David McDonald Photography

Sunday, November 15, 2015

Bulletin 242 - Ecuador #5 - parrots and woodpeckers

This was my first visit to Ecuador. The country was as amazing as I had heard from other birders. The people are friendly and there was no trouble finding people who spoke English, to get directions in the airport etc.

The country is a tourist destination for all things nature. They have done a remarkable job setting aside large areas for national parks and preserves. Also, several private organizations have stepped in to buy up critical habitat to protect endangered species. I was amazed at how clean the countryside was. There was almost no litter along the highways as we drove from place to place.

Parrots as a group have suffered major population declines both from loss of habitat, and also from trapping for the pet trade. One of the critically endangered birds is the El Oro Parakeet (Pyrrhura orcesi). This rare parakeet was only discovered in 1980 and described and named by Robert Ridgely (coauthor of Birds of Ecuador) in 1988. It is named for El Oro province in southwest Ecuador. The Buenaventura Ecological Reserve, where we stayed, was established to protect this species. Apparently there were only 30 birds in 2003 when the reserve was established, but with protection from further deforestation and placing nest boxes, the population has climbed to 500+ according to my guide. It was a treat to see this rare endemic bird. If you look closely, you can see bands on both birds.

El Oro Parakeet
Buenaventura Reserve

Another parrot at Buenaventura is the 13" Red-masked Parakeet (Psittacara erthyrogenys). This bird was in a tree right outside the lodge. It is green with a mostly red head.

Red-masked Parakeet

A third at the same location is the 11" Bronze-winged Parrot (Pionus chalcopterus). It has unmistakable coloration with a dark blue body and bronze wings.

Bronze-winged Parrot

On the first day as we drove south along the Pacific coastal plain, we saw 2 more parrots. Both of them were at the preserve for the Horned Screamer. The first is the 8" Gray-cheeked Parakeet (Brotogeris pyrrhoptera). It is green with a gray face.

Gray-cheeked Parakeet

Parrotlets as the name suggests are small parrots the size of sparrows (4.5 - 6"). There are 15 species in 2 genera, touit and forpus. The 5" Pacific Parrotlet (Forpus coelestis) is just so cute. We saw a flock of perhaps 8 birds and I caught this one as he came in to land.

Pacific Parrotlet

The last photo I got was the White-eyed Parakeet (Psittacara leucophthalma). It is green with red spots on side of head and a white orbital ring. This was taken near Copalinga Lodge.

White-eyed Parakeet

Despite being in woods almost all the time, we only saw one woodpecker in the forest and I missed the photo, but it was one I already had. The 2 that I did get photos were in relatively open areas on the last day near Copalinga Lodge. The 7" Yellow-tufted Woodpecker (Melanerpes cruentatus) is black with yellow above the eye. The male has a red crown

Yellow-tufted Woodpecker - male

The female lacks the red crown.

Yellow-tufted Woodpecker - female

Nearby, we also found a 6" female Little Woodpecker (Veniliornis passerinus). She is brown back with striped underparts.

Little Woodpecker - female

Bird Families...I have grouped my photos online by country and/or trip report. I now have a substantial number of photos of birds in several of the families and I know sometimes you would just like to see more of them in 1 place.

Click the link to take you to the gallery. Then you can hit ALL to see all the species or just click on the top left photo to see the first photo and then click NEXT on the top or bottom right to scroll through.

Also, there is a SLIDE SHOW option that you can use that will scroll through all the photos automatically. This option is at the top right. You can select the interval of 1,3,5 or 10 seconds that each photo will be displayed, after you begin the slide show.

I have also put the scientific name and range of the bird below each photo. I will use the most colorful photo I have ...usually a male, but if I don't have that, then a female or juvenile.

Hummingbirds 72 species

Sandpipers 36 species

Plovers 10 species

Gulls, terns, skimmers 33 species

Trogons and Quetzals 7 species

New World Parrots 28 species

Woodpeckers 35 species

Tyrant Flycatchers 75 species

Thrushes 25 species

Tanagers 49 species

Cardinals 23 species

New World Warblers 64 species

Orioles, blackbirds 37 species

Happy birding and photography,

David McDonald
dkmmdpa@gmail.com

photos copyright 2006 - 2015 David McDonald

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Sunday, November 8, 2015

Bulletin 241 - Best of 10 years #9 - Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds are unique in the bird world in that they can hover, fly backwards and fly upside down and even fly backwards while upside down. The are 345 species and all are in the New World. These sparkling birds are the jewels of the bird world and include the smallest bird. Hummers are favorites of birders and non-birders alike, who often try to attract them to their yards with feeders. I have photographed about 20% of all the hummer species and I have picked 14 for this bulletin.

There are 18 species in the the Sibley North American guide, 4 of which are vagrants from Mexico. The best place to see the many species in the USA is in southeast Arizona during late summer when up to a dozen species can occur. The first 2 here were taken in Arizona.

The Broad-billed Hummingbird has a bright blue throat and red bill.

Broad-billed Hummingbird - male

The Costa's Hummingbird has a bright purple throat and crown.

Costa's Hummingbird - male

My trip to Costa Rica in March 2015 produced several favorites. The first is the Black-crested Coquette. The male has a wispy black crest. Coquettes are target birds for all birders.

Black-crested Coquette - male

The tiny male Snowcap with his reddish-purple body and white top of head is another target bird in Costa Rica.

Snowcap - male

The Fiery-throated Hummingbird has the most amazing multi-colored gorget.

Fiery-throated Hummingbird

The large male Violet Sabrewing is a stunning purple with a contrasting white tail.

Violet Sabrewing - male

Another large hummer is the Magnificent Hummingbird. This photo was taken in Costa Rica, but this bird also can be found in Arizona. The male is a beautiful with his turquoise gorget and purple crown.

Magnificent Hummingbird - male

The Violet-headed Hummingbird produced a beautiful photo as he fed on a heliconia flower.

Violet-headed Hummingbird

The recent Ecuador trip also produced its share of favorites. The Long-tailed Sylph is the first of the hummers with long streamer tails I have found.

Long-tailed Sylph

This Brown Violetear posed right up close so all his feather detail could be seen.

Brown Violetear

The Violet-bellied Hummingbird sat on a leaf.

Violet-bellied Hummingbird - male

The Andean Emerald has snow white underparts. I just like his expression, the way his head is cocked up to the right.

Andean Emerald

Lastly, I have a couple of hummers from my yard. The first is a Buff-bellied Hummingbird that wintered in my yard for 6 years in a row.

Buff-bellied Hummingbird

The other is a beautiful male Rufous Hummingbird who sat on a dead hibiscus leaf that matched his coloration.

Rufous Hummingbird - male

Sunday, November 1, 2015

Bulletin 240 - Ecuador #4 - Flycatchers

The tyrannidae family of birds known as tyrant flycatchers is the largest family of birds with about 430 species. All are in the New World. English names for that many species becomes a problem. There are phoebes, pewees, flycatchers, tyrants, and kingbirds. Because some of these are the smallest birds besides the hummingbirds, some are named for their small size. We have tody-flycatchers, tody-tyrants, tyrannulets, pygmy-tyrants, micro-tyrants, and nano-tyrants (just kidding on the last 2).

Any visit to tropical America will produce a dozen or more species of flycatchers. Many of them are rather drab, so I will just show some of the more unusual or colorful of them. The sexes are similar in most species.

The 5" Cinnamon Flycatcher (Pyrrhomyias cinnamomeus) is the sole member of that genus. It has bright cinnamon underparts and wing patches.

Cinnamon Flycatcher

The 4" Sooty-headed Tyrannulet (Phyllomyias griseiceps) has a gray head and bright yellow underparts. There are no wing bars.

Sooty-headed Tyrannulet

The 7" Dusky-capped Flycatcher (Myiarchus tuberculifer) also occurs in the western USA. It is typical of the genus with gray head and throat, brown back and yellow belly. This bird appears to have had some tail feathers chewed off.

Dusky-capped Flycatcher

The 5" Ornate Flycatcher (Myiotriccus ornatus) is another monotypic genus. As its name suggests, it should be attractive. The gray head with white spot in front of the eye is distinctive.

Ornate Flycatcher

The 9" Long-tailed Tyrant (Colonia colonus) is black with a white crown and a couple of extended tail feathers. It is another monotypic genus.

Long-tailed Tyrant

The 4.75" Olive-chested Flycatcher (Myiophobus cryptoxanthus) is a rather dull flycatcher with wing bars. It had streaked brownish olive breast.

Olive-chested Flycatcher

There is a small group of 7 flycatchers called attilas (maybe for Attila the Hun?). The 8" Ochraceous Attila (Attila torridus) is bright rufous with black on the wings. It is listed as uncommon and the guide was excited that we found it.

Add caption

The 4" Scale-crested Pygmy-Tyrant (Lophotriccus pileatus) was a difficult bird to photograph. It kept moving around to the tape, but always landed behind leaves or branches, so that I never got a photo. Finally, when we were looking at another bird, one flew in and perched right in front on the camera. It is a cute little guy with an yellow-olive back, streaked white underparts, orange crest and white eye.

Scale-crested Pygmy-Tyrant

I have also put the scientific name and range of the bird below each photo. I will use the most colorful photo I have ...usually a male, but if I don't have that, then a female or juvenile.

Hummingbirds 72 species

Sandpipers 36 species

Plovers 10 species

Gulls, terns, skimmers 33 species

Trogons and Quetzals 7 species

New World Parrots 28 species

Woodpeckers 35 species

Tyrant Flycatchers 75 species

Thrushes 25 species

Tanagers 49 species

Cardinals 23 species

New World Warblers 64 species

Orioles, blackbirds 37 species

Saturday, October 24, 2015

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

Sunday, October 18, 2015

Bulletin 238 - Ecuador #2 - Warblers and Vireos

The parulidae family of birds is the New World warblers. These are favorites of many birders around the world who come to see the spectacle of spring migration on the Gulf Coast and other inland locations as millions of these small birds make their way north to breed.

The IOU currently lists 120 species of warbler, but 2 species are likely extinct. The number of species has grown in the last 20 years through splits. The Yellow-rumped Warbler and Adelaide's Warbler were both split into 3 species and the Yellow-throated Warbler into 2 species. Several species have been removed and reclassified as well. Currently the Sibley's Guide lists 50 species that occur in North America and there are a few vagrants that pop up along the Mexican border from time to time.

I have photographed 64 of them. On the Ecuador trip, I got 7 new species and 6 were lifers.

The Olive-crowned Yellowthroat (Geothlypis semiflava) is olive above, yellow below and the male has the typical black mask.

Olive-crowned Yellowthroat - male

The Myiothlypis genus has 17 species of warblers. All but one are confined to South America. I photographed 4 of them. The Buff-rumped Warbler (Myiothlypis fulvicaada) also lives as far north as Honduras and this is the one that I had seen before but never photographed.

Buff-rumped Warbler

The Citrine Warbler (Myiothlypis luteoviridis) is olive above, yellowish below and has a bright yellow arc over the eye. This one was a surprise as I didn't know I had the photo until I got home. Anyone who has birded in the tropics will have seen these mixed flocks that suddenly show up and there may be a dozen active birds of 8 or more species. When that happens, I just try to get several photos of the birds while the guide is also trying to ID them. We didn't have this on the checklist at the end of the day, so he didn't see it.

Citrine Warbler

The Black-crested Warbler (Myiothlypis nigrocristata) is olive above, streaked yellow below and has a black crown. He also has a black line through the eye.

Black-crested Warbler

The Gray-and-gold Warbler (Myiothlypis fraseri) is easily recognized by his name. He has a gray head and back and bright yellow underparts. This bird along with the Buff-rumped Warbler above were right outside the lodge at Buenaventura.

Gray-and-gold Warbler

The Spectacled Redstart (Myioborus melanocephalus) was in the mist in the cloud forest at Tapichalaca. He has a black head with rufous crown, gray back, and yellow underparts and spectacles.

Spectacled Redstart

The final species was the Three-banded Warbler (Basileuterus trifasciatus). It is olive above, yellow below and has a striped head and face

Three-banded Warbler

To see all of the warblers I have photographed, go to the Warbler family section with this link.

The vireo family has 63 species all but 10 of which are in the New World. Most of them are rather drab. I photographed 2 new ones on the Ecuador trip.

The first is the Rufous-browed Peppershrike (Cyclarhis gujanensis). I first saw this bird in my initial visit to the tropics in Belize in 1993 and the name always stuck in my head. I was pleased to finally get a photo of it. It is colorful with olive back, yellow throat and rufous above the eye. He has a very thick bill as well.

Rufous-browed Peppershrike

The Olivaceous Greenlet (Hylophilus olivaceus) is olive above, yellow below and a bright orange eye.

Olivaceous Greenlet

Sunday, October 11, 2015

Bulletin 237 - Best of 10 years - Tanagers

The tanager family (thraupidae) is a large New World family of 368 species. Many of them are brightly colored and most are in the tropics. The famous Darwin's 'finches' of the Galapagos are also tanagers. Unfortunately, except for a couple of vagrants, there are no longer any tanager family birds in North America, as the Scarlet, Summer and Western Tanagers have been reclassified and placed in the cardinal family.

These photos have been taken over the past 2 years in Panama, Costa Rica, Ecuador and the Caribbean. The Crimson-collared Tanager is perhaps my favorite of the tanager photos.

Crimson-collared Tanager - male

The Blue-Gray Tanager is found widely in the tropics and most birders have seen it. It is also readily attracted to banana feeders.

Blue-gray Tanager

Another blue one is the Masked Flowerpiercer. He is distinctive with his red eye and black mask.

Masked Flowerpiercer - male

The Red-legged Honeycreeper is an even brighter blue. This is another very common bird in the tropics.

Red-legged Honeycreeper - male

Among yellow birds, the Saffron Finch is a bird of South America, but it has also been introduced in Hawaii where this photo was taken.

Saffron Finch - male

The Golden Tanager is another South American bird.

Golden Tanager

The Silver-throated Tanager is yellow with a silver throat and black streaking on the back.

Silver-throated Tanager

The male Green Honeycreeper is almost iridescent. The black face and yellow bill confirm the ID. The birds in Ecuador like this one are more a blue-green then green.

Green Honeycreeper - male

The Green-and-gold Tanager is mostly green bodied with black streaking.

Green-and-gold Tanager

The Bay-headed Tanager is a sentimental favorite of mine. On my first trip to Costa Rica in 1994, it was one of the birds on the cover of the Costa Rica bird book, so I was familiar with the colors. On the first morning of the trip, we drove to a national park and the first bird I saw when I stepped out of the van was one of these!

Bay-headed Tanager

Lastly is the Hispaniolan Spindalis. This is one of 4 Caribbean species that was split from what was known as the Stripe-headed Tanager until the split about 15 years ago. I got a nice photo with him eating a berry.

Hispaniolan Spindalis - male

I hope that everyone gets a chance to visit the tropics and see some of these beautiful birds.