Bulletin 388 - Colombia 2021 #5 - Shorebirds, Cuckoos

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.

I finally found my target plover in northern Latin America. I have had multiple trips and never even saw this common bird, let alone get a photo. The 6" Collared Plover (Charadius collaris) is similar to our small plovers, but ours all have a white nape. This one has a rufous nape of the neck to distinguish it, as many of ours are migrants to South America. I finally saw it on the coast where we saw the flamingos - just 1 bird but enough to check it off! I spent 20 minutes trying to make sure I got an identifiable photo of this bird.

Collared Plover

The other plover was the beautiful 14" Southern Lapwing (Vanellus chilensis). I had photographed this bird previously, but lapwings are beautiful long legged plovers and I enjoy seeing them.

Southern Lapwing

Another small family of shorebirds is the thick-knees. This family of 10 species has 2 in the Americas. I had a distant photo of this bird before, but improved with several in a field along the road. The 18" Double-striped Thick-knee (Burhinus bistriatus) is the only thick-knee in this area. 

Double-striped Thick-knee

Jacanas are another small family of shorebirds with 2 in the New World. The 9" Wattled Jacana (Jacana jacana) is the southern one. We were able to get very close, in the boat, to a bird walking on the floating weeds. It is has rufous wings and back with a black head, neck and breast and red wattles. It is an easy ID.

Wattled Jacana

I photographed 3 cuckoos on the trip, 2 of which were lifers for me. The 18" Greater Ani (Crotophaga major) is an all black bird with a long tail and large bill.

Greater Ani

The 2 new ones were the 11" Dark-billed Cuckoo (Coccygus melacoryphus). It is similar to our Black-billed Cuckoo, but it has a tawny breast.

Dark-billed Cuckoo

The other lifer was the 11" Little Cuckoo (Coccycua minuta). This is a small rufous cuckoo with a yellow bill.

Little Cuckoo

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

I have photos of 30 of the 67 species of Plovers and Lapwings

I have photos of 3 of the 10 species of Thick-knees

I have photos of 5 of the 8 species of Jacanas

I have photos of 25 of the 148 species of Cuckoos

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2021 David McDonald

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Bulletin 190 - Panama #1 - Cuckoos and Kingfishers

I had the pleasure of 7 days birding in central Panama in early February. We hired a guide to show us around and find the birds. Also, he was our chauffeur, which, on seeing the traffic in the country, was a blessing. The guide was Gonzalo Horna, whom we found on the Birding Pal web site. Gonzalo knew his birds and where to find them. You can contact him by his email.

Panama is a tiny country about the size of the state of South Carolina or the province of New Brunswick. Yet it has a bird population of 978 species in the guide book, or almost 10% of all the birds in the world! North America (USA and Canada) has about 725 species.

We photographed lots of birds. The neotropics have several families of birds that don't make it to the USA or Canada, so I will present them by families and describe those that are unfamiliar to most people who haven't had the pleasure of birding the tropics.

We found 4 species of cuckoos. Most cuckoos have long tails. The 3 species of anis are members of the cuckoo family and all 3 are in Panama. By the way, if you do crossword puzzles, a favorite is a 3 letter word for cuckoo (ANI). 2 of these birds can be found in extreme southern USA. The sexes are similar in all anis.

The Smooth-billed Ani (Crotophaga ani) is black with a long tail and large bill without ridges. It is about 13" in length. It can be seen in south Florida, but the population is declining rapidly.



Smooth-billed Ani

His cousin, the Groove-billed Ani (Crotophaga sulcirostris) is smaller at 12" long, and has ridges on his upper mandible. It also can be found in the USA, in south Texas.

Groove-billed Ani

The last is the Greater Ani (Crotophaga major). It is the largest at 18" in length. It is IDed by the long tail, white eye, and ridge on upper mandible.

Greater Ani

Kingfishers are a worldwide family. Six species occur in the Americas and all 6 can be found in Panama. We saw 4 of them, and got photos of 3, all of which also are in the USA, 3 only occur in south Texas.

The most common and well known to North Americans is the Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle torquata). In Panama however, it is listed as an uncommon visitor. This is a female with the brown band.

Belted Kingfisher - female

The Amazon Kingfisher (Chloroceryle amazona) is the largest of the green colored kingfishers at 12". It has been seen in south Texas only twice, so is very rare in the ABA area. It is a male with the brown on chest.

Amazon Kingfisher - male

Lastly, is the small (7") Green Kingfisher (Chloroceryle americana). It is a fairly common bird in south Texas, aspecially along the Rio Grande. The male has brown on the chest.

Green Kingfisher - male

The female lacks the brown on the chest.



Green Kingfisher - 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.