Bulletin 200 - Panama #8 - hummingbirds



With this edition, I have reached another milestone..#200. Looking back at the first one, it was May 2007, after 2 couples I met birding in Galveston asked me to send them some photos of the birds we had seen. I now have over 250 people who receive these bulletins. It is due to you, my subscribers, that publishing these bulletins is a labor of love. Thank you.

I suppose everyone was wondering why I had not shown any hummer photos from Panama. It was because I was saving them for #200. The hummingbirds are a large new world family of birds with 340 species. Most of them are in the tropics. North America has 18 species listed in Sibley, 8 of whom occur just across the Mexican border in Texas or Arizona. The Panama field guide has 59 species! The names of some of these tropical hummers are very imaginative such as sunangel, fairy, hermit, plumeleteer, topaz, coquette, emerald, mango, woodnymph, sunbeam, coronet, mountaingem etc. These are the jewels of the bird world.

So lets start with the hermits. This group of hummers have long curved bills and are usually brown or green in color. Some of them have elongated central tail feathers. The sexes are similar except where noted. They usually do not come to feeders.

The Long-billed Hermit (Phaethornis longirostris) is 6" in length and readily comes to feeders.

Long-billed Hermit



The Green Hermit (Phaethornis guy) is also 6" long but has dark green upperparts. The male is green on the underside, but the female shown here has gray underparts, and rufous stripes on face and throat.

Green Hermit - female



The Rufous-tailed Hummingbird (Amazilia tzacatl) is a 4" very common hummingbird from central Mexico to Ecuador and Venezuela. It looks similar to our Buff-bellied Hummingbird except belly is gray and tail rufous. Those 2 species are the same genus. Sexes are similar.

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird



Another of the same genus is the Snowy-bellied Hummingbird (Amazilia edward) is also 4" long. It has a sharp demarcation from the green throat and white belly. The tail and wings are coppery colored. Here are a couple of photos.

Snowy-bellied Hummingbird


And another bird.



Snowy-bellied Hummingbird

The Purple-crowned Fairy (Heliothryx barroti) is a large 5" stunning hummer with bright green above and snow white below. The lateral tail feathers are white as well. They do not come to feeders, so one has to be quick and lucky to catch them feeding on flowers. The male has a purple crown.

Purple-crowned Fairy - male

Another day, I caught a female feeding.

Purple-crowned Fairy - female



The Sapphire-throated Hummingbird (Lepidopyga coeruleogularis) is a small (3.5") hummer with a forked tail. The male is all green except for a violet-blue throat. The forked tail isn't seen in the photo as his tail is spread.

Sapphire-throated Hummingbird - male

The female has white underparts except for green spots along the flanks. Here the forked tail with white tips is seen.

Sapphire-throated Hummingbird - female

The Black-throated Mango (Anthracothorax nigricollis) is a 4" green hummer. The male has a black stripe from his throat to his belly.

Black-throated Mango - male

 
Next we have a couple birds with white in their name. The White-necked Jacobin (Florisuga mellivora) is a common 4.5" hummer that we saw everday on the trip. The male has a green back, blue head, white collar, white belly and mostly white tail. He is a stunning bird and easy to ID.

White-necked Jacobin - male





When hovering, he fans his tail and the white is obvious.

White-necked Jacobin - male

We also had a juvenile male who just had some blue on his throat.

White-necked Jacobin - juvenile male

The female is all green above and spotted green below.

White-necked Jacobin - female

Next is the White-vented Plumeleteer (Chalybura buffonii). This 4.5" hummer is named for the elongated vent feathers under the tail. The male is all green otherwise.

White-vented Plumeleteer - male

The female is all gray underneath.

White-vented Plumeleteer - female

I have saved the best for last...3 species with violet in their name. The first is the Violet-headed Hummingbird (Klais guimeti). The male of this 3" hummer has a purple crown and throat. We didn't see him however, just the female. She is green above and grayish below. The ID mark for this speices is the conspicuous white spot behind the eye. It is the only member of this genus.

Violet-headed Hummingbird - female



The male Violet-bellied Hummingbird (Darmophila julie) is a 3.5" stunner. Instead of his green throat being iridescent and flashing, the violet belly flashes when he gets the sun on it. The rest of the bird is green. The belly just looks black until it shows it color, so getting a photo of that took some patience. It is the only member of this genus.

Violet-bellied Hummingbird - male

And here is a full on view.

Violet-bellied Hummingbird - male

Lastly the male Violet-crowned Woodnymph (Thalurania columbica) is a 4.5" violet hummingbird with a brilliant green gorget and a forked tail. He is breathtaking.

Violet-crowned Woodnymph - male

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.

Bulletin 199 - Panama #7 - Tyrant Flycatchers

The tyrannidae family, aka Tyrant Flycatchers or New World Flycatchers is the largest family of birds with about 420 species. Many of them are fairly drab, but some are spectacular like the Vermilion Flycatcher or Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. We saw more than a dozen species in Panama. Many of them look alike and have to be IDed by voice. The smallest of these flycatchers are the tiniest birds in the world next to hummers. The sexes are similar except where noted in the descriptions.

I will start with the kiskadees and similar colored birds. The Great Kiskadee (Pitangus sulphuratus) is a stunning 8.5" bird, with brown and rufous wings, bright yellow underparts and striped head. This bird does occur in the USA in south Texas. On reviewing our photos, I guess we didn't take any as we had some from Texas, so here is the bird.

Great Kiskadee

The Lesser Kiskadee (Pitangus lictor) is similar, but only 6.5" in length and it has much smaller bill. It also has less rufous on the wings.


Lesser Kiskadee

Another similar bird is the Boat-billed Flycatcher (Megarhynchus pitangus). It is also 8.5" in length, but has an even heavier bill than the Greater Kiskadee and lacks the rufous on the wings.



Boat-billed Flycatcher

The 4th similar bird is the Social Flycatcher (Myiozetetes similis). It is the size of the Lesser Kiskadee, but the crown and sides of face are dark brownish gray rather than black and the back is more olive.

Social Flycatcher

The last of this coloration is the Rusty-margined Flycatcher (Myiozetetes cayanensis). It is smaller still at 6", but has the black head, brown back and some rufous on the wings.

Rusty-margined Flycatcher

The Streaked Flycatcher (Myiodynastes maculatus) is another large (8") flycatcher. It is IDed by the streaked back and underparts and a rufous tail.

Streaked Flycatcher

The much smaller (5.5") but similar Piratic Flycatcher (Legatus leucophaius) lacks the streaking on the back and rufous tail. It has a much smaller bill as well.

Piratic Flycatcher

The Common Tody-Flycatcher (Todirostrum cinereum) is a tiny (4") bird with a black face, dark gray head and back and bright yellow underparts.

Common Tody-Flycatcher

The myiarchus genus is well represented in North America. The Panama Flycatcher (Myiarchus panamensis) has the typical coloration with a brown back, yellow belly and gray head and breast.

Panama Flycatcher

The Paltry Tyrannulet (Zimmerius vilissimus) is a tiny (4") flycatcher best IDed by voice. But it does have yellow wing edges and gray underparts that differ from other tiny flycatchers.

Paltry Tyrannulet

Elaenias are a group of small flycatchers that can be IDed by the median crown stripe on their head. The Forest Elaenia (Myiopagis gaimardii) can be IDed by narrow bill and yellow wing bars and wing edges.

Forest Elaenia

The Long-tailed Tyrant (Colonia colonus) is small (4.5") flycatcher with 2 elongated tail feathers (longer in males). It is black with a white stripe across the face and another down the back.

Long-tailed Tyrant

The Tropical Kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus) is gray with yellow underparts. It lacks the white tail edges of the Western Kingbird which is the only other bird of this coloration in Panama. Also, the notched tail is diagnostic. This bird occurs along the southern border of USA.

Tropical Kingbird

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.

Bulletin 198 - Panama #6 - Toucans, barbets, saltators and sloths

Time for some more cool tropical birds. And what could be more typical of the neotropics than toucans. There are 47 species of toucans and all are in the Americas. They go by 3 names, toucans, aracaris and the little ones are toucanets.

Every child in the USA and Canada (maybe Europe as well) is familiar with the Fruit Loops bird. This is the Keel-billed Toucan (Ramphastos sulfuratus). The black body, yellow face and throat and multicolored bill are an easy ID. The bird is 19" long.

Keel-billed Toucan

The third species we found was the Collared Aracari (Pteroglossus torquatus). Aracaris have thinner more pointed bills and tend to be a little smaller. This bird is 16" long and has a 2 tone bill.

Collared Aracari

Closely related to the Toucans are the barbets. These birds have stout bills. There are 3 species in Panama and we saw just one, the Spot-crowned Barbet (Capito maculicoronatus). These small birds (6.5") are black above with black streaked flanks. The males shown here have white throats and a yellow breast band.

Spot-crowned Barbet - male

Here is a pair in a Cecropia tree. One has his head down showing the white spots on top of his head.




Spot-crowned Barbet - males

Saltators are heavy billed songbirds that formerly were in the Grosbeak and Cardinal family. But now their relationship is uncertain. We saw 2 of the 3 species in Panama. The Streaked Saltator (Saltator striatapectus) is 7" in length. The back is olive and the breast is streaked olive. The thick bill is black.
The sexes are similar.

Streaked Saltator

The Buff-throated Saltator (Saltator maximus) has an olive back, buff throat and gray breast.

Buff-throated Saltator

Sloths are mammals confined to the New World. There are 6 species. They are related to armadillos and anteaters. We saw only one, the Hoffmann's Two-toed Sloth (Choloepus hoffmanni). Needless to say, if you find them, they are easy to photograph. Sloths are the main food for the Harpy Eagle.

Sloths have some peculiarities, compared to most mammals. Firstly, they have an unusual number of neck vertebrae. Almost all mammals have 7 cervical vertebrae from elephants and whales to giraffes. The few exception are manatees and two-toed sloths with only 6, and the three-toed sloths with 9. Additionally, on most mammals, the fur on their limbs grows towards the feet. Because sloths hang upside down in trees most of the time, their fur grows away from the feet to shed the rain. This can be seen in the first photo as well as the 2 toes.

Hoffman's Two-toed Sloth

Here is another photo showing his cute face.

Hoffman's Two-toed Sloth

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.












































Bulletin 197 - Migration #3 and Anahuac NWR book

It certainly was a strange year for migration. The best weekend was Easter weekend April 18-20. Generally,  the following two weekends are the peak of migration. However strong southerly breezes provided a good tail wind for the birds and they must have gone far inland before alighting. All the migrant traps on the coast were as quiet as any of us can ever remember. I hope it isn't an indication of a severe decline in bird numbers.

The Yellow-breasted Chat (Icteria virens) was formally considered a warbler, but now it is uncertain of its pedigree. It is larger (7.5") than the warblers. I usually only see 1 or 2 each spring. This one was at LaFitte's Cove in Galveston.

Yellow-breasted Chat

The Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) is a common spring migrant, but I only saw a couple of them this year.



Yellow-billed Cuckoo

A late migrant that I was pleased to find was the Bobolink (Dolichonyx oryzivorus). This 7" member of the icterid or blackbird family usually comes through in early to mid May when most birders have stopped going to the coast. This was only the 3rd time in 25 years that I saw them in the spring. The beautiful male has a black breast, white on wings and back, and a prominent yellow patch on the back of his head and neck.The female is just streaked brown like a sparrow and I have yet to get a photo of her.

Bobolink - breeding male

Phalaropes are a group of 3 species of sandpipers that are unique in several ways. They often swim
and dab at the surface of the water to feed. There is one species we get here. Additional, unlike most birds, the female is the brightly colored bird and the males are duller. The one we have in spring is Wilson's Phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor). The female has black stripe down neck with red on the wings.

Wilson's Phalarope - female breeding

The male is considerably plainer. He is IDed by the thin bill and a hint of color on his face and neck.

Wilson's Phalarope - male breeding

Anahuac NWR had a rare spring sandpiper visitor this year, a female Ruff (Philomachus pugnax). This Eurasian sandpiper is an occasional visitor to the lower 48 states. But it seems to have become rather regular as I have seen one 3 times since 2008 in the Houston area. This was my first female in breeding plumage and she is IDed by the bright orange legs.



Ruff - breeding female

Here is another photo which also shows the banding on the wing feathers just like in the Sibley guide.



Ruff - breeding female

Anahuac NWR has always been a favorite place to visit for me. 2013 was their 50th anniversary of the establishment of the refuge. The volunteer group Friends of Anahuac Refuge decided to publish a book about the refuge in their 50th year and invited photographers to submit photos for possible inclusion in the book. I was fortunate to have had 3 photos selected for the book.

The first was a full page photo of a wildflower I took way back in 2006. It is known a False Indigo.

False Indigo

The second was my photo of a Striped Skunk (without stripes) taken in 2010. It was only 1/4 page in the book.

Striped Skunk

And lastly, I had a bird photo! This pair of Crested Caracaras on top of a bare tree was taken 2 days before the close of submissions last December. It was also published as a full page in the book.

Crested Caracaras

If any of you are interested in buying a copy of the book, it is only $20 plus tax and shipping. It can be purchased at the visitor center at Anahuac NWR or can be ordered online here.


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.