Bulletin 429 - Brazil 2023 #10 - Tanagers - Part 2; 2 Texas birds

 After 3 trips to Colombia with diminishing returns, it was time to go further afield. Pablo Flores the guide in Colombia is now leading trips to Brazil as well. So my birding buddy Martin Jackson and my daughter Chantel and I decided to go there. We visited the Pantanal, the Atlantic forest in the Sao Paulo area and had 1 day in the Chapada. The Pantanal is the largest wetland in the world, so it is teeming with wildlife. The Atlantic Forest is a unique ecosystem from sea level to about 1 mile elevation. It contains 800 species of birds (225 endemic) and 26 species of primates. Unfortunately it also contains 2 mega cities - Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro and the resulting sprawl and clearing for agriculture since the Portuguese arrived 500 years ago, has wiped out 90%+ of the original forest. About 250 species of amphibians, birds and mammals have gone extinct in the past 400 years. The good news is that many preserves and parks have been set aside to try and preserve the remaining biodiversity.

The 7" Sayaca Tanager (Thraupis sayaca) is a blue-gray tanager found in lower elevations.

Sayaca Tanager 

The very similar 7" Azure-shouldered Tanager (Thraupis cyanoptera) is found in montane habitat. I do not know if I could tell them apart.

Azure-shouldered Tanager

A third bird of this genus is the 7" Golden-chevroned Tanager (Thraupis ornata). It is an easier ID with the yellow shoulder.

Golden-chevroned Tanager

The 6.3" Shrike-like Tanager (Neothraupis fasciata) is gray with black shoulders and a black mask.

Shrike-like Tanager

 

The 4.8" female Blue Dacnis (Dacnis cayana) is a bright green bird with a blue head.

Blue Dacnis - female

These next 3 birds may be familiar to many of you, as they have been established in Hawaii. But South America is their native territory.

The 6.5" Yellow-billed Cardinal (Paroaria capitata) is a handsome black and white bird with a red face and no crest.

Yellow-billed Cardinal

His cousin, the 7.5" Red-crested Cardinal (Paroaria coronata) has a red face, throat and breast as well as a red crest.

Red-crested Cardinal

Lastly is the beautiful 5.5" male Saffron Finch (Sicalis flaveola). He is an easy ID with an olive back, bright yellow below and a bit of orange on his forehead.

Saffron Finch

There were a couple of interesting Texas birds in 2023. The first was this Merlin (Falco columbarius). I photographed him at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge back in February. What was unusual was his orange leggings. This is what caught my eye as I was driving along. So I turned around and went back to photo the bird. 

I posted it on Texbirds and there was quite a discussion whether it was a Merlin or a Eurasian Hobby. I assumed it was a Merlin as I had never seen a report of the Hobby in Texas before. Anyway the final consensus was that it was a Merlin, as there are photos of some similar birds online. Interesting bird!

Merlin

The second was even more interesting bird in December. It was the first USA record of a Grey-collared Becard (Pachyramphus major). He was discovered in a state park near Brownsville Texas. His normal range is Mexico to Nicaragua. Of course such a rarity brought birders from all over North America to add him to their list.

Grey-collared Becard - immature male

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

I have photos of 143 of the 391 species of tanagers

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2023 David McDonald

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

Bulletin 395 - Colombia 2021 #12 - Tanagers Pt 2

  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.

Tanagers are a large New World family of mostly colorful birds. They include seedeaters, conebills, tanagers, flowerpiercers etc. Any birding trip to the tropics will find a large number of them.

Grassquits are tiny finch like tanagers. The males are mostly black and the females dull brownish like sparrows. The 4" male Black-faced Grassquit (Tiaris bicolor) has a black head and breast and brown back.

Black-faced Grassquit - male

The 4" male Blue-black Grassquit (Volatinia jacarina) is solid glossy black.

Blue-black Grassquit - male

The 6.5" Glaucous Tanager (Thraupis glaucolpa) is mostly gray but has an aquamarine blue breast and wings.

Glaucous Tanager

The 6.5" Golden-crowned Tanager (Iridosonrnis rufivertex) is a stunning bird and an easy ID if you see it.

Golden-crowned Tanager

The 9" Hooded Mountain Tanager (Buthraupis montana) has a black head, yellow breast, blue back and red eye.

Hooded Mountain Tanager

The 7.5" Scarlet-bellied Mountain Tanager (Anisognathus igniventris) is another wow bird!

Scarlet-bellied Mountain Tanager

The 5" female Blue Dacnis (Dacnis cayana) is a green bird with bluish wash on her heaed. The male is blue and black.

Blue Dacnis - female

The 7" female Silver-beaked Tanager (Ramphocelus carbo) is reddish-brown with a light colored bill. The male is dark red and black.

 Silver-beaked Tanager - female

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

I have photos of 114 of the 385 species of tanagers

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2022 David McDonald

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

Bulletin 204 - Panama #12 - Tanagers

The Tanagers are a large (370 species) diverse family (Thraupidae) of colorful new world birds, especially in the genus tangara. They are most common in the tropics. Some of the species inhabit offshore islnds besides the Caribbean Islands. The so-called Darwin Finches of the Galapagos Islands are in this family. As well, I saw at least one of them is on the Falklands Island chain off Argentina. What is more surprising is there are 4 endemic species in the Tristan da Cuhna archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean. These islands are 2100 miles from South America.

The familar birds in North America called tanagers (scarlet, summer, western, hepatic) are no longer in this family, but were moved to the cardinal family. Also, another that we photographed in Panama is now moved to the sparrow family and we will see it in a later bulletin.

Not all tanagers are brightly colored as we saw with the Puerto Rican Tanager last year. I will start with the dull ones and work to the more colorful. The sexes are similar unless noted.

The Plain-colored Tanager (Tangara inornata) is a 4.5" plain gray bird with dark wings and a blue shoulder patch that is usually hidden when the bird is perched. One can just get a peek at the blue shoulder patch in this photo.

Plain-colored Tanager

The White-lined Tanager male is black with a slender white line through the wing. The female is rufous colored and lacks the line on the shoulder and to my mind is prettier.

White-lined Tanager - female

The White-shouldered Tanager (Tachyphonus luctuosus) is smaller (5"). It is all black with a wide white shoulder patch.

White-shouldered Tanager

The Sulphur-rumped Tanager (Heterospingus rubrifrons) is a 6" overall gray bird with white tufts at sides of breast that are visible at the wing edge. The sulphur rump is usually only visible in flight.

Sulphur-rumped Tanager

 A moment later he flew to another branch and fluffed his feathers, showing the rump color.

Sulphur-rumped Tanager

The very similar Flame-rumped Tanager (Ramphocelus flammigerus) is 6.5" long. The female is olive with yellow underparts and rump. She responded to the tape and posed nicely. He never showed up.

Flame-rumped Tanager - female

One can see with all these similar colored birds, why using a guide is essential for me.

Seedeaters are a single genus, sporophila, with 33 species in Latin America. They are also included in the tanager family. We photographed 3 species.

As these are  tiny 3.5" to 4" somewhat plain birds, I will just give you the link to the photos as this bulletin is very long anyway.

The Variable Seedeater (Sporophila americana) is 4". The male is black with a white rump and belly. The female is dull ochre.

The Ruddy-breasted Seedeater (Sporophils minuta) is 3.5". The male is brown with a ruddy underparts. The female is plain brown.

The Yellow-bellied Seedeater (Sporophila nigricollis) is also 4". The male has a black face and throat, olive back and yellowish belly. The female is plain brown.

The 3.5" Yellow-faced Grassquit (Tiaris olivaceus) is an olive bird with the male showing black and yellow facial pattern. I had photographed this species in Texas in 2011 when one showed up near Corpus Christi on the Texas coast.

Yellow-faced Grassquit - male

The female lacks the black and has just a little yellow on the face.

Yellow-faced Grassquit - female

The male Blue Dacnis (Dacnis cayana) is a small (4.5") turquoise bird with a black back, red eye and pink legs. We didn't see the female, but she is green.

Blue Dacnis - male

A close relative is the Red-legged Honeycreeper (Cyanerpes cyaneus). The breeding male of this small (4.5") species is royal blue with a turquoise crown, black wings, tail and back, and bright red legs. The female and non breeding males are dull greenish. Fortunately we saw the glorious breeding plumaged male.

Red-legged Honeycreeper - breeding male

Another day we saw a tree full of pink blossoms and these birds were feasting on the nectar.

Red-legged Honeycreeper - breeding male

Lisa first spotted this next bird, the male Green Honeycreeper (Chlorophanes spiza). The female is all bright green, but not iridescent like the male.

Green Honeycreeper - female

The Crimson-backed Tanager (Ramphocelus dimidiatus) is a common garden bird that we saw everyday. The male is stunning crimson with black wings and tail and silver lower mandible. I would sure love to have this bird coming to feeders in my yard!

Crimson-backed Tanager - male

The female is duller, but still crazy colored. I think she is prettier than any female bird in the USA or Canada.

Crimson-backed Tanager - female

Now for the 2 tangara genus tanagers. They are considered the most colorful of the tanagers. However, if you go back to the beginning, the Plain-colored Tanager is also a tangara. Maybe he is incorrectly labelled or else the exception that proves the rule. Mostly they occur in mountains above 1000 foot elevation.

The last morning we went into a park on the mountain top that connects parks on the Pacific slope to those on the Atlantic slope. It was windy, cold, foggy and raining. We saw 2 tangara species.

This is the 5" Bay-headed Tanager (Tangara gyrola) . The picture is fuzzy, but for me it is a special bird. It is on the cover of the Costa Rica bird book, and was the first bird I saw in Costa Rica in my 1994 trip. I yelled out to the group "There's the bird on the cover!" I was so excited to see it so soon. It has turquoise underparts, green back and chestnut head.

Bay-headed Tanager

The Emerald Tanager (Tangara florida) is 4.5" long.. They are bright green with a squarish black patch behind the ear. Also, the crown and rump are yellow.

Emerald Tanager

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2014 David McDonald

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