounds and the females only 37 pounds.

Chacma Baboon

However this baby was cute as all baby animals as he does not seem to have that long snout.

Chacma Baboon

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

I have photos of 6 of the 19 species of storks

I have photos of 26 of the 66 species of herons and egrets

I have photos of 11 of the 35 species of spoonbills and ibis

I have photos of 3 of the 6 species of flamingos

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2018 David McDonald

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

Bulletin 292 - miscellaneous local birds from winter and spring

I did not get out as much recently due to work requirements and I guess some degree of boredom, as I already have pretty good photos of most local birds. I do take photos when a good opportunity pops up to improve my existing photos of various species. And also, having been to Ecuador and Colombia, it does not seem nearly as exciting here. So here are my interesting photos since the New Year.

The Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia)  returned to the same place at Anahuac NWR for a second winter.

Burrowing Owl

A funny looking leucistic American Coot (Fulica americana). A leucistic bird is one with some white feathers, but is not an albino.

American Coot - leucistic

I had a Buff-bellied Hummngbird (Amazilia yucatanensis) once again in my yard this winter, but he was not there regularly. I saw or heard him maybe a half dozen times, but at least I got a nice photo. Such a treat to have this bird as a winter visitor.

Buff-bellied Hummingbird

The cute 13" Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola) is our smallest duck in North America. The male appears almost all white with just some purple on his head. The female is all brown with a white stripe across her cheek. This pair was at LaFitte's Cove in Galveston.

Bufflehead - pair

This spring I got several good photos of various birds. Photographers are told to get the best photos, it is necessary to be at eye level with the subject. So a bird on a fence is a better photo than one on the ground or way up in a tree.

Here is a beautiful male Scissor-tailed Flycatcher (Tyranus forficatus).

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher - male

I also got a nice 13" Forster's Tern (Sterna forsteri) on a fence post. The small size and bicolored bill is the ID for this bird.

Forster's Tern - breeding

There were 2 birds that I saw in the ponds at LaFitte's Cove in Galveston this spring, that I do not recall having ever seen there before. The first was a 30" Reddish Egret (Egretta rufescens). This bird is normally in salt water rather than fresh water ponds. It is IDed by the gray body, shaggy reddish neck and pink bill with black tip.

Reddish Egret

Also, last weekend I saw Wilson's Phalaropes (Phalaropus tricolor) in the ponds at LaFitte's Cove for the first time. Phalaropes are sandpipers that swim. They are unusual for birds in that the female is more colorful and the male looks after the eggs and raising the babies.

Wilson's Phalarope - female

A 23" Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) was found at LaFitte's Cove last weekend as well. This bird has raised considerable discussion on Texbirds as to whether it is a Glossy Ibis or aberrant White-faced Ibis or possibly a hybrid. The discussion is still ongoing, but it sure looks classic to me for a Glossy and a number of other experts who saw it. It has classic Glossy field marks with the dark face and eye, pale blue lines above and below the face and dark legs.

Glossy Ibis

And a second photo.

Glossy Ibis

I also got photos of a new turtle at High Island this year. This large turtle (estimated 10-12") had a very long neck with a streaking. I looked in my guide book and came up with the ID of a Chicken Turtle (Deirochelys reticularia). I confirmed the ID with a Texas reptile expert.

Chicken Turtle

And a close up of the head.

Chicken Turtle

Overall, spring migration was very quiet for the second year in a row. The most warbler species I saw in a day was 8. Normally mid teens is average and 20 or more is possible in a good day. I hope this is not indicative of a severe decline in the bird populations.

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 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.