Bulletin 412 - Colombia 2022 #9 - Guans and other non-passerines

 I was planning to go to Peru in 2022 but there were riots and road closures in the areas we were planning to go. So at the last minute I went back to Colombia and saw some other places. 

Unfortunately, there was a lot of overlap, so I did not get a lot of new birds on the trip. However, many areas now have set up feeding stations and several were built for photography. I used the same guide Pablo Florez and I had my daughter with me on the trip this year.

However on the bright side, the setups for photography and the number of places that had feeders allowed me to get many improved photos of birds I had not so good photos before.

The cracidae family consists of about equal numbers of chachalacas, guans and curassows. The former are usually easy to see and come to feeders, but the curassows are some of the most difficult birds to find. All are spectacular due to their size.

The 20" Colombian Chachalaca (Ortalis columbiana) is an endemic. It is the only chachalaca in its range in the central and western Andes. The white tips of the breast feathers gives a scalloped look.

Columbian Chachalaca

Guans are similar but even larger. The 23" Andean Guan (Penelope montagnii) is much darker than the previous bird and the breast appears streaked rather than scalloped. I just love the genus name penelope - an old fashioned girls name.

Andean Guan

The last is the  25" Sickle-winged Guan (Chamaepetes goudotii). It is plain brown with a rufous belly.

Sickle-winged Guan

The next are single birds in each family that I photographed on the trip.

The 10" male Chestnut Wood-Quail (Odontophorus hyperythrus) was part of a covey of about 10 birds coming to a feeding station. These normally difficult to see birds are enchanting to see in the open and up close.

Chestnut Wood-Quail

Next is the 19" Andean Motmot (Momotus  aequatoralis). As you know motmots have racquet tails - with a bare shaft on the 2 long tail feathers before the racquet at the end of the tail. This is one of the 5 species that were split in the Blue-crowned Motmot complex. Here is the adult with the racquet tail. Another interesting habit is they swing their tails from side to side and not up and down like many birds.

Andean Motmot

So are they born with the racquet tail? No, here is a juvenile and his tail is normal. The adults strip the bare area themselves when preening. This is another wonder of nature!

Andean Motmot - juvenile

The only member of the trogon family for the trip was a 14" female Golden-headed Quetzal (Pharomachrus auriceps). She is the only quetzal in the Andes with a gray head and black undertail.

Golden-headed Quetzal - female

The last 2 birds were both lifers and surprising to find. I had never even heard of the 11" Spot-flanked Gallinule (Porphyriops melanops). It is mostly confined to Peru to Argentina but there is a small population in the mountains east of Bogota. It was in a pond in the middle of a cattle pasture - so I walked out to get the photo. It looks like our Common Gallinule but it has a greenish bill and shield and of course the white spots on the flank.

Spot-flanked Gallinule

The 13" Noble Snipe (Gallinago nobilis) was a special treat to see. It was in a boggy pasture and the farmer allowed us to go out to take the photos. The black line under the eye is diagnostic. Anytime I can find a snipe is always exciting.  This is the usual way that you see them - hunkered down in the grass. There are 7 snipes in South America and this was my second one to photograph.

Noble Snipe

But this one was wide open. The buffy spots on the tail are diagnostic for this species in the mountains.

Noble Snipe

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

I have photos of 18 of the 55 species of Chacalacas, Guans & Curassows

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

I have photos of 10 of the 14 species of Motmots

I have photos of 20 of the 138 species of Rails and Gallinules

I have photos of 51 of the 93 species of Sandpipers

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 280 - Colombia #3 - Marsh Birds, Cracids, Night Birds

Pablo Florez, the main guide, has co-written a book where to bird in Colombia. In it, he has a list of the Top 30 Most Sought-after Birds by a group of 40 birders visiting Colombia. I saw 12 of them on the trip and got photos of 10. When I show one of these birds,  I will mention its placement on the list.

So the next of these most sought after birds is the 35"  Northern Screamer (Chauna chavaria). Screamers are a small family of just 3 species in South America. They are closely related to ducks and geese. We saw 2 pairs way out in a field. But they responded to the tape and flew closer. This bird is only found in Colombia and Venezuela. With the current political situation in Venezuela, Colombia is only place this species can be seen.They have a black body, white throat and red face with a wispy crest. It is #22 out of 30 on the above list.

Northern Screamer

Here is a bird in the air. Notice the spur on the leading edge of the wing.

Northern Screamer

We found a couple of waders. The 21" Bare-faced Ibis (Phimosus infuscatus) is a dark bodied ibis with a bare red face.

Bare-faced Ibis

The 49" Cocoi Heron (Ardea cocoi) is similar to our Great Blue Heron. He is paler and lacks the rusty thighs of the Great Blue Heron

Cocoi Heron

The last of the marsh birds was a treat to see, a rail. The are usually so secretive, but this 12" Blackish Rail (Pardirallus nigricans) walked out of the reeds for his photo. He is brown above, black below with a long yellow bill.

Blackish Rail

The cracids are a new world family of large turkey like game birds with 55 species in 3 broad categories - chachalacas, guans and curassows. The curassows are the largest, most threatened and rarest. I have photos of only 1 curassow so far.

The 20" Colombian Chachalaca (Ortalis columbiana) is brown with a pale belly. It is endemic to Colombia.

Colombian Chachalaca

The 23" Sickle-winged Guan (Chamapetes goudotii) is brown above and rufous below.

Sickle-winged Guan

The 25" Cauca Guan (Penelope perspicax) is another Colombian endemic. It is listed as endangered. It is brown with speckling underneath and a red throat wattle.

Cauca Guan

The 2 nocturnal birds were both spectacular, despite the fact I did not get any owl photos, but not from lack of trying. The owls would just not respond to the tape. 

So here is the 16" Common Potoo (Nyctibius griseus). Potoos are a small family of 7 species of birds in Latin America and the Caribbean, closely related to nightjars. What makes them unique is that they perch on top of a broken snag or tree and sit motionless all day sleeping, so as to become almost invisible. Here is a photo of a roosting bird I took in Panama 2 years ago.

So what  was so special about the Common Potoo here. Well, as well as roosting on the broken off tree, they lay their single egg in a depression on top of the snag as well. No nest is built.  We found a Common Potoo with the fluffy white baby both on top of a snag and sitting absolutely motionless. My guide had never seen a baby before, so this was a very rare find. I had to climb up about 100 feet on a 45 degree slope to get these photos.

Common Potoo with baby

Here is a close up of the baby. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

Common Potoo - baby

The other nocturnal bird was a lifer, the 18" Oilbird (Steatornis caripensis). Oilbirds are a separate family themselves, but are also related to nightjars and potoos. However, the big difference is that they are fruit eaters. Also, they are unique in that they roost during the day in caves like bats. They also use echolocation similar to bats.. This was the first time in all my travels to be at an oilbird cave. Here is a bird on a ledge on the wall of the cave.

Oilbird

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2016 David McDonald

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Bulletin 277 - Ecuador #11 - other birds

This will be the last of the photos from my Ecuador trip at the end of June. But don't worry I have some more from a later trip.

I got photos of 3 different jays. The Inca Jay (Cyanocorax yncas) is very similar to the Green Jay in south Texas and in fact until a few years ago, there were considered to be the same species. However, if you look closely, there are several color differences.

Inca Jay

The Turquoise Jay (Cyanolyca turcosa) is mostly blue with a black mask.

Turquoise Jay

Lastly, the Violaceous Jay (Cyanocorax violaceus) is purplish with a black hood.

Violaceous Jay

The juvenile Black Caracara (Daptrius ater) is all black with a yellow face and bill. The adult would have red in place of the yellow.

Black Caracara - juvenile

The Squirrel Cuckoo (Piaya cayana) is a typical long tailed cuckoo and yher most commonly encountered. This on is all rufous and this is the best photo I have obtained of this bird.

Squirrel Cuckoo

The cute 4" male Red-capped Manakin (Dixiphia mentalis) is black with a red head and a pale eye.

Red-capped Manakin - male

Lastly, I got photos of several guans. The Sickle-winged Guan (Chamaepetes goudotii) has black upperparts and a rufous belly. He also had blue bare skin on his face.

Sickle-winged Guan

Spix's Guan (Penelope jacquacu) is gray brown with a red throat patch and bare blue skin on face.

Spix's Guan

The Andean Guan (Penelope montagnii) has a spotted chest, head and neck and brown back with a red throat patch.

Andean Guan

And the last is the Blue-throated Piping Guan (Pipile cumanensis). It is black with a white head and wing patches and a blue throat.

Blue-throated Piping Guan

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 239 - Ecuador #3 - large non-passerines

This bulletin will look as some large birds that, for the most part, are seldom seen by birders. They are in 4 families, herons, tinamous, cracids and screamers.

The heron is common throughout South America (SA). The Striated Heron (Buteroides striatus) is the counterpart in SA to our Green Heron. He is brownish and not rufous backed like his northern cousin.

Striated Heron

The 36" Horned Screamer (Anhima cornuta) was a life bird for me. The screamers are a family of just 3 species, all in South America. Despite their chicken-like appearance, they are most closely related to ducks and geese. They have partially webbed feet and nest near water. An unusual feature unique to screamers is the fact that they have air cells under the skin that can be inflated. Wikipedia says these air cells makes the birds unattractive as a food source. However, another source states that this species is hunted for food and is very good eating. Anyway, on the Pacific slope, they are limited to a remnant population in a preserve south of Guayaquil where we saw a pair of them. I was able to get close enough to see and photo the bird and the white horn. The guide book states that the horn can be 'surprisingly hard to see in the field'.

Horned Screamer

The tinamous are another New World family of 47 species of ground dwelling chicken-like birds. Again, these birds are very secretive and hard to see well. I got my first photos of a tinamou in Costa Rica this year. Some places feed, and have blinds to observe, these birds and Copalinga Lodge provided one. It was truly an experience to see 2 different species 20 feet away in the space of 15 minutes.

The 18" Gray Tinamou (Tinamus tao) is found in Amazonia and listed as very rare on the eastern slope. It is unusual in coloration as most tinamous are brown.

Gray Tinamou

The 9" Little Tinamou (Crypturellus soui) is listed as common and has a huge range from Mexico to Brazil. However, despite being common, the guide book states that they are 'exceptionally difficult to see' and are most often heard. For the most part they are all brown, but the birds in northern Peru and southern Ecuador have gray heads as does this bird. I saw this species in Costa Rica, but was unable to get a photo.

Little Tinamou

Lastly, the cracids (not crackheads) are large pheasant like game birds in the New World. There are 55 species and one occurs in south Texas with the rest in the tropics.They have 3 different names chachalacas, guans and currasows. There are about an equal number of each in the family.

The 23" Rufous-headed Chachalaca (Ortalis erythroptera) occurs on the west slope in Ecuador. A pair of birds hung around the lodge at Buenaventura.

Rufous-headed Chachalaca

The 20" Speckled Chachalaca (Ortalis guttata) occurs on the east slope in Ecuador. A family group came to the banana feeders at Copalinga Lodge. This one was showing off his tail.

Speckled Chachalaca

The 34" Crested Guan (Penelope purpurascens) is found on the west slope in Ecuador. This one was at Buenaventura where the guide says it is rare, despite being in a protected preserve.

Crested Guan

The Sickle-winged Guan (Chamaepetes goudotii) occurs on both slopes with a marked size difference that strikes me as peculiar. The west slope birds are 21" and the eastern slope birds are 25" in length. They occur at 2700 to 8000' elevation. They have a bare blue skin on the face. This bird was at the Copalinga Lodge on the east slope.

Sickle-winged Guan

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2015 David McDonald

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