Bulletin 429 - Brazil 2023 #10 - Tanagers - Part 2; 2 Texas birds

 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.

The 7" Sayaca Tanager (Thraupis sayaca) is a blue-gray tanager found in lower elevations.

Sayaca Tanager 

The very similar 7" Azure-shouldered Tanager (Thraupis cyanoptera) is found in montane habitat. I do not know if I could tell them apart.

Azure-shouldered Tanager

A third bird of this genus is the 7" Golden-chevroned Tanager (Thraupis ornata). It is an easier ID with the yellow shoulder.

Golden-chevroned Tanager

The 6.3" Shrike-like Tanager (Neothraupis fasciata) is gray with black shoulders and a black mask.

Shrike-like Tanager

 

The 4.8" female Blue Dacnis (Dacnis cayana) is a bright green bird with a blue head.

Blue Dacnis - female

These next 3 birds may be familiar to many of you, as they have been established in Hawaii. But South America is their native territory.

The 6.5" Yellow-billed Cardinal (Paroaria capitata) is a handsome black and white bird with a red face and no crest.

Yellow-billed Cardinal

His cousin, the 7.5" Red-crested Cardinal (Paroaria coronata) has a red face, throat and breast as well as a red crest.

Red-crested Cardinal

Lastly is the beautiful 5.5" male Saffron Finch (Sicalis flaveola). He is an easy ID with an olive back, bright yellow below and a bit of orange on his forehead.

Saffron Finch

There were a couple of interesting Texas birds in 2023. The first was this Merlin (Falco columbarius). I photographed him at Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge back in February. What was unusual was his orange leggings. This is what caught my eye as I was driving along. So I turned around and went back to photo the bird. 

I posted it on Texbirds and there was quite a discussion whether it was a Merlin or a Eurasian Hobby. I assumed it was a Merlin as I had never seen a report of the Hobby in Texas before. Anyway the final consensus was that it was a Merlin, as there are photos of some similar birds online. Interesting bird!

Merlin

The second was even more interesting bird in December. It was the first USA record of a Grey-collared Becard (Pachyramphus major). He was discovered in a state park near Brownsville Texas. His normal range is Mexico to Nicaragua. Of course such a rarity brought birders from all over North America to add him to their list.

Grey-collared Becard - immature male

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

I have photos of 143 of the 391 species of tanagers

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald

dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2023 David McDonald

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Bulletin #156 - Hawaii Introduced Songbirds

I have the pleasure of showing off my star pupil, my new wife Lisa. She has been taking photos that are as equal quality and sometimes better than mine!

In the last bulletin, I described how the endemic species of Hawaii were decimated and some were driven to extinction by the arrival of humans and their baggage of domestic animals, agriculture etc.

The islands were repopulated with many non-native bird species from around the world. Several of our familiar songbirds were introduced including the Northern Mockingbird, Northern Cardinal, House Finch, Western Meadowlark, and of course the ubiquitous House Sparrow of European origin. Fortunately at least they did not import the Starling! I did not bother to photograph these species. I concentrated on the birds from elsewhere, many of which are very beautiful.

The most stunning of the birds was the Saffron Finch (Sicalis flaveola). This bird was introduced in the 1960s and is native to South America (where I have also seen it). The male is bright yellow with reddish orange on the face. These birds were all around our hotel and a real delight.

Saffron Finch - male
Photo by Lisa Kelly-McDonald

The female lacks the red face.

Saffron Finch - female

The juvenile is grayish with some yellow.

Saffron Finch - juvenile

Another somehwat similar bird was the Yellow-fronted Canary (Serinus mozambicus). As its Latin name implies, it is a native of Africa. It too was introduced in the 1960s. It is greenish above with yellow below. The face is also yellow with brown stripes.

Yellow-fronted Canary

The most colorful bird was the Red-billed Leiothrix (Leiothrix lutea). Unlike the rest of the birds here, it is a forest bird and exceedingly difficult to see. It was introduced from China in 1918. However, we were lucky to hear a bird screeching as we hiked down to one of the famous black sand beaches. We saw the bird on an open branch about 6 feet away. I guess we must have been close to its nest. I only had my scenery 24-105mm lens with me, but the bird was close enough to get a decent photo.

Red-billed Leiothrix

The Common Mynah (Acridotheres tristis) is a native bird of India. It was introduced in 1865. This bird aslo can be found in the USA in the Miami area. It is brown with yellow bare skin on the face, yellow legs, and bill. It is very noisy! The sexes are similar.

Common Mynah

The Yellow-billed Cardinal (Paroaria capitata) is another South American bird. It was introduced in 1973, and is only on the Big Island. It seems to be misnamed as the bill seems to be pinkish rather than yellow, at least in the adult. The sexes are similar. It has a red head without a crest, dark gray back and white underparts. Altogether, it is a beautiful songbird.

Yellow-billed Cardinal - adult

The juvenile has more a a yellow bill, and ochre coloration of the head rather than red.

Yellow-billed Cardinal - juvenile

The Nutmeg Mannikin (Lonchura punctulata) is the same gunus as the above bird. It was introduced in 1865 from Southeast Asia. It has a brown back, and speckled brown breast with the dark bill. This bird also occurs in the USA as escaped caged birds, although I have not seen it here. The sexes are similar.

Nutmeg Mannikin

The Java Sparrow (Padda oryzivora) is a handsome 6" gray bird with white face, black head, and 2 tone thick red bill. As it name implies, it was introduced from Indonesia in 1867. It was reintroduced in the 1960s and occurs on Oahu and now on the Big Island as well. The sexes are similar.

Java Sparrow - adult

The juvenile is dull gray and lacks the black head.

Java Sparrow - juvenile

The last bird was common, but very frustrating to photograph. It was hyperactive, (like a cross between a warbler and a hummingbird) flitting through the branches. This is the Japanese White-eye (Zosterops japonicus). This is an yellow or olive 4.5" bird with a prominent white eye ring. The male is more yellow on the throat and the female is olive. It was introduced in 1929 on Oahu and 1937 on the Big Island.

Japanese White-eye - male

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2012 David McDonald

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