Bulletin 390 - Colombia 2021 #7 - Parrots

 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.

Parrots are favorites of birders and non-birders alike due to their bright colors, popularity as cage birds and they can be trained to talk. Colombia as you know has more species of birds than any other country. There are 56 species of parrots in Colombia. I photographed a dozen and we saw one or two more. The 5" Green-rumped Parrotlet (Forpus passerinus) is s sparrow-sized green parrot with a touch of blue in his wings.

Green-rumped Parrotlet

Parakeets are parrots with long pointed tails. The 15" Blue-crowned Parakeet (Thectocercus acuticaudatus) is a green parakeet with a large white eye ring and a blue forehead.

Blue-crowned Parakeet

The 9" Flame-winged Parakeet (Pyrrhura callipterra) is a Colombian endemic species. It is green with a brown ruffle around the neck and large yellow wing patches visible in flight. It is also known as the Brown-breasted Parakeet. This bird is listed as vulnerable and declining.

Flame-winged Parakeet

Here is another photo.

Flame-winged Parakeet

Unfortunately, we missed the rare endemic Santa Marta Parakeet.

Parrots usually have shorter square tails. The 9" Black-headed Parrot (Pionites melanocephalus) is a black and white and green and yellow parrot. It is an easy ID.

Black-headed Parrot

The 11" Blue-headed Parrot (Pionus menstruus) is also an easy ID. I have seen it multiple times.

Blue-headed Parrot

Amazons are the largest New World parrots except for the macaws. The 13" Orange-winged Amazon (Amazona amazonica) is all green with a few orange flight feathers.

Orange-winged Amazon

The 16" Southern Mealy Amazon (Amazona farinosa). It is green with some red flight feathers.

Southern Mealy Amazon

The largest are the macaws. The 18" Chestnut-fronted Macaw (Ara severus) is a colorful macaw with a brown forehead. This my best photo of this species.

Chestnut-fronted Macaw

Lastly, the 36" Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao) is a huge stunning bird.

Scarlet Macaw

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

I have photos of 44 of the 177 species of New World and African Parrots

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2021 David McDonald

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

Bulletin 275 - Ecuador #9 - Parrots and Monkeys

Nothing says tropics quite like parrots and monkeys and we saw lots on this trip. All of these photos were obtained in the Amazon region.

The macaws are the largest and most spectacular of all the parrots and they are confined to the New World. The 36" Scarlet Macaw (Ara macao) is red with yellow on the wings. This one was alone in a tree. The sexes are similar.

Scarlet Macaw

And this one was flying overhead.

Scarlet Macaw

The 34" Blue-and-yellow Macaws (Ara ararauna) were further away, but there were 1/2 dozen in a tree for a spectacular sight.

Blue-and-yellow Macaws

We also saw Chestnut-fronted and Red-bellied Macaws but I din't get good photos of them.
The ubiquitous 11" Blue-headed Parrot (Pious menstruus) is readily IDed with his blue head and green body. This is my best photo yet of this bird.

Blue-headed Parrot

The 8.5" Black-headed Parrot (Pionites melanocephalus) has a black crown, yellow cheek, and white underparts.

Black-headed Parrot

There were about 9 monkey species possible in the Amazon area at Shiripuno Lodge. We saw 7 and I got photos of 6 of them. The cutest were the Common Squirrel Monkeys (Saimiri scureus). They are small monkeys with clown-like faces and black lips.

Common Squirrel Monkeys - adults

This lighter colored juvenile peeked out between some leaves.

Common Squirrel Monkey

Next is the long-limbed White-fronted Spider Monkey (Ateles belzebuth).

White-fronted Spider Monkey

The next was a new mammal for me. This group of small monkeys are called titi monkeys and are undergoing a major revision in nomenclature. The one we saw in Ecuador was the Dusky Titi Monkey (Callicebus discolor). However on Wikipedia, there is a new (2016) proposed classification and the new name is White-tailed Titi Monkey (Plecturocebus discolor). I guess take your pick what you want to call it.

Dusky Titi Monkey

The White-fronted Capuchin (Cebus albifrons) is one of 4 species of capuchins. This is the Ecuadorian subspecies that doesn't have any white on the face as the name would suggest. This subspecies is listed as critically endangered.

White-fronted Capuchin
Ecuadorian subspecies

The next is a type of monkey called a Saki monkey. Again it may have a new name. The name I was given on the trip was Equatorial Saki (Pithecia aequatorialis). However, a new revision in 2014 has the range of this one as just northern Peru, so not this guy. It would appear to be a Napo Saki (Pithecia napensis) as we were on a tributary of the Napo river in Ecuador. Anyway this is a heavy set appearing monkey with a very bushy tail.

Equatorial Saki
or ? Napo Saki

Lastly is a Venezuelan Red Howler (Alouatta seniculus). Howlers as you know are the heaviest of the new world monkeys.

Venezuela Red Howler

The other monkey I caught a glimpse of was a Wooly Monkey, but it scampered off into leaves before I could snap a photo. This trip was by far the most productive of monkey species of any I have taken.

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2016 David McDonald

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

Bulletin 206 - Panama #13

Parrots are the another special bird. Everyone wants to see them, especially the macaws. However, as anyone who as actually done birdwatching in the tropics can tell you, they are difficult to see perched. Flyovers are very common. Despite the fact that there are 22 parrot species in the Panama bird book, we got photos of only 3. The sexes are similar.

The first was a distant photo of the Blue-headed Parrot (Pionus menstruus). This 9.5" parrot was perched at the top of a bare tree. Fortunately we were on a 100' canopy tower, so able to get him at eye level, but he was still about 100 feet from us.. He is green with a blue head and red undertail. Also this genus, pionus, is noted for their deep wing beats when flying. Most other parrots have very shallow wing beats.

Blue-headed Parrot





The other 2 species were parakeets. These birds have long pointed tails, unlike the parrots which have square tails. The first was the Brown-throated Parakeet (Eupsittula pertinax). This is a 9" green parakeet with brown cheeks and throat. There is an orange patch under the eyes that is helps with the ID.

Brown-throated Parakeet



This bird has a more yellow than orange patch. Maybe a juvenile?




Brown-throated Parakeet

The small (6.5") Orange-chinned Parakeet (Brotogeris jugularis) gave us the best photos of any parrot on the trip when several came to a feeder. His colors are almost iridescent. And like many birds, the name of the bird is a field mark that is almost never seen because it is so small. However, his orange chin can be seen in the photo. The brown shoulders are the best ID mark. This is the most common parakeet in Panama.



Orange-chinned Parakeet

We also photographed 3 species of swallows. The first is the Gray-breasted Martin (Progne chalybea). This 6.5" swallow has a bluish back, white chin and gray breast. It has a moderate length forked tail.

Gray-breasted Martin

The tiny (4.5") Mangrove Swallow (Tachycineta albilinea) is similar to our Tree Swallow, but has a white rump. here is a frontal view showing the blue-green back and the snow white underparts.




Mangrove Swallow

Here he is turned around to show the white rump.

Mangrove Swallow

Lastly is the 5" Southern Rough-winged Swallow (Stelgidopteryx ruficollis). It is brown-backed and has a cinnamon throat.. The underparts are light. This may be a juvenile with the rusty flanks and white edging on the wing feathers.

Southern Rough-winged Swallow

Most surprising to me was that I caught a glimpse of a Golden-winged Warbler (Vermivora chrysoptera) and snapped a single photo. This bird has been a nemesis bird for me to photograph in the USA. It migrates through east Texas spring and fall but I have had only a couple of photos in 8 years. Also, I missed it last summer in Michigan on its breeding grounds. It is listed as a fairly common winter bird in Panama. It is IDed by the golden crown and wing patch and black facial pattern.

Golden-winged Warbler

We saw only a single member of the manakin family. This is a 52 member family of small fruit-eating songbirds in the neotropics. You may have seen videos of the courtship routine of these birds in which several related males will perform an elaborate dance routine to attract a mate. The males are brightly colored and the females are usually dull olive. The Blue-crowned Manakin (Pipra coronata) is a tiny (3") bird. The male is black with a blue crown and the female is bright green. We saw only the female, but she was close and sat still until we got some photos.

Blue-crowned Manakin - female

A common distinctive neotropical bird is the Masked Tityra (Tityra semifasciata). It is a medium-sized (7.5") mostly white bird with black on the face and wings. The bill is red and it has red periorbital skin.



Masked Tityra - male

The female has a brownish wash to the head body.



Masked Tityra - female

The last bird is called a tanager, but it is actually in the sparrow family. The Common Bush-Tanager (Chlorospingus ophthalmicus) is a 5" bird with a dark head and distinctive white spot behind the eye. The back is olive and the underparts yellow.

Common Bush-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.