Bulletin 244 - Best of 10 years #10 - New World tropics

The sheer diversity of birds in the New World tropics is staggering. 6 of the top 7 countries with the most species are in South America. Columbia is number 1 at 1934 species or almost 1 in 5 of all the birds in the world can be found in that country!  Brazil has 1850 and Peru is number 3 at 1844. Ecuador comes in at #5 with 1686, followed by Bolivia at 1431 and Venezuela at 1414. Indonesia is the only country outside South America to make the top 5 at number 4 with 1724 species. China and India are number 8 and 9. We all think of the wonderful wildlife in Africa and for mammals that is true, but the Democratic Republic of Congo is the only one in the top 10 with only 1186 species.

There are 2 'A' words to explain this..Andes and Amazon, leading to so many different ecosystems and habitats. There are several families of birds that are only in the New World tropics such as toucans, tinamous, trumpeters, screamers, antbirds and relatives, cotingas and many others.

I have had the pleasure of birding in Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador and Guatemala in the last 2 years. So here are some of my favorites from these countries. Many have already appeared in Bulletins, but a few from haven't yet. So here are a dozen of my favorites. All will be confined to the New World families unless noted.

Toucans are perhaps the best known family of birds from the tropics due to the breakfast cereal Fruit Loops that has a toucan as the mascot. My best photo is a Collared Aracari.

Collared Aracari

Parrots are worldwide, but the largest parrots are, of course, the macaws. They are confined to the New World. The only macaw I have photographed so far is the Great Green Macaw.

Great Green Macaw

Jacamars look like large hummingbirds with their long pointed beaks. Here is the Rufous-tailed Jacamar.

Rufous-tailed Jacamar

The motmots are plump birds and most are distinguished by a long racquet tail. Here is the Rufous Motmot.

Rufous Motmot

The cracidae family includes chachalacas, guans and currasows. The 36" Great Currasow is probably the largest. The male has a curly feathered crest and large yellow knob on his bill.

Great Currasow - male

The cotingas are a family of songbirds that contain several unusual looking birds. One of these is the Andean Cock-of-the Rock. The male is orange with dark wings and tail. He has a large crest and even his bill is orange and difficult to see in this photo.

Andean Cock-of-the-Rock

Tinamous are chicken like birds of the forest floor. Generally they are shy and difficult to see, but in Ecuador at Copalinga, they had a feeding place and blind so this Little Tinamou was in the open, 20 feet away.

Little Tinamou

Puffbirds are a family of large headed birds who sit quietly waiting to spot a lizard or large bug. This is the White-whiskered Puffbird.

White-whiskered Puffbird

Manakins are small colorful songbirds noted for there elaborate courtship dances in which several related males perform to attract a mate. This is the male White-collared Manakin.

White-collared Manakin - male

Antpittas are small tailless looking birds that walk upright on the ground. Generally they are exceedingly difficult to see. This Jocotoco Antpitta came to a feeding station in Ecuador.

Jocotoco Antpitta

Trogons and Quetzals are a small worldwide family of colorful birds. Most of them are in the New World tropics and the most famous and beautiful is the Resplendant Quetzal. The male has long tail feather plumes.

Resplendant Quetzal - male

New World Warblers are in the temperate climates as well as tropics of the New World. This Pink-headed Warbler photographed recently in Guatemala is the prettiest one I have yet found. The photo is made even more artistic as the sky behind the leaves was pink at sunrise.

Pink-headed Warbler

Lastly is a Black-and-white Owl photographed in Ecuador. This is my most amazing photo ever as the grasshopper in its mouth is facing the camera and in focus. It is my first owl photo with some prey in its mouth.

Black-and-white Owl

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2015 David McDonald

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Bulletin 231 - Costa Rica #10 - Parrots, Pigeons, night birds

There are 17 species of parrots in Costa Rica. I have always found parrots to be 'cool' birds as many are kept for pets, some talk, and many are brightly colored. However, photographing them is another story. They usually stay in the tree tops are are often seen flying way above the canopy of the forest. Then you just hope they land in a tree near you and are in the open to so you can see them. I was able to get photos of 4 species.

The 9" Sulphur-winged Parakeet (Pyrrhura hoffmanni) is a resident of the mountains above 5200 feet. It is green with a red ear patch and yellow on the wings. It is endemic to Costa Rica and western Panama.

Sulphur-winged Parakeet

The next larger is the 10" White-crowned Parrot (Pionus senilis). This was a case where a group of birds were flying over and landed on top of a tree about 50 yards away. The bird is green with a white face and chin.

White-crowned Parrot

The 15" Mealy Parrot (Amazona farinosa) is all green except for a red patch on its wings. In this case, you can see how hard it would be to pick this bird out in a tree. Fortunately a pair of them were eating fruit in a tree along the path and about 15 feet up.

Mealy Parrot

Lastly, I got my first photo of a macaw. This bird was a lifer for me, the 33" Great Green Macaw (Ara anbiguus). It would not be a hard bird to ID as there are just 2 macaws in Costa Rica and this is the only green one. It is resident on the Caribbean slope.

Great Green Macaw

Almost as difficult to photograph as parrots are the large arboreal pigeons of the genus patagieonas. They are seen flying over the canopy and you hope they will land close enough for a photo. There are 6 species in Costa Rica, one of which is also in the USA and I had photographs already. I got photos of 4 of the other 5, so I was very pleased.

The Red-billed Pigeon (Patagieonas flavirostris) actually has a mostly white bill with just some red at the base. This bird occurs in the USA along the Rio Grande at Salineno. I had seen it there, but it was too far for a photo. This one was on a wire along the road.

Red-billed Pigeon

The Short-billed Pigeon (Patagieonas nigrirostris) was also on a wire one morning at La Selva. It is IDed by the short black bill.

Short-billed Pigeon

The Pale-vented Pigeon (Patagieonas cayennensis) has whitish belly. Obviously, this bird was very close for a change.

Pale-vented Pigeon

The last is the Ruddy Pigeon (Patagieonas subvinacea). It is reddish all over and a resident of the central mountains above 4600 feet.

Ruddy Pigeon

Birds of the night like nightjars and owls are difficult to photograph as they are hard to find, unless you get lucky and stumble upon one roosting in the daytime. 

The 11" Common Pauraque (Nyctidromus albicollis) normally stays on the ground and flies up to catch insects. This is the first time I have seen this bird in the open on a fence post. He was under a rare street light and took advantage of the bugs attracted to the light. We saw him several nights in a row at La Selva. It aoccurs throughout Costa Rica and also in the USA in the Rio Grande Valley.

Common Pauraque

The 9" Dusky Nightjar (Antrostomus saturatus) is a bird of the mountains above 6000'. He was also taking advantage of a rare streetlight, by sitting on the wires adjacent to the light. I have spoken to several other Costa Rica birders and this streetlight near Savegre Lodge is the classic place to see this bird. This bird is endemic to Costa Rica and western Panama.

Dusky Nightjar

The 6" Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl (Glaucidium costaricensis) like other pygmy owls is often active during the day. We tried to tape him lower out of this 100 foot tree, but the one time he did descend, we couldn't locate him in the dense tree where he landed.

Costa Rican Pygmy-Owl

I also saw a 19" Spectacled Owl (Pulsatrix perspicillata) roosting way up in the canopy. I had photographed a pair of them in Panama last year, so it was nice to see another. I never tire of owls.

Spectacled Owl

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.