Bulletin 398 - Colombia 2021 #15 - Puffbirds , vulture, motmot and boto

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.

Puffbirds are a small family of large headed and heavy-billed birds - usually brown or black in color. There are 38 species and 24 of them are in Colombia.

The 7" Chestnut-capped Puffbird (Bucco macrodactylus) is a brown puffbird with a plain breast and bright rufous cap.

Chestnut-capped Puffbird

His cousin the 7.5" Spotted Puffbird (Bucco tamatia) is similar but he has a rufous breast and heavy black spotting on his belly. Both these birds are listed as uncommon to rare in Amazonian Colombia.

Spotted Puffbird

The 8" Russet-throated Puffbird (Hypnelus ruficollis) is similar to the above but a different genus. He has a rufous throat but and a black chest band.

Russet-throated Puffbird

The 7" Swallow-winged Puffbird (Chelidoptera tenebrosa) looks and behaves more like a flycatcher. He is dark gray in color with a reddish belly.

Swallow-winged Puffbird

Lastly a small group of puffbirds are call nunbirds. The 9.5" Black-fronted Nunbird (Monasa nigrifrons) is a dark gray bird with a black face and red bill. It is an easy ID.

Black-fronted Nunbird

Motmots are colorful birds with long racquet tails. The only one for the trip was the 15" Whooping Motmot (Momotus subrufescens). What is distinctive is they swing their tails side-to-side rather than up and down.

Whooping Motmot

I finally got a photo of a 26" Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture (Cathartes burrovianus). I had seen this bird at a great distance soaring a few times, but now had one along the Caribbean coast. The head is actually yellow with a red forehead and red nape.

Lesser Yellow-headed Vulture

We also saw a juvenile King Vulture while we were having lunch one day. But I did not recognize what it was, so I missed the photo before the guide IDed it.

I love marine mammals, so I was excited that we might see a fresh water dolphin on the trip. The Amazon River Dolphin (Inia geoffrensis) is AKA Boto or Pink Dolphin. It is one of 2 species of fresh water dolphins in the Amazon basin. The first afternoon in Inirida we went to a small river that had a pod of maybe 20 dolphins and they were surfacing all around our boat.

Amazon River Dolphin

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

I have photos of 11 of the 38 species of puffbirds

I have photos of 10 of the 14 species of motmots

I have photos of 6 of the 7 species of New World vultures

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2022 David McDonald

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Bulletin 191 - Panama #2 - Motmots and Woodpeckers

I am sure you are all wondering where are the 'beautiful' colored tropical birds after the first Panama bulletin. Well here are the motmots. I put one on the blog as the header photo.

Motmots are a small new world family of colorful birds. There are only 14 species and they occur from Mexico to northen South America and Trinidad. Most have peculiar racket tails. They often sit motionless for long periods and may wag their tails from side to side like a pendulum. We saw 4 species on this trip. The sexes are similar in all species.

The Rufous Motmot (Baryphthengus martii) at 18" is the largest of the 4. It has a green back, blue wing edges, and rufous head and underparts. Also, it has a black mask and black breast spot. The racket tail on the long central tail feathers is visible.



Rufous Motmot

The Broad-billed Motmot (Electron platyrhynchum) is similar, but at 13", considerably smaller. The differences include a green chin, and the rufous doesn't extend as far down the belly. He also has a racket tail.


Broad-billed Motmot

The Whooping Motmot (Momotus subrufescens ) occurs from about the Canal Zone in Panama to northern South America. It is mostly green, with a rufous underparts, black face and bright blue crown. Here are a couple of photos.

Whooping Motmot

The Blue-diademed Motmot (Momotus lessonii) is similar, but differs mainly by voice. Its range is Mexico to central Panama.

Blue-diademed Motmot

Woodpeckers are familiar to most people, as they are a large family with 230 species worldwide. They can be found on all continents except Australia. We managed to photograph 5 species on the trip.

The Red-crowned Woodpecker (Melanerpes rubricapillus) is almost identical to our Red-bellied Woodpecker in eastern USA, but the ranges don't overlap and the birds are non-migratory, It is very common, and we saw it every day of the trip. Here is a male on a feeder eating banana.

Red-crowned Woodpecker - male

The Black-cheeked Woodpecker (Melanerpes pucherani) is another 7" woodpecker. He differs from the bird above by the black on the face and barring on the breast. Although this is a common bird, we saw only this single individual. The male has red completely over the head. The female has the red patch only on the nape.

Black-cheeked Woodpecker - male

The Lineated Woodpecker (Dryocopus lineatus) is a large (12.5") woodpecker of the same genus and very similar to the familiar Pileated Woodpecker of North America. Notice that the white line through the head and neck is narrower in this bird than the Pileated. The crest appears much bushier as well.

Lineated Woodpecker - male

The Crimson-crested Woodpecker (Campephilus melanoleucos) at 13.5" long, is the largest woodpecker in Panama. The male has an all red head with white spot below the ear. Also notice the barred underside, better seen on the female below.

Crimson-crested Woodpecker - male

The female has a smaller amount of red with a few black feathers on the front of the crest.

Crimson-crested Woodpecker - female

Lastly is the beautiful 8" Cinnamon Woodpecker (Celeus loricatus). The sexes are similar except the male has red on the chin.

Cinnamon Woodpecker - male

Here is his partner. They were travelling together.

Cinnamon Woodpecker - female

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.