Bulletin 322 - Guatemala #8 - Cardinals, Manakins, Blackbirds, Wrens

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 different locations to see different species.

The 6.5" Blue Grosbeak (Passerina caerulea) is well known to North American birders. It is also a breeding bird in Guatemala. We had a pair feeding beside the road and here is the bright male with his brown wing patch.

Blue Grosbeak - male

Another member of the cardinal family was a life bird. The 5" Gray-throated Chat (Granatellus sallaei) is a gray backed bird with red belly and white flanks.

Gray-throated Chat - male

A pair of manakin species were seen as well. The 4.5" male White-collared Manakin (Manacus candei) is a black and white and yellow bird and an easy ID.

White-collared Manakin - male

The 9.5" male Long-tailed Manakin (Chiroxiphia linearis) is a black bird with a blue back and red cap. He has 2 long tail feathers. The females of both these manakins are dull olive colored.

Long-tailed Manakin - male

Every family seemed to come in pairs and so it was with blackbirds. The 20" male Montezuma Oropendola (Psarocolius montezuma) is an easy ID with the colorful face and 2 tone bill.

Montezuma Oropendola - male

His nest is parasitized by the 14" Giant Cowbird (Molothrus oryzivorus). It is a black bird with a red eye. The female is smaller and browner.

Giant Cowbird - male

I also found 2 wren species. The 4.5" Northern Nightingale Wren (Microcerculus philomela) is a dark brown almost tailless wren that stays in dense shadows near the ground. It was a life bird for me to see.

Northern Nightingale Wren

The other was also a lifer. The 4" White-bellied Wren (Uropsila leucogastra) It is brown with white underparts. He never came into the open for a good photo.

White-bellied Wren

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

I have photos of 29 of the 53 species of cardinals

I have photos of 9 of the 52 species of manakins

I have photos of 45 of the 108 species of blackbirds

I have photos of 33 of the 86 species of wrens

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2018 David McDonald

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Bulletin 196 - spring migration April 18 - 20

My friend Martin Jackson, from NYC, and his son Tom, from Los Angeles, visited last weekend to see the migration of birds to the upper Texas coast. We  had a great weekend and saw 110 species of birds. Here are some photos from the weekend.

One of my target birds is the molting first year male Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra). These male are yellow-green over winter and then start getting their red feathers in spring. They can have all sorts of combinations of color. This first one has a partially red face but green rump.

Summer Tanager - 1st year male

The next one has a little more red. His head is all red as well as his rump.


Summer Tanager - 1st year male

This last one is all red except for a patch on the nape of his neck and the wing edges.



Summer Tanager - 1st year male

The male Scarlet Tanager (Piranga olivacea) was very numerous on Saturday. In fact, I saw more of them that day than ever before. The guide books state that they come in an orange variant, but they tend towards orange-red rather than orange like an oriole. On one occasion, we had 3 birds together, one was scarlet, one was the orange variant, and the third was an in-between shade of red. Here is a red one.

Scarlet Tanager - breeding male

 And here is an orange variant male.

Scarlet Tanager - breeding male

The Blue Grosbeak (Guiraca caerula) is much less common here than the Indigo Bunting, so I was pleased to see 3 birds and all had different plumages.The breeding male is royal blue with a rufous wing patch. The wing patch is the important field mark.

Blue Grosbeak - male

The juvenile birds are rufous brown  and then molt in next spring. The first year male has a blue face and rump and tail, with the rufous back of head.



Blue Grosbeak - 1st year male

The adult females are a dull gray brown, but this female has the bright rufous on her head, so I would assume that she is a first year female.

Blue Grosbeak - 1st year female

There was a scarcity of warblers, but a male Common Yellowthroat (Geothlypis trichas) did put on a show at the drip at LaFitte's Cove. This bird is an easy ID with his black mask.

Common Yellowthroat - male

The reason spring migration is so awesome along the coast, is that many neotropical migrants fly across the gulf from the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. The distance is 600 miles. A few of the birds don't make it and fall into the sea. Most continue inland, but a lot of them stop at the 'migrant traps' on the coast to rest, feed and bathe. The locations include High Island, Galveston, and Quintana on the upper Texas coast. However an occasiona bird just makes it to shore and collapses, totally spent and can't fly. We found one such bird on the Bolivar peninsula. It was a female Scarlet Tanager and she landed on a mud flat 50 yards inland from the ocean. She couldn't fly and there was nothing for her to eat at that location. It was a cold foggy morning and she would have died form hypothermia. I picked her up, wrapped her in my jacket, and took her to High Island. She had warmed up and recovered and flew to a mulberry tree to feast. Here I am holding her. Thanks to Tom Jackson for the photo.

David McDonald holding Scarlet Tanager
Photo by Tom Jackson

As we were leaving Brazoria National Wildlife Refuge, there was a 6 foot alligator lying on the road.
Several cars had stopped to watch it. Of course, we got out to see it as well. As all photographers know, the ideal way to photograph a person, animal, bird etc is to be a eye level. So of course I got down on the road to get these photos up close and personal with a gator.

Alligator on road - Brazoria NWR

And another showing his acute need of dental work and a cleaning.

Alligator on road - Brazoria NWR

A short time later, he got up and walked off into the grass.

Alligator on road - Brazoria NWR

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.

Bulletin #107 – Spring Migration #2

David McDonald Photography

Friendswood Texas
April 13, 2010

Bulletin #107 – Spring Migration #2

Hello friends,

Most, if not all, birders have some species of birds that seem to be very difficult for them to find. The popular term is a nemesis bird. For the most part, they are rare birds. However, sometimes, even a reasonably common bird, just seems to be invisible. It almost feels as if they have some diabolical plan to disappear when we go to look for them.

There are at least 3 common spring migrants on the Upper Texas Coast (UTC) that are nemesis birds for me. These are 2 warbler species (Prothonotary(PROW) and Yellow-throated (YTWA)), and Yellow-throated Vireo (YTVI). I have only found 1 YTWA on my own and never found a YTVI. I do occasionally find a PROW. This is in 20 years of birding! I did get a photo of a YTVI 2 years ago with a guide, but they were not very good, and I wanted to improve on them. Also, I need better photos of the YTWA.

Well, last weekend April 9-11, I hit the jackpot with 2 of them. I went to LaFitte’s Cove in Galveston ( #68 on UTC Birding Trail) in the late afternoon on Friday. There were probably a dozen Prothonotary Warblers (Protonotaria citrea) in the woods, and at times, they sat in the wide open on the path. This bird is IDed by the bright yellow head and body and gray wings without wingbars. The sexes are similar, but the female is a little duller yellow. These are probably males. What a stunning bird!

I also saw several more on Saturday and Sunday, for a total of 20 or so birds. This is more birds of this species than I had seen in 20 years previously.

The other nemesis bird to finally break my jinx was the Yellow-throated Vireo (Vireo flavifrons). I went to LaFitte’s Cove early Saturday morning and found a single bird. I managed a couple of fairly good photos. Sunday I saw another YTV at LaFitte’s Cove where it was high in the trees (their usual habitat). Next I went to Corps Woods sanctuary on Galveston Island (#61 on UTC Birding Trail). I walked into the woods and immediately saw another YTV. It disappeared before I could take its picture. However, I found a 4th bird, who was low down in a tree and I was able to get quite close to him for some decent photos. He is Ided by the green head and back, yellow spectacles, yellow throat and breast and 2 wing bars. Thus I found 4 birds this weekend, which is probably as many as I have seen in total previously, and never had I found one myself. The sexes are similar.

I also saw him catch and devour a caterpillar.

There were a number of other migrants this past weekend.

Here is a Red-eyed Vireo (Vireo olivaceous). He is named for the red iris in his eye. Like a number of birds, he was named for the most obscure field mark. One almost never sees this feature. But in this photo, he was in the sunlight and the red iris was visible in binoculars. So how do you ID this bird if his red eye can’t be seen? It is IDed by the brown back, gray head and light eyeline between 2 black stripes. The sexes are similar.

2 species of thrush were at LaFitte’s Cove on Friday afternoon. The more numerous one was the Swainson’s Thrush (Catharus ustulatus). He is a brown backed thrush with a prominent eye-ring and a few spots on the breast. The sexes are similar.

The secretive Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina). Normally this is a difficult bird to find as it prefers deep woods. There were at least 4 at LaFitte’s Cove on Friday and several were momentarily in the open to have their photo taken. This bird is IDed by the rufous head, brown back, large breast spots. In this photo he appears to have a bushy crest, but that is not normally the case. Perhaps he was startled by all the people watching him. The sexes are similar.

I found a single breeding male Blue Grosbeak (Passerina caerula) on Friday. He is normally completely blue on his head and body. This bird hasn’t quite finished molting and still has a few spots of brown. The ID marks are the all deep blue body with 2 brown wing bars. The upper wing bar is rufous color. The beak is also blue. The female is brown with the 2 wing bars.

The last of the colorful migrants this weekend, were both species of tanagers. There were 12-15 male Summer Tanagers (Piranga rubra) Friday. This bird is all bright red. He has a large bill. The female would be yellow.

There were just a few Scarlet Tanagers (Piranga olivacea). The male is an easy ID with dark red head and body and black wings and tail. The female in the second photo is yellow-green with darker wings.

I will be leading a 9 day bird photography tour to Costa Rica in conjunction with Lillian Scott-Baer of Baer Travel March 3-11, 2011. We have worked out an itinerary to visit La Selva Preserve, Savegre Mountain Hotel in the central mountains for Resplendant Quetzal and other montane species and Wilson Botanical Gardens (Las Cruces). We have also retained the services of local guide Rudy Zamora to accompany us and locate and ID the birds for us to photograph. We will also have beautiful flowers and hopefully some mammals - tamanduas, monkeys etc.

I will be giving several talks in the evening on bird photography, Photoshop etc.

The price will be $1960 double to $2380 single. This includes hotels, all meals, guide, transportation in Costa Rica etc. The only other cost will be airfare and personal purchases (alcohol, souvenirs etc) . Space is limited to 10 persons to maximize our opportunity to see and photograph the birds. I have birded in Costa Rica previously. It is a wonderful country to visit and the bird life is exceptional. I hope that you can join us.

Here is the schedule of payments for the trip.

$ 25 reservation fee (not refundable)
$ 575 due April 30, 2010
$ 600 due July 30, 2010
$ 740 due January 15, 2011
Please send deposits to:

ScoBar Inc.
34 Galway Place
The Woodlands, TX 77382

Note - we will try to pair up singles and triple would be $1890 per person.

There are only 2 spaces left for this trip as of today, so please email me, if interested.

All comments and suggestions are welcomed and appreciated.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

email: davidkmcd@comcast.net

photos copyright 2010 David McDonald

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