A common shorebird of South America but it is slowly spreading north into Central America. This is one of two that my daughter spotted close to the Arenal Volcano near La Fortuna, Costa Rica
Bay-breasted Warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
Yes, there are many beautiful birds in the Neotropics, but it’s not to say there isn’t beauty among the birds in North America. Indeed, we share many of our birds with countries in the south when they migrate to warmer climes in the winter. Floy and I have seen many northern species in the south, but they are often drab and do not show their breeding colors until the northern spring. The male Bay-breasted warbler is a member of this category, drab and plain in the Neotropics becoming a stunning showman in the northern summer.
This photo was taken in May, 2018 at Magee Marsh, Ohio
Western Tanager
Western Tanager. Photo taken near Truckee, California
Floy pretty much described this bird in her post below. We see it show up in the spring in the San Francisco Bay Area, usually, but not always in riparian areas. It is a common summer bird in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Rufous-collared Sparrow
Rufous-collared Sparrow
Rufous-collared Sparrow
This perky bird has an extensive geographic distribution, occurring from southern Mexico to the southernmost tip of South America. We encountered a small group of them at the entrance to Los Quetzales National Park, Costa Rica, which is located near Cerro de la Muerte, the mountain of death, on the Pan American Highway. Once you drive this stretch of road, the origin of the “mountain of death” becomes apparent. We observed these birds around 9,000-10,000 above sea level. It was a cold, blustery, gray day when I photographed them and I wished there was more light to work with, but their beauty stands out even so.
Hoffman's Woodpecker
Melanerpes hoffmannii occurs from Southwest Nicaragua to Northern Costa Rica. We saw several of them over a two-week period.
One of the characteristic markings of this species is that the nape (back of the neck) is yellow. This male was busy hunting for bugs and was oblivious to my close presence.
Costa Rica 2018
Costa Rica 2018
Motmots
Motmots are one of my favorite birds. I guess they rank high with me because they tend to sit still and they are beautiful. This makes them good photo subjects.
Motmots are found in the forests of the Neotropics. Motmots are patient, sit and wait predators, roosting quietly, waiting to ponce on an insect or a small lizard that wanders into the reach of a waiting motmot.
Most motmots have “paddles” at the end of their tails. These paddles are called rackets. Rackets are formed because the feather barbs above the rackets are weakly attached and fall out. It used to be thought that the bird removed these barbs, but this has since been proven incorrect.
Rufous Motmot (David Zittin, Costa Rica 2018)
Broad-billed Motmot (David Zittin, Costa Rica 2018)
Tody Motmot (Dave Zittin, Guatemala 2017) This species lives deep in the vine tangle and is difficult to photograph. Note that this motmot does not have tail rackets
Lesson’s Motmot (David Zittin, Guatemala 2017)