Bulletin 440 - Brazil 2023 #21 - Storks, Trogons, others

  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.

There were 3 storks for the trip - none were lifers but 2 were new for photos.

The smallest is the 37" Wood Stork (Mycteria americana). This is also in the USA so should be familiar to everyone.

Wood Stork

The next is the 42" Maguari Stork (Ciconia maguari). It is a white stork with black wings, red lags and red facial skin around the eyes.

Maguari Stork

The giant is, of course, the 55" Jabiru (Jabiru mycteria). It is an easy ID due to its size. It has a white body, black neck with a red collar at the base of the neck.

Jabiru

Of course a bird this size builds a gigantic nest.

Jabiru - nest

There were 3 trogons for the trip. The 11" male Green-backed Trogon (Trogon viridis) has green back, blue hood, yellow belly and pale yellow eye ring.

Green-backed Trogon

The new one was the 11.5"  Surucua Trogon (Trogon susucua). This is a female with the gray body. In the field guide it shows that this trogon has 2 color forms - red bellied and yellow bellied. I have not seen this in any other trogon that I have encountered. Maybe it is 2 separate species??

Surucua Trogon - female

The 10" male Blue-crowned Trogon (Trogon curucui) has a green back, red belly and blue head.

Blue-crowned Trogon - male

The female is gray instead of green.

Blue-crowned Trogon - female

The only tinamou was the 17" Solitary Tinamou (Tinamus solitarius). It was coming to a feeding station at a lodge in the mountains. This is only my 4th tinamou species to photograph.

Solitary Tinamou

At the same time at that lodge, they fed the 11" Spot-winged Wood Quail (Odontophorus capueira). The rufous on the face is a good ID, but it is the only quail in this area of Brazil.

Spot-winged Wood Quail

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

I have photos of 10 of the 19 species of storks

I have photos of 18 of the 43 species of trogons

I have photos of 4 of the 47 species of tinamous

I have photos of 10 of the 34 species of New World  quail

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2024 David McDonald

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Bulletin 402 - Colombia 2021 #19 - Trogons and Jacamars

 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.

Jacamars are a small family of brightly colored birds with long pointed bills. They sort of resemble large hummingbirds. They are mostly found in the Amazon area. 

The 9" Rufous-tailed Jacamar (Galbula ruficauda) is the most commonly encountered, as its range is from southern Mexico to southern Brazil.

Rufous-tailed Jacamar

The 8" Green-tailed Jacamar (Galbula galbula) is very similar but with a solid green tail.

Green-tailed Jacamar

The 8" Bronzy Jacamar (Galbula leucogastra) is dark green with a bronzy chest and back.

Bronzy Jacamar

The 6.5" Brown Jacamar (Brachygalba lugubris) is all brown with a white belly.

Brown Jacamar

The 8" White-eared Jacamar (Galbalcyrhynchus leucotis) is mostly reddish brown with darker wings and tail and a prominent white ear patch. He has a bright red bill.

White-eared Jacamar

Last is the 11" Paradise Jacamar (Galbula dea). It is dark glossy green with a white throat and a very long tail.

Paradise Jacamar

We saw several trogons and a quetzal on the trip. The 11" male Green-backed Trogon (Trogon viridis) has a purple head and yellow belly.

Green-backed Trogon

The bird of the trip was the 13" White-tipped Quetzal (Pharomachrus fulgidus). It is endemic to the Santa Marta and adjacent Perija mountain ranges. It is the only quetzal in those areas. This was my 4th of the 6 species of quetzal to photograph.

White-tipped Quetzal

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

I have photos of 8 of the 18 species of jacamars

I have photos of 17 of the 43 species of trogons and quetzals

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 274 - Ecuador #8 - Cotingas, Trogons and Jacamars

These are the places visited. At the end of each bird description, I will give the 2 letter code where the photo was taken.

Shiripuno Lodge in Amazon  (SH)
Mindo area on west slope has several close reserves that we visited (MI)

The cotingas are a diverse New World family of 66 songbirds. Overall they are rather difficult to find. The 12" male Andean Cock-of-the Rock (Rupicola peruvianus) is red on the west slope of the Andes where we saw several at a lek. He has a large crest and black wings with large white patches.The males on the east slope of the Andes are orange as seen here.  MI

Andean Cock-of-the-Rock - male west slope

Another group of cotingas are called fruitcrows for their overall black color. We saw 2 species on the trip but I only got photos of the 11" Purple-throated Fruitcrow (Querula purpurata)  MI

Purple-throated Fruitcrow

We also got a distant view of the 7" male Purple-throated Cotinga (Porphyrolaema porphyrolaema). Although the purple throat cannot be seen, the black back, white underside and white wing patch is diagnostic for this bird. It is listed as scarce in the Ecuador Guide book.  SH

Purple-throated Cotinga - male

The trogons are worldwide family of 43 species with 2/3 in the New World. They are medium sized colorful fruit eating birds that are easy to photograph when you find them as they usually sit still. The 10" male Blue-crowned Trogon (Trogon curucui) has a blue head, red belly and yellow bill.  SH

Blue-crowned Trogon - male

The 11" female Green-backed Trogon (Trogon viridis) has gray head and chest and yellow belly. She has a blue eye ring and black bill. The male would have a blue head and chest. This bird was formerly known as the Amazonian White-tailed Trogon. SH

Green-backed Trogon - female

The 11" male White-tailed Trogon (Trogon chionurus) has bluish purple head and chest, yellow belly, pale bill and solid white tail. This individual is missing some of his white tail feathers (probably molting). This bird was formerly called the Western White-tailed Trogon.  MI

White-tailed Trogon - male

The quetzals are 6 larger birds in the trogon family with fancy plumage such as epaulets, crests, long tails etc. The 13.5" male Golden-headed Quetzal (Pharomachrus auriceps) has green back and red underparts, golden green head and black undertail. I only got a single photo of the bird before he flew.  MI

Golden-headed Quetzal - male

The jacamars are a small family of New World birds (18 species) most of which are found in Amazonia. I got 2 new ones for the trip. They resemble large hummingbirds as the have long tails and long pointed bills. The 7.5" Yellow-billed Jacamar (Galbula albirostris) is the only jacamar in Ecuador with a yellow bill.  SH

Yellow-billed Jacamar

The 7.5" White-eared Jacamar (Galbalcyrhynchus leucotis) is brown with a white cheek patch and pink bill.  SH

White-eared Jacamar

I have photographed 14 of the 43 trogons now and they can be seen here.

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.