PO Box 9021, Wilmington, DE 19809, USA
E-mail: font@focusonnature.com
Phone: Toll-free in USA, Canada, & Puerto Rico 1-800-721-9986
 or 302/529-1876; Fax: 302/529-1085

HIGHLIGHTS FROM OUR PAST BIRDING & NATURE TOURS in 2006
Part 1

With tour narratives, photos, comments by participants, and links to lists of birds & other nature during these tours:
 
ICELAND - JUN '06

JAPAN (incl. Hegura Island) - MAY '06 

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (& adjacent HAITI) - APR '06

GUATEMALA - MAR '06

CAYMAN ISLANDS & JAMAICA - FEB/MAR '06

COSTA RICA (& adjacent PANAMA) - FEB '06

PANAMA - FEB '06

GUATEMALA - DEC '05/JAN '06

Green Violet-ear 
(Photograph taken during the FONT tour in Costa Rica, 
in February 2006, by Rosemary Lloyd)

With the tour summaries, there are links to UPCOMING TOUR ITINERARIES, CUMULATIVE LISTS relating to BIRDS, ANIMALS, & OTHER NATURE, and to PHOTO GALLERIES.

Link: 

Past 2006 Tour Highlights Part 2: for other tours in Brazil, Iceland, Sweden, Arizona

Iceland
June 2006

Links:

Photos of Icelandic Birds & Scenery from our June '06 Iceland Tour

List of Birds during our Iceland Tour - June '06

Cumulative List of Birds during our Iceland Tours

Complete List of the Birds of Iceland

Upcoming Iceland Birding Tours

The following account written by Armas Hill, leader of the tours:

Our June 3-11, 2006 birding & nature tour in Iceland was our 13th tour in that country, and our 48th tour in Europe since 1990. During our June '06 Iceland Tour, there were both some wonderful birds and some wonderful experiences.

Iceland is a fascinating country. In relation to nature, its geology is particularly notable. Its scenery is especially superb. 
Even though the island country nearly touches the Arctic Circle, and even though it's called "Iceland", it's not as cold as other places with such a northerly latitude. The proximity of the Gulf Stream has an affect.      

But there is ice in Iceland. There are glaciers, including the largest in Europe. When we visited that glacier late one evening, during our June '06 tour, it was truly a magnificent sight, enhanced by a beautiful male Harlequin Duck swimming in the water close to us. Harbor Seals were lifting their heads above the water, peering at us, as we admired the panorama of frozen ice and evening sky. In that sky, numerous and noisy Arctic Terns flew about.    

When we visited that glacier a couple years ago, during a tour in late May, the ice was covered with many resting Black-legged Kittiwakes. During our recent '06 tour, in early June, there was not a single kittiwake at the glacier, but there were hundreds of Arctic Terns, either sitting on the ice or in flight above it. Looking at them one thinks about how they came such a long way to be there. Arctic Terns that breed in Iceland, when not there, travel many miles over the Atlantic Ocean, to off the southern tip of Africa, and even beyond, into the Indian Ocean to waters off western Australia, before retracing their journey back to Iceland. No other bird in the world travels that far. And as we watched and listened to them, just before midnight, when it was still quite light, one could also think of how no other bird in the world experiences so many hours of daylight.     

Iceland is place of both ice and fire. In addition to glaciers, there are geysers where hot water emits from the ground. The word "geyser" is Icelandic. 
And there are volcanoes throughout the island. During recent decades, there have been eruptions and fiery fissures. Less than 50 years ago, an eruption on the ocean floor off the southern coast of Iceland produced an island.

Mid-Atlantic Rift

It is only in Iceland that the Mid-Atlantic Rift is above the surface of the sea. Elsewhere it's on the ocean floor. In Iceland, one can walk across a short bridge over the rift between "continents". Most of the birds in Iceland are Eurasian. The 3 exceptions, that are American birds, are the Common Loon, Barrow's Goldeneye (Bucephala islandica), and Harlequin Duck. These 3 species nest nowhere else in Europe.

As we were at the Mid-Atlantic Rift, there was the beautiful song of the wren, the "Icelandic Wren", an endemic subspecies of what's called the Winter Wren in North America. In Europe, it's simply called the Wren. It's the only one of the 74 species of wrens that ranges throughout the Northern Hemisphere. It's the only wren in Eurasia. It has 41 subspecies. Watching the one in Iceland, as it moved about on the rocks, we could see that it appeared slightly larger and longer-tailed than the Winter Wren of North America.              

Given the latitude of Iceland, it's rather surprising how many bird species have actually been recorded there. The list of species for the country, prior to our tour, was 354. Of these, 73 are regular breeders. We saw nearly all of them during our tour. Of those 73 regular breeders, 17 are resident. 9 are partially migrant. 21 are largely migrant. 26 of the regular breeders are totally migrant. Another 26 species of birds are irregular breeders in Iceland. 
9 species of birds occur in Iceland only during their migration. 10 other species occur in Iceland only in the winter. 2 species (both pelagic) are summer visitors, having bred in the Southern Hemisphere. 
35 species of birds on the Iceland List are vagrants that occur annually. And, lastly, there are 126 species on the list that have occurred in Iceland as what might be called irregular vagrants, either recorded once or just a few times. Vagrants in Iceland come from opposite directions, with some from Eurasia and others from the Americas.          

A complete list of 354 species of birds in Iceland is elsewhere in this website. There's a link to it above. In the list, the number of sightings (as of 2002) is given in parentheses. That number may not reflect every sighting, but it gives an interesting measure of how often the Icelandic vagrant birds occur.    
Actually now, that list of Icelandic birds contains one more species. The story follows: 

With such an extensive country-list, it would seem incredulous that we would add a species to it during our tour. But that we did. Just after leaving the small island of Flatey, in a large bay in northwestern Iceland, from the ferry, a Yellow-billed Loon was spotted on the water, at first very close to the boat. Seen well, the bird appeared large, as did its bill that was lightly-colored throughout, including the culmen and tip. Its head was also lightly-colored, more so than the head of the Common Loon in winter plumage. We did see a number of Common Loons, or Great Northern Divers, in a few plumages, during our tour. The White-billed Diver (as the Yellow-billed Loon is called in Europe) nests there only in the High Arctic region of far-northern Russia. West of Iceland (and west of Greenland), the species nests in North America, in the High Arctic of Canada and Alaska. In Europe, it has been found, away from its far-northern nesting area, off the Norwegian coast (mostly from late April into the first few days of June), and off Britain and Ireland (between October and mid June). Our sighting, off the western Icelandic coast, was on June 9, 2006.     

That little island known as Flatey, in the big bay filled with small islands known as Breidafjordur, in western Iceland, is quite a place. On the island, there are 4 or 5 year-round residents, 5 if the son of the elderly lady who operates the little post office is there (he was hurt in a boating accident and sometimes is away). We met that lady from the post office during a previous tour (her name is Leena), and this time (in June '06), we sat with her outside in her yard, having coffee and cake. We were serenaded at the time with the constant winnowing of diving Snipe in the air right above us (they may have been nesting in the tall grass just the other side of the wooden fence). Her common bird of the yard was the Snow Bunting. She feeds a flock of them, as she fed us (but I think bread, and not cake and coffee). One of our favorite experiences on the island, was, as we were waiting for the ferry to return, watching adult Snow Buntings, close to us, feeding their adolescent young. 

During our 3 to 4 hours on Flatey Island, there was always the sound of birds. There were, in addition to the song of Snow Buntings and the winnowing of Snipe, the continual calls of shorebirds such as Redshanks, Oystercatchers, and Golden and Ringed Plovers. But it was to see another shorebird that we primarily went to Flatey. That species was the Red Phalarope, which is a rare breeder in Iceland (with just a relatively few pairs). Throughout Iceland, we saw many Red-necked Phalaropes, in their breeding garb, either spinning around on small pools, or along coastlines. As we disembarked from the ferry onto Flatey, Red-necked Phalaropes, nearly close enough to touch, were by the pier. Our target, the Red Phalarope, we surmised would not be as easy. However, with a bit of luck, and being at the right place, we watched 3 bright brick-red females circling about in the water, near to where we assumed 3 duller males were sitting on the nests. We were told by the post office lady (and it was true) that those birds had just returned to the island. The Red Phalarope is the last of the birds to arrive in Iceland in the spring, having come from the ocean off the southern African coast.

A while back, the Red-necked Phalarope was called the Northern Phalarope. But that was a misnomer, as the Red Phalarope is a more-northerly breeder than the Red-necked. In most European bird guidebooks, the Red Phalarope is called the Grey Phalarope. In Iceland, however, it's called the Red Phalarope as that's its color there when it visits for a short while to nest before going back out to sea.       

So, like the Yellow-billed Loon, the Red Phalarope is a High Arctic breeder that we were fortunate to see (and on the same day). But, in the case of the phalarope, we saw it near a breeding site. It's a site, it might be mentioned, that's protected due to Eiders. There's a sign indicating in 4 languages that entry beyond it is strictly prohibited. You see, to the 4 people on Flatey Island, the down from the nests of Eiders is very important. When we sat on large rocks and observed the Red Phalaropes, we were before the sign, to our left. To our right, and not much more than an arms-length away, Black Guillemots stood tamely on a couple other rocks, neatly-dressed in their black-and-white breeding attire. And so it seemed quite appropriate that as they stood there, they were "well-behaved", generally still and quiet. 

Behind us, on top of a little knoll, there was a small church. We were generally "well-behaved" as we entered to take a look. The colorful murals inside were not of saints or deities, but instead of fisherman. Overhead, on the upper wall, puffins were depicted. On the ceiling, directly overhead, there was a large painting (nearly life-size) of a White-tailed Eagle.     

From the ferry from Flatey, after the unexpected loon, and during a ride when the Icelandic weather was the best it could possibly be, we enjoyed watching, from the boat, Shags and Cormorants, Fulmars, Arctic Terns, Common Murres (including the bridled form), and many Atlantic Puffins, either sitting on the water (usually prior to diving), or in the air with their short fluttery flight. 
However, as we returned to the dock that we had left earlier in the morning, we had not seen, as hoped, a White-tailed Eagle (other than the one painted on the ceiling of the church). 

So, after a fine seafood dinner, some rather spontaneous arrangements were made for another boat-trip into another part of the bay to see a White-tailed Eagle. And that we did, as we watched a frosty-colored adult circle in the sky around our boat 3 or 4 times, sometimes being pursued by a couple Ravens.            

The young captain of the boat, called in for our mission on short-notice, also enjoyed our successful endeavor. The eagle was at a place where the normally-scheduled boat-trips don't go. A pair along the normal route had apparently abandoned their nesting efforts due to previous bad weather.
The young captain, who grew up on one of the more-remote little islands, also enjoyed talking about other birds that we saw, such as cormorants and shags, and the fulmars, kittiwakes, terns, and puffins. He asked what we liked better to eat, cormorant or shag. (Our fine seafood dinner, about an hour earlier, we told him, was neither.) He told us that a bird not to be eaten was the Fulmar. He also said that if we ate the eggs of either Arctic Tern or Kittiwake, we'd prefer not to eat again the egg of a chicken.    

The White-tailed Eagle was not the only raptor we saw during our June '06 tour in Iceland. We saw Merlins and we were again, as we have been during our Iceland tours in the past, fortunate to watch Gyrfalcons. We saw 2 adults, a pale male and a slightly darker and larger female, on a cliff-ledge on the other side of a gorge with an invisible stream far below. We heard the calling of a young, "kerreh-kerreh-kerreh", elsewhere on a cliff, not visible from where we were. But as we stayed still and quiet, close to the ground in high tussock-grass, we certainly had a tremendous opportunity to observe Gyrfalcons at a place, remote and wild. When we were quiet, the only sounds were those of birds: in addition to the call of the Gyrfalcon, there were also those of the Whimbrel, Golden Plover, Greylag Geese, and the ever-present sound of the Snipe in the air.                 
But, more still than we were, and more quiet too, were 2 Pink-footed Geese crouched low to the ground, protecting their nest. They were so still. In our telescopes we could see that one blinked an eyelid, maybe. 

Raptors are not the birds in the Iceland spring and summer that most nesting geese and shorebirds need to be concerned most about. No, the most common predator in much of Iceland is the Parasitic Jaeger (or, as it's called in Europe, the Arctic Skua). The species occurs in Iceland in two color forms, both a light and a dark morph. Interestingly, in the Icelandic population, the all-dark form seems to be (at least where we were) about as common as the light morph. Many pairs that we saw were one of each. Not too far from the Gyrfalcon location, we watched a pair feed. One bird (the light one) went to the ground and got an egg (apparently of a Golden Plover). It flew to a nearby spot where it was joined by the other jaeger (the dark one). They shared the egg. From our vantage point, we could see that the egg was not hard boiled!         

But the Parasitic Jaeger, however, is not the top avian predator in Iceland in the spring and summer. The Great Skua may well have that distinction. That powerful species is not everywhere in Iceland, but in the southeastern part of the island it is particularly common. During our evening drive mentioned earlier to a glacier, we went along one stretch of highway with a fantastic number of Great Skuas by the road. In less than a half-hour, we passed by over a hundred Great Skuas! And that was without a concerted effort to count more. There are more breeding pairs of Great Skuas in Iceland than anywhere else. (Other islands on which they nest include: the Faroes, the Orkneys, and the Shetlands.) It's said that there are 6,000 breeding pairs of Great Skuas in Iceland. The species is among the earliest to arrive in the spring. They're at their nest sites in late March, having spent their non-breeding months at sea.
There's something that can be said about Great Skuas near the road we took to and from the glacier. It's this: While many birds, in open vast areas, fly away when approached by a person (even if only a short distance), skuas, however, from various spots in such an area, fly TOWARD a person who ventures out from a vehicle! It's said that they're even aggressive toward Icelandic Sheep that happen to wander into an open area where they nest on the ground.    

Atlantic Puffin

Another species with more breeding pairs in Iceland than anywhere is the Atlantic Puffin. During our Jun '06 tour, in southern Iceland, one morning, as we walked along a trail by grassy ledges at the top of an ocean-side cliff, we enjoyed our looks, eye-to-eye as it were, with Atlantic Puffins outside their burrows. As our tour continued, we saw many Puffins in a number of settings: sometimes on cliffs, sometimes not, but always on, or by, the water. There are many Puffins in Iceland to see, with as many as 3 million pairs in the breeding season.

Another seabird that we saw in large numbers during its breeding season in Iceland was the Northern Fulmar. They nest on cliffs, where we often saw swarms of them flying about. Estimates are now that there are more than 2 million breeding pairs of fulmars in Iceland.

About 20 species of waterfowl nest in Iceland, among them the Whooper Swan (that we saw with cygnets), a few species of geese (that we saw with goslings), and an assortment of ducks (that we saw with ducklings). Particularly enjoyable among the ducks were, of course, the Harlequins, the Long-tailed Ducks, and the Common Eiders. The Common Eider is the most common of the ducks in Iceland, with a population greater than that of all of the other duck species combined. 
When we visited ponds in southern Iceland at the beginning of our tour, we saw ducks, yes. But when we returned to those ponds about a week later, near the end of the tour, we found that there had been, when we were gone, a population explosion. Those ponds were then like nurseries with parent ducks (mostly Eiders and Mallards) and parent geese (Greylag) with strings of offspring.              

Those numerous waterfowl babies were not the only very young birds we saw during our tour. We also saw baby shorebirds, and among them we particularly liked the little Oystercatchers.

As we were birding along a remote and picturesque stretch of the northern Icelandic coast, we found, among the Common Eiders, Eurasian Oystercatchers and other birds of the coastline, one of our best sightings of the tour. What a treat it was! There it was, in full breeding plumage, a male King Eider on a stony beach with Common Eiders. 
There is, maybe, no drake waterfowl in the world that's as striking to see, in full breeding plumage, as the King Eider. Oh yes, male Mandarins and male Wood Ducks come to mind as exquisite and beautiful, and the male Harlequin Ducks (that we certainly enjoyed in Iceland in June '06) are definitely colorful. And yes, the other eider species are not bad either, but to see a drake King Eider in its full breeding attire, as we did in such a scenic setting on a clear day, is, simply put, superb. It doesn't get much better.
To begin with, there's the "shark-fins" on the bird's dark back. They're unique. You might take a look at that feature of the breeding male in a good field guide. And there's the blue, and green, and orange, and red on the gaudy head.
Also, regarding the King Eider that we found along that Icelandic north coast, it was unexpected. Even though King Eiders can be found in Iceland, they are, like the Red Phalarope and Yellow-billed Loon, breeders in the High Arctic, that is north of Iceland. There's a population that breeds in Greenland. Most of those found in Iceland are from Greenland. Otherwise in Europe, the King Eider breeds only in far-northern Russia. In far-northern Norway, it occurs in the winter.

King Eiders can be found in Iceland throughout the year, but they are mostly found there in the late winter. Female King Eiders, it's said in the books, rarely occur in Iceland in the late spring and summer. So imagine our surprise when we realized that our spectacular male King Eider, along the northern Iceland coast on June 8, 2006, was with a female King Eider! Yes, there were 2 King Eiders that appeared to be a pair. Again, according to the books, King Eiders have not been known to breed in Iceland. It's too bad that we just couldn't go back sometime later to that spot to see if there were little King Eiderettes.                                            
There have been cases where male King Eiders have bred in Iceland with female Common Eiders, producing hybrids. In fact, it's said that such hybrids can annually be found in Iceland.
We were so pleased to find as we did, along that north Iceland coast, true male and female King Eiders.

A little while later, along that same dirt road by the north Iceland coast, there was another notable duck, a vagrant from North America. A male Green-winged Teal, Anas carolinensis, was by itself on a pond, with the sun shining on its features.

Yet another vagrant waterfowl in Iceland was seen later during the tour, a drake Garganey. And the last bird added to our trip-list was another vagrant waterbird in Iceland, the Common (or Eurasian) Coot.   

Prior to our June '06 tour, the best vagrant found during FONT tours in Iceland was a Great Crested Grebe, in May 2003, in a bay along the north Iceland coast. According to Icelandic bird data on the internet, there have been only 6 records for that Eurasian species in Iceland (We do not know if the bird we saw was included in those 6.)         
As good (as far north) as that sighting was, I was a bit surprised when I later read that a Great Crested Grebe was recorded even further north yet, in western Greenland, back in the summer of 1857, in the notes of the explorer Admiral Sir Leopold McClintock. Admiral McClintock, a competent naturalist, was, during that voyage, on his way from England to northern Canada, in an effort to ascertain the facts regarding the ill-fated expedition of the earlier explorer, Sir John Franklin, after whom the Franklin's Gull was named.       

Regarding gulls, again during our recent June '06 Iceland tour, and again along the northern coast of Iceland, one morning in a small fishing town, we tallied 8 species of them: Black-headed, Herring, Lesser Black-backed, Great Black-backed, Common, Glaucous, and Black-legged Kittiwake, in addition to the Iceland Gull. There were a few Iceland Gulls on the shoreline with Glaucous Gulls, providing a nice comparison.
Seeing the Iceland Gull in Iceland is easy during our tours there in October. Numbers come south at the end of the summer from Greenland where they breed. Iceland Gulls don't nest in Iceland. 
During the late spring and summer, only a few Iceland Gulls can be found, locally, along the north coast. 
The Iceland Gull of Greenland & Iceland is not the same population as the Iceland Gull found in North America. It is Larus (glaucoides) glaucoides, whereas the American bird (that breeds in northern Canada) is Larus (glaucoides) kumlieni, and thus is called, by some, the Kumlien's Gull.       

From the internet we learned of some other gulls in Iceland when we were there, that we were unable to see: Sabine's Gull, Ring-billed Gull, and a Laughing Gull. The Icelandic birders were most excited regarding the Laughing Gull (with only 9 previous records for the country). It's quite something, really, that such a bird from eastern North America would end up in Iceland. It's 3,882 kilometers from Boston to Iceland, and Laughing Gulls are really not abundant as far north as Boston.

There's much more I continue to say about birds in Iceland, but it's time now to finish writing this report. 
There were other birds, that have not been mentioned, that were good to see during our June 2006 tour in Iceland, including:
- the (Rock) Ptarmigan - we had a number of good looks, but our first had the most red on its head.
- the Horned Grebe (or Slavonian Grebe as its called in Europe) in its wonderfully colorful breeding plumage
- the pairs of Red-throated Loons (or Red-throated Divers), in their nice breeding plumage, as they sat still on the also still water of glacial pools
- and the flocks of shorebirds including brilliant Black-tailed Godwits (an endemic breeding subspecies in Iceland), Purple Sandpipers in their breeding plumage (an endemic resident subspecies in Iceland), and those other shorebirds that would continue further north to breed in the High Arctic, notably Red Knots, and also Sanderlings and (Ruddy) Turnstones.

And looking back to our first day of the tour, we stood on shore at the end of a cape, by where a large bay and the ocean meet. We were not far really from the offshore island where the last Great Auk died over 150 years ago. 
We were looking out at birds, so many birds. It was apparent that there were large schools of fish under the surface of the water attracting large, actively feeding, flocks of birds above them. Many Gannets were diving. There were also many Gulls. Numerous Arctic Terns were noisily flying and feeding. Parasitic Jaegers were harassing the Terns. Manx Shearwaters were flying about. And there was a continual procession of alcids flying by: in addition to Puffins, there were Razorbills, and both species of Murres (known as Guillemots in Europe). The Common Murres (or Guillemots) flew by in strings of birds, one group after another, seemingly without end.
 
With the birds and the fish, beneath the surface of the water and breaking the surface, there were Minke Whales (at least 2), feeding as well.

Iceland doesn't have many species of land mammals, but we were fortunate one evening to have a look at a dark (nearly black) Arctic Fox as it ran across the road in front of us. Then it stopped to look at us, as we looked at it.
We also saw a number of Harbor Seals, particularly along the north coast. Sometimes they were in water feeding on fish attracting groups of birds, and sometimes the seals were simply basking on the rocky shoreline in the sun.

Something that Iceland doesn't have much of are butterflies. We only saw one. (There are 82 species of Lepidoptera species in Iceland, mostly moths.)

But there are some wonderful wildflowers in Iceland in the late spring and summer. Among species seen during our June '06 tour were:
Nootka Lupin, Lupinus nootkatensis
Wild Pansy, Viola tricolor
Common Butterwort, Pinguicula vulgaris
Wood Crane's-bill, Geranium sylvaticum 
Sea Pea, Lathyrus japonicus maritimus
Hairy Stonecrop, Sedum villosum
Moss Campion, Silene acaulis
Sea Campion, Silene uniflora
Thrift, Armeria maritima
Lady Smock, Cardamine nymanii
Sea Mayweed, Matricaria maritima
Alpine Mouse-ear, Cerastium alpinum
Alpine Bistort, Bistorta vivipara
Wild Angelica, Angelica sylvestris
Bearberry, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi
Marsh-marigold, Caltha palustris
Alpine Cinquefoil, Potentilla crantzii
Silverweed, Potentilla anserina
Roseroot, Rhodiola rosea
A more-complete list of wildflowers and some other plants in Iceland will soon be elsewhere in this website. 

The birds voted by the participants, following the tour, as the "Top Birds" were:  

 1  -   Gyrfalcon
 2  -  White-tailed Eagle
 3  -  King Eider
 4  -  Atlantic Puffin
 5  -  Red Phalarope
 6  -  Great Skua
 7  -  Rock Ptarmigan
 8  -  Iceland Gull  
 9  -  Black Guillemot  
10 -  Snow Bunting
11 -  Garganey
12 -  Harlequin Duck
13 -  Northern Gannet
14 -  Pink-footed Goose
15 -  Black-tailed Godwit

Yes, we liked Iceland - again!

To Top of Page.

Japan in the Spring
May 2006

Links:

List of Birds & Other Wildlife during our Japan Spring Tour in '06 

Cumulative List of Birds during our Japan Spring Birding Tours

Birds of Hegura Island

Upcoming Japan Birding Tours

The following account written by Armas Hill, leader of the tours:

During the May 2006 FONT birding & nature tour in Japan (our 26th tour there; our 10th in the spring), there were thousands of Streaked Shearwaters seen from the ferry (an hour-and-a-half ride) to Hegura Island in the Sea of Japan. Also in flocks, were hundreds, as many as a thousand, Red-necked Phalaropes.

The water of the sea was smooth. And, as it was like glass, the alcids sitting on the water were relatively easy to spot. Most were Rhinoceros Auklets. There were also Japanese Murrelets, which are endemic to Japan, endangered, and attractive black-and-white birds with a nice Japanese name, "Kanmuri-umisuzume", It's pronounced as it looks.

The alcids breed on rocky islets by which the ferry closely passes. On the slopes of those small islands, thousands of Black-tailed Gulls were at their nesting sites. Many were seen flying close to the boat.

During the return ferry-ride from the island a couple days later, Streaked Shearwaters still abounded. The sea was not as calm, and there was more of a breeze. So more shearwaters were seen in flight, probably as many as 20,000. During the earlier trip to the island, with different conditions, an estimated 10,000 were seen. It was fun to watch so many shearwaters, in flocks lifting from the water and flying about. The species is actually incredibly abundant over oceanic waters around Japan, where the total population is said to be between 2.5 and 5 million.        

As noted, our ferry-ride was to and from a place called Hegura Island (or Hegura-jima). That little island is one of the foremost places anywhere in the world to experience bird migration. For its size, it may well be the best piece of land on Earth for such migration, during the spring (and it's also good later in the year, in the late-summer and fall, although FONT has yet to be there then). Such statements are not exaggerations. As many as approximately 360 species of birds have been recorded on Hegura Island. And at least a new species is added every year.  

Hegura Island is in the Sea of Japan, off the west coast of Honshu (the main Japanese island). And yes, it is small - only 1 kilometer wide and less than 2 kilometers long. One can easily walk the path around the entire coastline of the island in less than an hour.

Some people live on the island. But not many, about 150. There was a small store (no longer), an inn (where fortunately we can overnight and have meals), some homes, a school (just recently closed; there was an enrollment of 5), and 1 doctor. The most prominent structure on the island is a tall, white lighthouse. In the morning, the women of Hegura dive offshore for seaweed. Later in the day, if sunny, they put it out to dry. Men go out on boats to fish. 

People, such as us during our Spring Birding Tour in Japan, go to Hegura to bird. During our 2006 tour, we were on Hegura May 10-12. It was our 5th tour to visit Hegura. 4 of the tours have been in the month of May. Once, we visited in April. In all, during those 5 tours, we've found a cumulative total of 151 species of birds on Hegura Island. A complete list of those birds is elsewhere in this website (there's a link above).

During spring migration, landbirds, shorebirds, and waterbirds occur on Hegura. Many landbirds, especially as they travel at night, on their way north, come across the small island in the sea. Given optimum conditions, in the spring, the island can be filled with birds. They're in the open on fields, or they're in bushes, small trees, under debris by the homes, or along the rocky coast. In short, they can be everywhere.

Birds that elsewhere can be notorious skulkers are often, on Hegura, more out in the open. In that category, for example, are the shy Japanese Robin, Siberian Blue Robin (*), and the White's Ground Thrush (*). (Those with an (*) were found during our May '06 tour.)

Routine migrants are enroute from where they've wintered in the Asian tropics to where they'll breed as far north as Siberia. These include: Siberian Rubythroat (*), Siberian Stonechat (*), and Yellow-breasted Bunting. (Again, those with an (*) were found during our May '06 tour.)

There are, on Hegura, birds migrating north that are generally more common on the Asian mainland along the Chinese and Korean coasts than they are in Japan. There are a number of birds in that category that we've seen during our 5 FONT tours on the island, including: Chinese Egret (*), Chinese Pond Heron (*), Purple Heron (*), Hoopoe, Richard's Pipit, White-throated Rock Thrush, Swinhoe's (or Rufous-tailed) Robin (*), Dusky Warbler, Mugimaki Flycatcher (*), Tricolored Flycatcher (*), Red-throated Flycatcher, Black-naped Oriole, Chestnut Bunting, and Tristram's Bunting (*). (Once again, those species with an (*) were found during our tour in May '06.)              

In all, we saw 84 species of birds on Hegura Island in May 2006.

Among them, in addition to those already referred to above with an (*), we also saw:
both Temminck's and Pelagic Cormorants,
Japanese Sparrowhawk, Grey-faced Buzzard, Northern Hobby, and Peregrine Falcon,
Mongolian Plover,  Black-tailed Godwit, Red-necked Stint, Green and Common Sandpipers,
Grey-tailed (or Polynesian) Tattler, 
Common and Latham's Snipes,
Black-tailed, Vega (Herring), Slaty-backed, and Glaucous-winged Gulls,
Common, Oriental, and Lesser Cuckoos,
a Jungle (or Grey) Nightjar sitting still during the day on a fence, and asleep even as it was surrounded by people with cameras, binoculars, and telescopes  (a photo of this bird is now on the home-page of our website: www.focusonnature.com)
the Dollarbird (a Roller),
Buff-bellied Pipit (the Siberian race) and Yellow Wagtail,
Ashy Minivet,
Red-flanked Bluetail (also called either Siberian Bluechat or Orange-flanked Bush-Robin)
Siberian Thrush, Japanese Grey Thrush, Eye-browed Thrush, Dusky Thrush,
Japanese Bush Warbler, Oriental Great Reed Warbler, Black-browed Reed Warbler,
Eastern Crowned Warbler, Sikhalin (or Pale-legged) Warbler, Arctic Warbler,
Blue-and-white Flycatcher (the males are beautiful), Asian Brown Flycatcher, 
Siberian (or Dark-sided) Flycatcher, Grey-streaked Flycatcher,
Narcissus Flycatcher (this was certainly a favorite bird of our visit - the attractive males were so common and so tame, sometimes they were in bushes and trees, but other times they were on sidewalks in front of us, on fences beside us - just about anywhere!)
Japanese Paradise Flycatcher (what a gem!),
Brown Shrike,
Brambling, Eurasian Siskin, Hawfinch,
Japanese Yellow Bunting, Yellow-throated Bunting, Rustic Bunting.

Among the most interesting aspects relating to the bird migration when we were at Hegura in May '06 was that there were 3 "special" egrets & herons among others at one corner of the island. With Little, Intermediate, and Great Egrets, and some Grey Herons at pools of water among the rocks by the shore, there were "the 3", 1 of each: Chinese Egret, Chinese Pond Heron, and Purple Heron. It was like a little piece of China at that one spot on the island. And all 3 were "new birds" for us, not just for Hegura, but for Japan.      

The Chinese (or Swinhoe's) Egret, that breeds along the coasts of China and Korea, is one of the rarest egrets in the world. The population is estimated as being between 1,800 and 2,500 birds. Other heron-types that are more rare are also in Asia: the White-bellied Heron (of Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Burma, now Myanmar), the White-eared Night-Heron (of China), and the Japanese Night-Heron (breeds in Japan, winters in the Philippines). 
The Chinese Egret is similar to the Little Egret of the Old World and the Snowy Egret of the New. It has a shaggy crest when in breeding plumage as our bird was, more so than a Snowy, and not with a plume as had by a Little. We enjoyed a good look at the rare bird.
Our look at the Chinese Pond Heron was nice, simply put, because in its breeding plumage (as our bird was), it was a nice bird to see. It was an attractive bird, with its head, neck, and breast a reddish-brown, its back black, and its belly white.
The Purple Heron is another attractive bird that is in some ways reminiscent of the Tricolored (formerly Louisiana) Heron of North America. It, the Purple Heron that is, ranges across Eurasia. The subspecies on Hegura was Ardea purpurea manilensis, the easternmost of 3 subspecies, occurring from Siberia to the Philippines, but only as a vagrant in Japan.    

Swinhoe's Robin

Two names of people have been referred to in this narrative in the names of birds, particularly the Swinhoe's Robin and Swinhoe's (or Chinese) Egret, and the Tristram's Bunting. Both of these men, Robert Swinhoe and Henry Baker Tristram, were British ornithologists and collectors in the 1800s. Robert Swinhoe collected specimens, that went to the British Museum in London, from China. Not only were the robin and egret named after him, so was a storm-petrel in the Far East. 
Henry Baker Tristram traveled widely and collected specimens in North Africa and the Middle East (Palestine), also for the British Museum. He lived for a while in Bermuda, but during most of his life he lived in England. He collected specimens during a visit to North America in the vicinity of Niagara Falls. His collection of bird specimens, from around the world, was huge. In his early seventies, he printed a catalog listing 17,000 skins in his collection, of about 6,000 species! And during the 10 years of his life after that he accumulated another 7,000 skins that went to the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia! Tristram contributed articles extensively to the ornithological journal, the Ibis. In addition to the Tristram's Bunting, a bird normally of mainland Asia and not Japan, mentioned here earlier (and that we saw - both male & female - on Hegura Island), a storm-petrel of the Far East was named after him, as one was for Robert Swinhoe.                    
During May 2006, we saw the Tristram's Bunting on Hegura Island, Japan, 100 years after Henry Baker Tristram died in March 1906.

Tristram's Bunting

When we've visited Hegura Island during our tours, we've always had the good fortune to share our experiences with a number of Japanese birders and photographers. Dozens of them have visited there when we have, also (like us) to see the birds, and of course to photograph them too. They journey from throughout Japan to encounter the birds on their journeys. One of the birds during our '06 Hegura tour was a particularly good and well-known traveler, the Peregrine Falcon. Known for its journeying, the bird even has a word synonymous with travel named after it, "peregrination".
One morning on Hegura, a large female Peregrine was sitting on a big rock, by the sea, along the shore. In front of it, there were about 2 dozen Japanese photographers and birders with cameras set up and binoculars lifted up. The Peregrine, resting during its trip probably from the tropics to the tundra, sat there tamely, aware of, but rather oblivious to, the people. When we left Hegura on the ferry later that day, the last bird on the island that we saw was that Peregrine in the distance, perched high atop the communication tower.

During our May '06 tour, nearly 80 (actually 79) species of birds were seen on the main Japanese island of Honshu. Some were particularly notable, including:
the Great Knot, a shorebird that breeds only in eastern Siberia, and winters in Australia and Southeast Asia,
and other shorebirds including Bar-tailed Godwits, Long-billed Plover, Grey-tailed Tattler at a number of locations (even inland), and a fine flock of Mongolian Plovers with many in their richly-colored breeding plumage (the last of these is also called the Lesser Sandplover).
There were some nice birds along streams, including: 3 species of wagtails, the Greater Pied Kingfisher, and the Brown Dipper.
In the forested hills of interior Honshu, we enjoyed Japanese Grosbeaks, the Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker, the Siberian Meadow Bunting, the local race of the Eurasian Jay, and the Varied Tit (along with other tits, Eurasian Nuthatch, Japanese White-eyes, and other birds).
On a reservoir, among waterbirds, a bird that was particularly enjoyed was an adult male Smew, that was in full-breeding plumage, but somehow did not go north to breed.        
That Smew was somewhat unexpected, but even more so was another species of duck. After returning to Honshu on the ferry from Hegura, we traveled south along the picturesque coastline of the Sea of Japan with its rocks and cliffs. A fox was "new" for us, but the birds during the ride were those already seen, until, on coastal rocks, a flock of ducks was spotted. We were surprised, that time of year, and at that rather southerly location in Japan, to see 5 Harlequin Ducks, 4 females and a male. We've normally seen that species in Japan either on the northernmost island of Hokkaido, or further north in Honshu on the Pacific Ocean side of the island. Harlequins are a nice sight whenever and wherever they're seen.            

Not easily seen (other than on Hegura), but continually heard throughout Honshu, was the loud, almost explosive call of the Japanese Bush Warbler. It's a small bird with a big voice. And the call is well known, as it's heard in many places as the bird hides in the bushes, even in thickets near where people live. The call is known well enough to be heard even inside. Let me explain. There are what are called "family restaurants" in Japan. One called "Joyfull" is similar, sort of, to "Denny's". In such restaurants there are buttons to be pressed on the tables where people sit and eat. A waiter or waitress comes, when one presses that button. When that's done, a chime rings throughout the restaurant. But in "Joyfull" when we pressed the button, there it was again! - that sound, yes, even inside - the loud, explosive call of the Japanese Bush Warbler on speakers throughout the restaurant. As birders when we heard it, we could not help but look.
 
It can be said that "if you find the restaurant, you find the birds". Well, with the recorded call of the Japanese Bush Warbler inside "Joyfull", not quite. But on Hegura Island, outside, it was true. The Japanese photographers and birders there would put a small pile of feed (seeds or rice), for example, on rocks appropriately situated by the undercover. And, then, the birds would come out to "their restaurant",  and views could be had and photos could be taken. We saw a number of birds in that way. As we stood ever so still, birds that would normally be skulkers, were nicely seen. Among them, these birds that have already been mentioned, but let's bring them back now for a final curtain-call: Siberian Rubythroat, Siberian Blue Robin, Red-flanked Bluetail, Siberian Thrush, Tricolored Flycatcher, Swinhoe's Robin, and Tristram's Bunting. 
What a wonderful experience it was to see those birds as we did! And it was a wonderful aspect of our '06 tour in Japan in the spring.

  
To Top of Page.

Dominican Republic (& adjacent Haiti)
April 2006

Links:

List of Birds during our Dominican Republic Tour - April '06

Cumulative list of Birds during our previous Dominican Republic Tours

Upcoming Dominican Republic Tour Itineraries

The following account written by Armas Hill, leader of the tour:

The country of the Dominican Republic, on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, is truly an interesting place to bird. And that we did during our 14th tour there, April 1-8, 2006. What a great place it is to go to, and to experience, just a few hours by plane from home!

It's an interesting place for a number of reasons, but foremost among them is the diversity of habitats to be found on the island, Hispaniola is the 2nd largest island in the Caribbean, after Cuba. The Dominican Republic, occupying the eastern two-thirds of the island, is the second largest country in the Caribbean, after Cuba. In the 30,000 square miles of the Dominican Republic, there is a combination of highlands, lowlands, and highland valleys that have been divided into about 20 distinct geographical regions. It is one of the most ecologically diverse countries in the world.

In the Central Mountains (the Cordillera Central), there's the highest peak in all of the Caribbean, rising to 3,175 meters (about 10,000 feet), and frequently snow-capped.

On the other hand, the largest lake on the island (Lago Enriquillo) is about 115 meters (over 300 feet) below sea level. It was once a strait of the Caribbean Sea. It is now 3 times saltier than the sea. The lake is the home of various birds, such as Caribbean (Greater) Flamingos, and some other wildlife too, notably a population of American Crocodiles. In the lowland desert around the lake, in addition to a nice number of resident birds in the bushes and trees, there's a notable creature on the ground, the endangered Rhinoceros Iguana that's endemic to the desert habitat in that part of Hispaniola.

From the lake, as noted about 300 feet below sea-level, it's possible to drive a dirt road that ascends high into a mountain range called the Sierra de Bahoruco, a continuation of a Haitian range called Massif de la Selle. Those mountains average an elevation of 1,600 meters (4800 feet), but rise as high as 2,420 meters (7260 feet). Thus, along the lower part of the dirt road, one is surrounded by acacia and cactus, while in the higher mountains, one is in extensive forests of pine trees (Pinus occidentalis), in which crossbills live. There's another notable bird that nests there in rocky cliffs, at the high altitude of about 7,000 feet. It's a noisy denizen of the night, that flies in from the sea. The bird is the rare Black-capped Petrel, and in this mountain range of southwestern Hispaniola, it's believed that all of them nest.   

It's in the southwestern portion of the Dominican Republic, from the desert to the pine-clad mountains, and in between, and from the seacoast to the remote interior, that we did most of the birding during the tour.

Wonderful sights near the coast, at a shallow lake, included the pink Caribbean (or Greater) Flamingos, and the even-pinker Roseate Spoonbills, with flocks of White-cheeked Pintails. At salt pans by the sea, there were numbers of white-morph Reddish Egrets and Black-necked Stilts, and both Snowy and Wilson's Plovers together. On the floor of a dry forest, a Key West Quail-Dove walked by. High in the sky, during the day, Antillean Palm-Swifts and Caribbean Martins caught insects. In the evening sky, Antillean Nighthawks flew overhead, giving their katydid-like calls. A wonderful sound in the mountain forest was the long whistling note of the Rufous-throated Solitaire.

It's true, as already noted, that the Dominican Republic is a great place for birding due to the diversity of habitats. But there's another significant reason as to why the birding there is so interesting. It's the isolation that has occurred after many, many years of certain bird populations on one particular island in a group of islands. Resulting from this, there are a number of species and subspecies that are now endemic to Hispaniola. And, actually, there's even a bird family that's endemic to the island.

No, we didn't see the ghostly Black-capped Petrels on the misty mountaintop at night, but we did see many birds during our April '06 tour. Our total was 133 species. Of these, nearly 30 were endemic to Hispaniola. Additionally, we saw over 15 subspecies endemic to the island. All of these species and subspecies that we found are listed below:

An ENDEMIC SPECIES in an ENDEMIC FAMILY:

Palmchat

Other ENDEMIC SPECIES:

Hispaniolan Quail-Dove (formerly Gray-headed Quail-Dove when conspecific with Cuban population) 
Hispaniolan Conure (or Parakeet)
Hispaniolan Amazon (or Parrot)
Hispaniolan Lizard-Cuckoo
Bay-breasted Cuckoo
Ashy-faced Owl
Hispaniolan Nightjar (formerly Greater Antillean Nightjar when conspecific with Cuban population)
Least Poorwill (has been called Least Pauraque)
Hispaniolan Emerald (a hummingbird)
Hispaniolan Trogon
Narrow-billed Tody
Broad-billed Tody
Hispaniolan Piculet
Hispaniolan Woodpecker
Hispaniolan Pewee
Golden Swallow (now most likely an endemic species, as the subspecies in Jamaica has not been seen in years)
White-necked Crow (now an endemic species as the bird has been extirpated in Puerto Rico since 1963)
Hispaniolan Palm Crow (an endemic species if considered distinct from the population in Cuba)
LaSelle Thrush
Flat-billed Vireo
Ground Warbler
White-winged Warbler
Hispaniolan Spindalis (formerly part of the wider-ranging Stripe-headed Tanager)
Black-crowned Palm-Tanager
Gray-crowned Palm-Tanager (nearly endemic to Haiti)
(Western) Chat-Tanager
Hispaniolan Oriole (formerly part of the wider ranging Black-cowled Oriole)
Hispaniolan Crossbill (has been considered part of the White-winged Crossbill)

ENDEMIC SUBSPECIES:

American Kestrel
Limpkin (now an endemic subspecies as the bird has been extirpated in Puerto Rico)
Burrowing Owl (this is now the only subspecies remaining in the Caribbean; 2 others, in Antigua & Guadeloupe, have been extirpated)
Antillean Mango (a hummingbird)
Vervain Hummingbird 
Loggerhead Kingbird
Stolid Flycatcher
Greater Antillean Elaenia
Cave Swallow
Rufous-throated Solitaire
Golden Warbler (some might say that this endemic subspecies would be of the Yellow Warbler)
Pine Warbler
Bananaquit (1 of 41 subspecies throughout its extensive range)
Antillean Euphonia (at one time conspecific with the Blue-hooded Euphonia)
Greater Antillean Grackle
Greater Antillean Bullfinch
Rufous-collared Sparrow (the only subspecies in the West Indies of this wide-ranging species; occurs only high in the Central Mountains. There's another subspecies at sea-level on the Caribbean islands of Curacao & Aruba, closer to South America.)

Endemic subspecies of the Double-striped Thick-knee and the Stygian Owl are yet to be found during future tours. The endemic subspecies of the Northern Potoo was not found during our April '06 tour, although it has been during other FONT Dominican Republic tours.

A good number of the birds of Hispaniola are rare. The following are designated as such by Birdlife International in these categories:

CRITICAL:

Ridgway's Hawk (not found during the April '06 tour, but has been with FONT in the past)

ENDANGERED:

Black-capped Petrel
Bay-breasted Cuckoo
La Selle Thrush
Hispaniolan Crossbill

VULNERABLE:

West Indian Whistling-Duck
Plain Pigeon   
Hispaniolan (formerly Gray-headed) Quail-Dove
Hispaniolan Conure (or Parakeet)
Hispaniolan Amazon (or Parrot)
Golden Swallow
Bicknell's Thrush
Chat-Tanager
White-winged Warbler
White-necked Crow

NEAR-THREATENED:

Black Rail
Caribbean Coot
Least Poorwill
Hispaniolan Trogon
Gray-crowned Palm-Tanager
Hispaniolan Palm Crow
      
Some of the most explicit examples of isolated bird populations in the Dominican Republic are the Antillean Piculet, Hispaniolan Crossbill, Pine Warbler, and Rufous-collared Sparrow.

Piculets are mostly in South America, with one species ranging north into Central America. Not only is the Antillean Piculet isolated from the others, there's something particularly interesting about the species. As the Dominican Republic is one of the world's few places with amber, it was there that a notable find could be made of a fossil preserved in it. That fossil, with portions of feathers, was determined to be the oldest known fossil of Picidae (a woodpecker) in the New World. It was determined to be an Antillean Piculet or a very closely related form. The fossil is older than the lower Early Miocene Period. And that's way back. Studies have shown that other fossils, or bones, of Picidae elsewhere have placed them back to the Middle Miocene. The fossilized Piculet feather also represents the first pre-Pleistocene bird to be found in the West Indies. Put another way, that's before the Glacial Age.

Pleistocene times were about 85,000,000 years ago. The crossbill in Hispaniola goes back that far (to the Glacial Age). Since then it has been in the pine forests high in the mountains of Hispaniola. As to its discovery there, it's one of the bird species on the island that was first found in the 20th Century, in 1916. The closely related White-winged Crossbil is, of course, a bird of the northern forests in both the New and Old Worlds.

The subspecies of the Pine Warbler in the Dominican Republic is, like the crossbill, a resident of the Hispaniolan pines. It never leaves the island to occur where the species does otherwise in North America.

The Rufous-collared Sparrow is a species of mostly South America. In the northern part of its range, in Central America, it occurs only in the highlands. The isolated subspecies in the Dominican Republic only occurs at high elevations in the Central Mountains, favoring savannas in the pines. It's the only population in the West Indies.

Todies only occur in the West Indies. Those tiny little bright green jewels, a bit like hummingbirds, a bit like flycatchers, are most closely related to kingfishers. There are 5 species of todies, occurring endemically on 4 islands. Hispaniola is the only island with 2 species of todies. The Broad-billed Tody generally occurs up to 3,000 feet above sea level. The Narrow-billed Tody is generally at higher altitudes. At some places, the two live side by side. They do not interbreed.

Todies are small, but the Vervain Hummingbird is smaller. Closely related to the Bee Hummingbird of Cuba that's said to be the smallest bird in the world, the Vervain, also tiny, measures only 6 centimeters and weighs only 1.6 grams.

Some of the birds of the Dominican Republic have had, in years gone by, what might be called identity crises. In particular, the Flat-billed Vireo was discovered, "new to science", back in 1885, when it was called an empidonax flycatcher. It remained in the flycatcher group for years, but in a different genus. It was as alte as 1917 when it was first said to be a vireo. For a vireo, it has a peculiar bill (that's what caused the confusion). It's broad, depressed, and triangular. Vireos usually have a slightly decurved bill with a small notch.

Also with an identity crisis of sorts, the Greater Antillean Elaenia (a true flycatcher), was "discovered" twice. It was first described in the Dominican Republic in 1807, when it was given the scientific name Muscicapa albicapilla. Nothing was written about its habits, its form, or its family. So, in 1895, it was "discovered" again, said to be "new to science", and given the scientific name Elaenia cherri (named after the person who was thought at that time to have discovered the bird). It was as late as 1931 when the bird was studied scientifically and given the scientific name that it has today, Elaenia fallax. The first discovery in 1807 was apparently at a low elevation. Subsequently, after the lowland pine forests were completely destroyed, the bird has been found in higher countryside, mostly in areas with pines in the mountains, generally higher than 3,000 feet above sea level.             

It was noted earlier that the Hispaniolan Crossbill was first found in 1916. There are also other Hispaniolan birds that were discovered as recently as the 20th Century, including the Least Poorwill, La Selle's Thrush, and White-winged Warbler.

The Least Poorwill has for a while a scanty history, after the first specimen was collected in 1917. At that time, the small nightjar, that has also been called the Least Pauraque, was given the scientific name Microsiphonorhis brewsteri. The genus was changed in 1928 to Siphonorhis. From that year until 1969, there were very few, if any, reports of the bird, that's called locally "El Torico". The nice thing is that today this species of Siphonorhis can still be found. The only other member of the genus, Siphonorhis americana, the Jamaican Pauraque, is now believed to be extinct.

The shy La Selle's Thrush was discovered in mountains of southern Haiti, known as the Massif de la Selle, in 1927. It was not recorded elsewhere until 1971, when it was found to be in the Bahoruco Mountains in the southwest Dominican Republic. In 1986, it was determined that the La Selle's Thrush that had recently been found in the Central Mountains of the Dominican Republic was a different subspecies.

The White-winged Warbler was yet another Hispaniolan bird that was discovered in the 20th Century. When it was described in 1917, it was given the scientific name Microligea montana. It occurs high in the montanas (or mountains). In 1967, the bird became the single member of its genus, and the new name given to it at that time was Xenoligea montana.

And that's our review of some of the Hispaniolan birds that were seen during the FONT April '06 Dominican Republic tour, noting interesting items about them - among those that are endemic, those that are rare, those with a history, and those isolated on an island, with rough and varied terrain, in the Caribbean Sea.

In conclusion, here, though, mention must be made of another creature, a mammal, also endemic and rare, and with a history that goes way back as it lived in isolation on Hispaniola. The creature has an odd name. It's called a Solenodon. It has an odd appearance. It's about 18 to 23 inches long, with a long nose at one end and a long tail at the other. It moves with an odd gait. Recently it has been determined that the animal makes ultrasonic vocalizations - twitters, chirps, and clicks. By day, it sleeps in small caves or hollow tree trunks. At night, it feeds on a variety of insects, worms, and other small vertebrates. We saw a Solenodon, during the April '06 tour, at night, as it passed by in the lit area in front of our vehicle. We were lucky to see it well, after we had just seen an Ashy-faced Owl nearby as it flew from a fencepost. Had we inadvertently saved a rare Solenodon?       

There are now two species of Solenodons. One is native to Hispaniola; the other to Cuba. In the Dominican Republic it is locally called a "jutia". But that's not to confuse it with the other indigenous Hispaniola mammal, the Hutia, which is smaller, about 30 centimeters in length, Like its larger cousin, the Solenodon, the Hutia spends its days in cavities, and emerges to hunt and eat only at night. There are still about a dozen species of Hutias in the Caribbean, mostly in Cuba, but also on some other islands. Many of these species are now critically endangered. There used to be about 15 other species of Hutias, and even some Giant-Hutias. They are now extinct, with most having become so in the 1600s.

Imagine what it would have been like to visit Hispaniola back before the arrival of Columbus, back when there were Giant-Hutias, and when among the birds, there was an endemic macaw. As good as it is to visit now, as we did in April 2006, imagine what it would have been back in those days now gone.

Still, however, just a plane-ride away, it doesn't get much better, for a few days with birding that's darn good, in a place that is, for most of us, so naturally different.     
                  
To Top of Page.

Guatemala
March 2006 

Links:

List of Birds during our Guatemala Tour - March '06

Cumulative list of 544 Birds during previous FONT Guatemala Tours

Upcoming FONT Birding & Nature Tours in Guatemala

The following account written by Armas Hill, leader of the tours:

During our March 7-19, 2006, birding & nature tour in the highlands & lowlands of Guatemala, 326 species of birds were seen.

One of the most interesting aspects of the tour was how many of those bird species were seen from boats. In all, we did a record-setting 6 boat-trips during the tour.
Notable among them were those we took in an area of mangroves and marshes along the Pacific coast. During one of those trips, on a small boat without a motor, going from the mangroves to the marsh early in the morning, we were treated to quite a surprise, a Pinnated Bittern, by reeds at the water's edge. At first, from a distance, we expected the bird to be an immature Bare-throated Tiger-Heron. But it was not, as we could see when we got closer to it, as, in its frozen posture, it pointed it bill toward the sky.
The Pinnated Bittern was unexpected as, according to Steve Howell's "Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America", there had only been 1 previous Guatemalan record, and that was on the Caribbean side of the country. There is a population in northern Belize and the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, isolated from where the species mostly occurs, in South America.

That bird was actually just one of the nice ones we saw that beautiful morning in the Guatemalan marsh. We had just seen, in the mangroves, Boat-billed Herons (always nice to see), and an attractive adult Gray-headed Kite flying by close to us at eye-level. The morning sunlight and being on the small silent boat, paddled by our young boatman, added to the sightings.               

We went initially on the boat into the marsh hoping to see a Jabiru, a huge stork that's rare in Guatemala. We didn't, so went back, in the afternoon, further into the marsh, on a slightly larger boat with a motor. There were thousands of birds. Among them, there were a few hundred American White Pelicans and Wood Storks. These were in addition to many egrets and herons, thousands. Lesser Yellow-headed Vultures were common, gliding in their distinctive way low over the marsh. The groups of large White Pelicans and Wood Storks drifted higher into the clear sky. There was no Jabiru among them, but that was fine. Going there, looking for it, got us to a place where it was wonderful to be.

In all, we were to take 3 boat-trips in that "birdy" area. The last was on a small ferry (only large enough to hold our vehicle), winding its way in channels, going from the town on the barrier coastal island where we had stayed a couple days and nights, and toward the mainland. We continued to look in the sky for the Jabiru.   

Birds that we had seen in the large area of mangrove and marsh, however, in addition to the already-mentioned Pinnated Bittern, Boat-billed Herons, White Pelicans, Wood Storks, Lesser Yellow-headed Vultures, and Gray-headed Kite, included these:
Least Grebe, Brown Pelican, Anhinga, Great Blue Heron, Little Blue Heron, Tricolored Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Green Herons (more than could be imagined), Black-crowned Night-Heron and Bare-throated Tiger-Heron, White Ibis, Blue-winged Teal, Osprey, Mangrove Black Hawk, Moorhens, Purple Gallinules, Northern Jacanas, Spotted Sandpipers, Laughing Gull, an assortment of Terns including Caspian and Gull-billed, White-fronted and Yellow-naped Parrots, Violaceous Trogon, Great Kiskadee, Mangrove Swallow, Mangrove Vireo, Prothonotary Warbler, Northern Waterthrush, and White-collared Seedeaters.     
Those boat-rides were certainly worth doing!

We did another, on the other side of the country, in a remote region of part of Guatemala called the Peten. It was along a river, called the Rio de la Pasion. We've traveled by boat along that river a number of times during our previous tours in Guatemala. We've seen many birds there in the past, but during our March '06 tour, we saw there for the first time, on a mudbank along the river's edge, an Agami Heron. It was slowly stalking, with its long bill ready to make a catch.  
We spent a night at a lodge by that river, about 3 hours from where our boat-ride began, so we had a second trip by boat the next day as we traveled back.
Birds that we saw along the Rio de la Pasion, in addition to the Agami, included:
Neotropic Cormorant, Anhinga, Great Blue and Little Blue Herons, Great and Snowy Egrets, Green Heron, Boat-billed Heron, Plumbeous Kite, Short-tailed Hawk, Bat Falcon, Limpkin, Gray-necked Wood-Rail (many), Sungrebe, Spotted Sandpiper, Aztec Parakeet, Short-tailed Nighthawk, and all 5 of the species of Kingfishers that occur in Guatemala: Ringed, Belted, Amazon, Green, and American Pygmy.
Again, these were boat-rides worth doing!

To look for a species that we did not encounter along the Rio de la Pasion, we took yet another boat-trip in the Peten region. It was in a small boat along little rivers that flowed into a big lake known as Lago de Peten Itza. It was the first time that we did such a boat-ride, and it enabled us to find the bird we were aiming for, the Ruddy Crake. Those two small rivers were each with clear water filled with small fish. First, in the morning mist, and then in the early day's sunlight, it was for us yet another wonderful experience. Along the edges of the small rivers, in addition to the crake in the grass, there were, in the foliage, jacanas and gallinules. In the nearby trees, that morning, the passerine birds were active. Among those that were colorful were Orioles including Black-cowled and Yellow-tailed.  

Of course, a premier place to visit in the Peten region for birding, and for its own right, is Tikal. In a national park, it's the site of a Mayan city that flourished over a thousand years ago. Among the structures of the place that remain, and in the nearby forest, Neotropical birding is superb.
Again, in March '06, as during previous FONT tours, we saw an Orange-breasted Falcon by one of the Tikal temples.  Seeing that bird, even though we have during 5 recent tours, is not something to be taken for granted. The species has a wide range in the American tropics but it not readily seen at many places.

We had another sighting at Tikal that was quite special, when we saw a Pheasant Cuckoo near us, on the ground, doing a display, with its wing, and making a buzz. We've seen and heard that display before, but, as always, it was good to see it again.

Years ago, there was a runway at Tikal for small planes. Now, it's been overtaken by foliage, brush and trees that continue to grow. But the middle of the runway is still a trail that can be walked and should be birded. We did, in the morning, and late in the day. At dusk, it was great there to see and hear the Yucatan Poorwills and Pauraques as they flew about and called. The Guatemalan, or Vermiculated, Screech-Owl also called in the background, as did a pair of Laughing Falcons dueting at the day's end - a day during which we had seen the fine assortment of Tikal birds, such as toucans, parrots, trogons, oropendolas, aracaris, antbirds, manakins, woodcreepers, flycatchers, tanagers, and warblers. Among the last of these we saw some that spend their non-breeding months at Tikal, and, when there, they are especially nice to see in numbers. These Warblers included Hooded, Kentucky, Worm-eating, Blue-winged, Golden-winged, and Magnolia.

A number of the birds at Tikal are larger than warblers. Obvious among them are the colorful Ocellated Turkeys that walk about, as well as Great Curassows, Crested Guans, and Plain Chachalacas.   

In the forest at Tikal, it was fun to find mixed flocks as they moved about. In them, there were birds such as the Black-throated Shrike-Tanager and the Royal Flycatcher. There were others too, of course. Buntings included the Painted, that visits the area, and the bright Blue Bunting that stays. And there was a warbler, not yet mentioned, that also stays. Its the Gray-throated Chat, and we saw it well.

In the Guatemalan mountains, where the Mayans of today live, there's another cast of Warblers. Again, some come from North America where they nest. Those in that group that we saw included: Townsend's, Black-throated Green, Hermit, Nashville and Tennessee, and the Red-faced. These were in addition to the those that are resident. The "top attraction" among them is the Pink-headed Warbler, but there's also the Crescent-chested, the Golden-browed and the Rufous-capped, and the Slate-throated Redstart.                               

Other birds that we saw in the Guatemalan highlands included the Rufous-collared Robin, the Blue-and-white Mockingbird, the Elegant (or Blue-hooded) Euphonia, the Gray Silky-Flycatcher, Brown-backed Solitaire, and the Hooded Grosbeak.
And, of course, there were the hummingbirds. In Guatemala, there are some nice ones to be seen. Those we saw included: the Rufous Sabrewing (a large one), the Emerald-chinned (a tiny one), the Sparkling-tailed Woodstar, and the White-eared, Berylline, Azure-crowned, and Blue-tailed, just to name a few of the 20 species of hummingbirds we saw during the tour.

And with, that we've mentioned a few of the birds that we saw during our March 2006 tour in Guatemala. But still there were others that were notable, such as the Scissor-tailed and Fork-tailed Flycatchers, the Gray-collared and the Rose-throated Becards, and the many orioles, including the Spot-breasted, Altamira, and Black-vented, in addition to the Baltimore and Orchards that were so common. And certainly added to the mix would be the Blue-crowned Motmot, Rufous-tailed Jacamar, and White-whiskered Puffbird, as each of these is always a pleasure to see. 
And there was the Pale-billed Woodpecker and the Ivory-billed Woodcreeper (yes, that nomenclature is right, although the Pale-billed Woodpecker is related to the "infamous one").

Also, during the tour, along with the birds, there were the places that were great to visit, both in the highlands and the lowlands, including, as mentioned, Tikal, and the rivers and marshes through which we took the boat-rides. We end this narrative, now, however, in a truly wonderful forest that we visited on the Pacific Slope. As we walked the trails through the green woods in the afternoon, we were surrounded with the sounds of the calling manakins. The  bird, nice to hear, was also nice to see. It was the beautiful red, black, and bright blue Long-tailed Manakin. As they called, they displayed. We watched them perform that afternoon, and their antics were among the many avian acts during our March 2006 Guatemala Tour that we would nicely remember.  

Two of the five species of kingfishers that we saw 
during a boat-ride along a river
during our March '06 Guatemala Tour.
The Pygmy Kingfisher (above)
and the Green Kingfisher (below).

To Top of Page.

Cayman Islands & Jamaica
February/March 2006 

Links:

List of Birds during our Cayman Islands & Jamaica - February/March '06

Cumulative list of Birds during our previous Cayman Island Tours

Cumulative list of birds during our previous Jamaica Tours

Upcoming Caribbean Tour Itineraries

The following account written by Armas Hill, leader of the tours:

Our 2006 tours in the Caymans (Feb 23-26) and Jamaica (Feb 27-Mar 4), were done either individually or in combination. During those tours, in both the Caymans and Jamaica, there were some fine highlights among the 135 species of birds collectively seen.        

In the Caymans, one beautiful morning as we walked the trails of the botanical garden, there was the rich melodious song of "Sweet Bridget". That's the local name for the Yucatan Vireo, a species that occurs in the Caribbean only on Grand Cayman Island. Other birds that we saw during the walk that morning included the Rose-throated (or Cayman) Parrot, Mangrove Cuckoo, LaSagra's Flycatcher, Loggerhead Kingbird, another Vireo, the Thick-billed, and the attractive Western Spindalis - the last of these was at one time known as the Stripe-headed Tanager. That species has now been "split" into 4 - the Western Spindalis occurs also in the Bahamas, Cuba, and Cozumel Island, off Mexico. All of the nice birds just-mentioned were in addition to others that were common including Bananaquits and various warblers. Most of the warbler species had migrated from the north, but the Vitelline and the Golden Warblers were residents. The Vitelline Warbler only occurs in the Caymans, and one other small Caribbean island - Swan Island, to the south.                     

The Northern Mockingbirds on the Cayman Islands are a resident subspecies, not as "northern" as those in North America. In the Caymans, it's called the "Nightingale". It sings & sings (day & night), and has a repertoire of songs it has learned from other birds.    

Another notable landbird we saw on Grand Cayman Island was the endemic subspecies of the Cuban Bullfinch. Otherwise, that bird occurs in Cuba. 

There's a distinctive, and endemic, race of the Northern Flicker on Grand Cayman Island. And another woodpecker there is also a subspecies endemic to the island, the local race of the West Indian Woodpecker that also resides in Cuba and the Bahamas.

Most places in the Caribbean the West Indian Whistling-Duck is rather rare and a bit hard to find. Not so in the Caymans. On Grand Cayman, we saw them at a few spots. At one, there were well over a hundred. 

A large number of Red-footed Boobies breed on Little Cayman Island. Over a couple thousand are in the colony there, with birds of both color morphs - brown and white. Many Magnificent Frigatebirds also nest in that colony. It was fun watching both species. Many of the male frigatebirds had large inflated red throat-sacs. That colony of Red-footed Boobies, by the way, is the largest, it's said not just in the Caribbean, but also in the Americas. Assuming that to be true, it's either the largest, or one of the largest, in the world.            

As far as islands go, in the world, Little Cayman is far from large. With just a handful of people, that small island is such a pristine place - and a favorite of haunt of wintering warblers, who share the place with resident birds that include Caribbean Elaenia and a rare subspecies of the Greater Antillean Grackle.         

Quite different from Little Cayman Island is another Caribbean island, much larger and often lush and green. I'm referring now to Jamaica, where during our tour following the Caymans, we saw about 120 species of birds, including nearly all of the over 20 endemics.     

Some of our avian highlights of Jamaica were birds not among the endemics, but highlights none the less. There was a fine look at a Yellow-breasted Crake. And there was close-up twosome of male and female Masked Ducks. 
From atop a cliff, we looked down upon White-tailed Tropicbirds gyrating in flight. Not only wre their tails white; they were long. In all, about 20 White-tailed Tropicbirds were flying about by that cliff that morning.

Among the endemic birds of Jamaica, there's a becard (the only species of becard in the Caribbean), and two species of cuckoos (one, the Chestnut-bellied, called the "Old Man Bird"; the other, the Jamaican Lizard-Cuckoo, called the "Old Woman Bird". There are 2 endemic species of thrushes, one the White-eyed, the other the White-chinned. And there are 2 endemic species of parrots, the Yellow-billed and the Black-billed.)

Among the favorite of the endemics, are 2 hummingbirds known locally as "Doctorbirds". They are the Streamertails (the males with very long, black tails). In most of Jamaica, the Red-billed Streamertails reside. Locally, in the lush northeast corner of the island, there's the Black-billed Streamertail. We saw one of the latter sitting on its nest. Some of the former fed from our hands, at a renowned birding locale that's been near Montego Bay over 50 years, a place called "Rocklands". For all those many years, hummingbirds have tamely been feeding there. All one needs to do is sit on a chair, and hold a small tube of sugar water in one hand, as the little feet of the hummingbird perches on a finger of the other hand. Quite a treat!            

Also a treat in that area, was the observation of a roosting Jamaican Potoo during the day. When it yawned, the red inside of its mouth could be seen. Later we saw a potoo when they're more active, after dark. It, too, perched for us, on a roadside post outside our van.   

One of the most enjoyable sounds of our Jamaica stay was heard a couple hours earlier that day - from a bird noted in the book as the Jamaican Crow, but called by the Jamaicans the "Jabbering Crow". Jabber it does.      

And so, again, in 2006, we had good birding, and good times, in the Caribbean, in the Caymans and Jamaica. The tours were the 5th for us in the Caymans, and the 10th in Jamaica. We look forward to going back to both again.   

To Top of Page.

Southern Costa Rica & Western Panama
February 2006 

Links:

List of Birds during our Costa Rica & Panama Tours - February '06

Cumulative list of Birds during our previous Costa Rica Tours

Upcoming Costa Rica & Panama Tour Itineraries

The following account written by Armas Hill, leader of the tour:

This birding & nature tour, February 10-18, 2006, included portions of two countries. We were in the highlands and on the Pacific slope and in the Pacific lowlands of Costa Rica. In adjacent Panama, we were in the highlands and lowlands of the Chiriqui, the westernmost province in that country. All of these areas were not only enjoyable places to be, but also great places to bird.

Of the 267 species of birds found during this tour, 238 were in Costa Rica. 107 were in Panama during the 2 days that were were there. 78 of the 267 species were found in both countries, while 29 species were found in Panama alone. In that last category were:
the Veragua Parakeet (an isolated population that has been considered a subspecies of the Brown-throated Parakeet of northern South America),
the Veraguan Mango (which was considered part of the Green-breasted Mango); we saw a female on a nest,
and the White-throated Mountain-gem (closely related to other mountain-gems, particularly the Gray-tailed Mountain-gem that we also saw - in Costa Rica).

Other birds that during this tour we found only in Panama included:
Pied-billed Grebe
Least Grebe
Anhinga
Black-crowned Night-Heron
Snail Kite  (this species is rare in Panama)
Mangrove (or Pacific) Black Hawk
Great Black Hawk
Peregrine Falcon
American Oystercatcher
Black-bellied Plover
Killdeer
Black-necked Stilt
Whimbrel
Sanderling
Groove-billed Ani  (in the Chiriqui highlands)
White-tailed Nightjar  (a wonderful find, seen at rest during the day)
Violet Sabrewing
Brown Violetear
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  (a rarity in Panama)
Red-faced Spinetail  (in the Chiriqui highlands)
Barred Antshrike
Red-capped Manakin  (a gem to see - in a forest by the Pacific beach)
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher  (in the Chiriqui highlands)  
Barn Swallow  (how could it be that there were none of these during our 5 days in Costa Rica)  
Cliff Swallow  (a few with the Barn Swallows)
Eastern Meadowlark

From the likes of Black-bellied Plover, Whimbrel, and Sanderling, you can see that we were at a beach in Chiriqui. It was a beautiful one, with surf and sand for miles, without many people and with many birds. It's interesting that of the species in the list above, and seen along that beach, was new for FONT in Central America, the American Oystercatcher. That's not an easy feat, as there have been numerous FONT tours in Central America, in Costa Rica, Panama, Guatemala, Honduras, and Belize. And our cumulative list is not short. The American Oystercatcher in Panama became bird # 931.       

This was our 27th birding & nature tour in Costa Rica. Prior to it, our cumulative total of birds for the country was 684. During this February '06 tour, 1 new species was added to that CR list, the Southern Lapwing. 2 of them were seen in a pasture south of Golfito; they appeared to be on territory. Maybe now the Southern Lapwing is a nesting bird in Costa Rica. The Southern Lapwing is not in the book "A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica" by F. Gary Stiles & Alexander Skutch, published in 1989. The species, common to abundant in much of South America, has been spreading north. In Panama, it has been of regular occurrence north to the Canal Basin. We've seen it, in recent years, in Panama as far west (or north) as the Chiriqui lowlands. Where it occurs in the Panama Canal Basin, it's often with Wattled Jacanas. In the Chiriqui lowlands, it was with Northern Jacanas, as it was in the partially wet Costa Rican pasture south of Golfito. Another bird from the south, that's been spreading north, was also in that pasture, the Red-breasted Blackbird. 

That's part of the fun of birding in southern Costa Rica. There's the chance of seeing something a bit unexpected, as more-southerly birds are moving in. During other tours in that region of southern Costa Rica, we've seen Savanna Hawk and Pearl Kite, two other species expanding northward. Years ago, that's where the Yellow-headed Caracara was first seen in Costa Rica. Now it's seen in open, deforested areas throughout the country, north to Nicaragua.   

Another "part of the fun" of birding in southern Costa Rica is that it is a bit of "the way it was". For those of us who have birded in Costa Rica for years (I have since 1978), we've seen a lot of changes. Notable among them are changes of habitats, and that there are now many more people (ecotourists and others) who visit. Costa Rica is, for a few reasons, a great place to visit for nature. Varied habitats are close to each other. There are good accommodations. But there's also a price in that it's now a special treat to find a place that's not, as it were, "on the beaten path". In southern Costa Rica, that can more readily be done. For example, we traveled, during our Feb '06 tour, along a dirt road, not often traveled, into the northern Osa Peninsula, where among the birds that we encountered, there were Scarlet Macaws in flocks, King Vultures soaring over a ridge, and both Great and Little Tinamous calling a dusk in the woods. Earlier, along that road in the morning, Three-wattled Bellbirds were giving their loud calls in the trees.   

And yet another "good part" of birding in southern Costa Rica is that there are a number of species to be found there with restricted ranges, only in that portion of Costa Rica and in adjacent Panama. They include: 
Chiriqui (or Rufous-breasted) Quail-Dove
Costa Rican Swift (has been considered part of the Band-rumped Swift that's common further south in Panama)
Charming Hummingbird (also called the Beryl-crowned Hummingbird, closely related to the Bue-chested Hummingbird of Costa Rica's Caribbean slope and further south in Panama)
Garden Emerald (was part of the Fork-tailed Emerald, now "split" into 4 or 5 species)  
Baird's Trogon
Golden-naped Woodpecker
Black-hooded Antshrike
Riverside Wren
Chiriqui Yellowthroat (has been considered part of what has been the Masked Yellowthroat of South America)
and the Black-cheeked Ant-Tanager, which is even more localized than the others here, as it is restricted to part of the region of the Golfo Dulce ("Sweet Gulf") in Costa Rica. The species is one of the handful of species (4) endemic to Costa Rica.
All of the birds in this paragraph were found during our February '06 tour in Southern Costa Rica & adjacent Panama.

A group of birds that has become easier to observe during recent years in Costa Rica & Panama has been the hummingbirds. To a large extent that's due to there being more hummingbird feeders, particularly at lodges, where they can be readily observed. During our Feb '06 tour in southern Costa Rica and Panama, 22 species of hummingbirds were seen. Some were at feeders and others were in their natural settings, usually feeding a flowering bushes or trees. Our hummingbirds during the tour follow (noting the country where seen, Costa Rica (CR), Panama (PN) and if naturally (n) or at feeders (f)):
Band-tailed Barbthroat (CR) (n)
Bronzy Hermit  (CR) (n)
Western Long-tailed (or Long-billed) Hermit  (CR) (n)
Scaly-breasted (or Cuvier's) Hummingbird  (CR) (n)
Violet Sabrewing  (PN) (f)
Brown Violetear  (PN) (n)
Montane Violetear (the southern population of the Green Violetear)  (CR,PN) (f,n)
Veraguan Mango  (formerly part of the Green-breasted Mango)  (PN) (n)
Garden Emerald  (CR) (n)  (formerly part of the Fork-tailed Emerald, that has been "split" into 4 or 5 species throughout Central America; this is the southernmost of the "splits".) 
Fiery-throated Hummingbird  (CR) (f,n) (in the high mountains, restricted to southern Costa Rica & western Panama) (This extraordinarily beautiful hummingbird has been said to be declining in recent years, possibly due to global warming.)
Blue-throated Goldentail  (also called Blue-throated Sapphire)  (CR) (n)
Charming Hummingbird (also called the Beryl-crowned Hummingbird)  (CR) (n)
Snowy-bellied Hummingbird  (CR,PN) (f,n)  (This species is more common in Panama.)
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird  (CR) (n)
White-throated Mountain-gem  (PN) (f)
Gray-tailed Mountain-gem  (CR) (f)
Green-crowned Brilliant  (CR) (f,n)   
Magnificent Hummingbird  (CR) (f,n)
Magenta-throated Woodstar  (CR) (f)
Ruby-throated Hummingbird  (PN) (n) (as already noted, rare in Panama)
Scintillent Hummingbird  (CR) (f)  (This is Costa Rica's smallest bird.)
Volcano Hummingbird  (CR) (f)  (On different mountains in Costa Rica, subspecies of this bird have different colored gorgets. The male of the subspecies we saw in southern Costa Rica, has one that's purplish-gray, rather like flowing lava from a volcano.)   

Green Violet-ear 
(Photograph taken during the FONT tour in Costa Rica, 
in February 2006, by Rosemary Lloyd)

  During other FONT tours in southern Costa Rica there were even more hummingbirds, such as the White-tipped Sicklebill and the White-crested Coquette. In all, in Costa Rica, there are 45 species of hummingbirds. All of these have been found during FONT Costa Rica tours over the years. Some are only in the northern part of the country. Others are most common on the Caribbean side. Two species of hummingbirds endemic to Costa Rica are the Coppery-headed Emerald and the Mangrove Hummingbird. If one takes the time to sit for a while and watch hummingbirds feed and fly, it's a really a pleasure. How such fascinating little birds can have, in good light, such spectacular colors, is nearly unbelievable.             

A number of the hummingbirds just mentioned occur in the mountains of southern Costa Rica. Those high mountains when there's good weather (as we had) can be a beautiful place to be, with some nice birds to see. Among those that we saw were the Spangle-cheeked Tanager, Blue-and-gold Tanager, Sooty-capped Bush-Tanager, many Ruddy Treerunners, the Zelodonia (that's also been called the Wrenthrush, and now is considered an aberrant warbler), and another warbler that's a wonderful bird to see, the dapper Collared Redstart, called the "amigo de hombre" (or "friend of man") due to its tameness.

Collared Redstart

In addition to the colorful Fiery-throated Hummingbird, already referred to, we also saw in the highlands the Flame-throated Warbler, another attractive bird. We saw 2 species of Silky-Flycatchers (not true flycatchers, but more closely related to waxwings), the Black-and-Yellow and the Long-tailed. Also nice to see in the high country was the Barred Hawk, and flocks of Sulphur-winged Parakeets. At about our highest point (and in fact by the highest point along the entire Pan American Highway) we saw Volcano Juncos, and we enjoyed a trio of Finches: the Peg-footed, the Large-footed, and the Yellow-thighed.    

Tanagers, and some of their close relatives, are a colorful lot. During the days we were based in the Coto Brus Valley we saw some of their best colors in a nice cast of those birds, including:  Silver-throated, Golden-hooded, Bay-headed, and Speckled Tanagers, in addition to the more-widespread Cherrie's (formerly Scarlet-rumped) Tanager. It's a common bird, the Cherrie's Tanager, in southern Costa Rica on the Pacific side. It's not so, oddly, in western Panama. Also in the colorful cast of birds in Coto Brus were: Thick-billed Euphonia, Red-legged and Green Honeycreepers, and the Lance-tailed Manakin. Some visitors from the north also added some color, notably Baltimore Oriole, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Western and Summer Tanagers, and some Warblers such as: Magnolia, Chestnut-sided, Bay-breasted, Canada, and Mourning.                

One of our favorite places that we visited during the Feb '06 tour in southern Costa Rica was the La Amistad National Park, a large wild area along the Continental Divide in both Costa Rica and Panama. The park can be difficult to enter, as the dirt roads ascending into the mountains are rough. We did on a 4-wheel drive truck, with an incredible driver. The forest was magnificent. Given more time, more birds and animals can be found, but we did see, in addition to a number of birds just mentioned in the last paragraph, some good ones, such as the Pale-billed Woodpecker (in the same genus as the Ivory-billed Woodpecker), the Black-banded Woodcreeper (only the 3rd time for us in 27 Costa Rica tours), and the White-whiskered Puffbird (also called the White-whiskered Softwing). Whatever it's called, it sits still. High in the trees were what have been called the Chestnut-mandibled Toucan. New taxonomy now says that this large bird is now conspecific with the Black-mandibled Toucan of South America. In a rock in a rushing stream there was a marvelous Sunbittern. That bird is not conspecific with anything. It's unique, in its own family. Earlier in the day, in a pond, we saw some Masked Ducks. Yes, it was a good day.  

A Kinkajou photographed in the forested mountains of southern Costa Rica 
during the FONT tour in February 2006.
(Photo by Rosemary Lloyd)  

Mammals that we saw at La Amistad National Park included the White-faced Capuchin Monkey and Kinkajou. The latter, normally nocturnal, was seen high in a tree during the day, apparently feeding. Other wildlife included the Morelet's Crocodile, Spectacled Caiman, and Green Iguana. And we saw a wonderful assortment of butterflies and moths (photographs of some taken during the tour are in our Central America Butterfly List, elsewhere in this website). 

Yes, it was a good tour, during a week in southern Costa Rica and western Panama in February 2006.                              

To Top of Page.

Central & Eastern Panama
February 2006

Links:

List of Birds during our Panama Tours - February '06

Cumulative list of Birds during our previous Panama Tours

Upcoming Panama Tour Itineraries

The following account written by Armas Hill, leader of the tour:

"Anis, Aracaris, Anhinga, & also an Agami"

Panama is an isthmus, that is a "land bridge" between two major continents. Birds, mammals, butterflies, and plants of those two continents, South and North America, mesh together in the relatively small, and certainly narrow country of Panama. During this tour, February 3-9, 2006, we traveled from the link between the two oceans, the Panama Canal, east into Darien Province. As we went east along the Pan American Highway, toward and in Darien, we were going closer to South America. The birds we saw reflected that. 

(By the way, one can not drive on the Pan American Highway, or any road, from Central America into South America. There's quite a gap in the highway in the region where Panama and Colombia meet. As one drives eastward in Panama, the Pan American highway dead-ends.)

Among the South American birds that reach their usual northern limit in Panama are the Wattled Jacana, Southern Lapwing, Black-chested Jay, and Greater Ani. These species, and some others, are routinely seen as far north as (or west, depending how one views Panama) to the Canal Basin. Some other South American species are more likely to be seen in eastern Panama and the province of Darien. These include: Cocoi and Capped Herons, Red-and-green Macaw, Golden-green Woodpecker, One-colored Becard, Pied Water-Tyrant, and Orange-crowned Oriole. 

Some of the birds that we saw in eastern Panama are restricted, with a limited range, only to eastern Panama and adjacent Colombia. Such birds are: Double-banded Graytail, Black Antshrike, White-headed Wren, Black Oropendola, and White-eared Conebill. The last of these was one of our favorites. The species was in a small flock, active in the trees, rather reminiscent of chickadees. Their plumage was also somewhat similar, with their black-caps. Nearby on a treetop branch, a black-and-white Pied Puffbird sat, as still as could be.      

One of the unique features of the Darien landscape, along the Pan American Highway, are the large Cuipo Trees. Easily distinguished, and with huge trunks, they are spread out across the countryside. Not only is there that big tree in Darien, there are some big birds too. We saw, for example, Wood Stork, Red-and-Green Macaw, King Vulture, and an assortment of other raptors, including: Gray-headed Kite, Hook-billed Kite, Pearl Kite, Great Black Hawk, Gray (-lined) Hawk, Roadside Hawk, Short-tailed Hawk, Crane Hawk, Yellow-headed Caracara, American Kestrel, and one particular raptor that's quite rare in Panama. We saw one Bay-winged Hawk (known as the Harris' Hawk in North America). We had a good look at it, perched in a tree quite close in fact to the road. In the book "A Guide to the Birds of Panama" by Robert Ridgely, it's noted that the species in Panama is "apparently rare", and that there have been 3 "old specimens", one of which, incidentally, was taken years ago near where we saw ours in February 2006.

One could surely say that the best raptor (and certainly one of the best birds) of our Feb '06 Panama Tour was the Red-throated Caracara. That species probably has the unfortunate distinction of the being the Central American bird that has declined the most in recent years. It's been in all the Central American bird books, including those for Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Panama. But sightings in countries north of Panama lately have either very rare (in maybe Costa Rica), or non-existent (north or west of there). 

In "A Guide to the Birds of Mexico and Northern Central America" by Steve Howell & Sophie Webb, published in 1995, it's written that there have been "no reports (of the Red-throated Caracara) in over 20 years west of the Sula Valley (in Honduras)". That goes back to the early 1970s.
In the "Birds of Guatemala", Hugh Land, published in 1970, it was written that the bird was rare in the Pacific lowland of that country. Since that time, suitable habitat there for the species (forest) has completely disappeared. Also, in that book, it noted that the subspecies from Mexico to Panama was Daptrius americanus guatemalensis. More recent taxonomy (in "The Howard & Moore Complete Checklist of the Birds of the World") is different. The only species still in the genus Daptrius is the Black Caracara of the Amazonian region of South America. The Red-throated Caracara is now the only member of its own genus. It is Ibycter americanus, and, according to the recent literature, there are no subspecies. If that subspecies guatemalensis were still valid, it would be close to extinction.
In "A Guide to the Birds of Costa Rica" by F. Gary Stiles & Alexander Skutch, published in 1989, it was written that the Red-throated Caracara "is only in that country where forest remains intact in the Golfo Dulce lowlands (of southwestern Costa Rica)". It had been, according to that book, at one time, "widespread and fairly common in moist and wet forests of both slopes from sea level locally up to 4,000 feet".   
In "A Guide to the Birds of Panama" by Robert Ridgley, published in 1989, it's said that the Red-throated Caracara only "seems to remain in Panama in any numbers in part of the eastern Panama province and in Darien". It's also stated that the bird "disappeared from the Canal Zone area during the 1950s and 1960s" and that it "was formerly known to occur in the Chiriqui province of western Panama".   
In South America, the Red-throated Caracara occurs where forest continues in the Amazonian region.  

Where there are Red-throated Caracaras (they're normally in groups), they're often heard before they're seen. They are loud and raucous. At a distance its call can be similar to that of a macaw. The most common call of the bird is a trumpeting and hoarse "khaaow", that is sometimes varied to "ca-ca'-o". That's what Stiles & Skutch wrote. Land wrote "the loud and harsh call sounds like the Spanish word 'cacao' with the first syllable repeated several times".       

During our Feb '06 tour in Darien, as we were in a boat traveling down a remote river, it was first the loud call of the Red-throated Caracara that caught our attention (as noted, at first sounding rather like a macaw). We continued further along the river, and then we both heard and saw the birds (there were a few) in trees on the west bank. At first, not everyone had the clear view they wanted of the species in the foliage. But evidently, the birds themselves wanted to be better seen, as they stayed still in the trees, even as our guide and boatman cleared away some lower branches that impeded the view. After a few moments of that "clearing away" activity, a wonderful view was miraculously had by all of that most-desired bird.              

The Crane Hawks during that boat-ride, on the other hand,  were seen very easily, as they were down low on the dirt banks of the river, probing for food. That unique hawk (the single member of its genus), with its long body and red legs, was of course a treat to see as closely as we saw it.     

Among other birds seen during that river boat-ride in Darien, there was an Agami Heron (that one is always a treat to see!), both Green-and-rufous and American Pygmy Kingfishers, Blue Ground Doves, a group of Purple-thraoted Fruitcrows, Cinnamon Woodpecker, White-headed Wren, and both Yellow-backed and Yellow-tailed Orioles. 
In the lower foliage, Greater Anis were by the river. In the upper branches of the trees, there were Collared Aracaris. On branches out over the river, and in the river itself, there were Anhingas. All 3 of the birds just mentioned, are with names (as you may have noticed) beginning with the letter "a", (ani, aracari, and anhinga). All of those names are from the language of the Tupi tribe of indigenous people in Brazil. Our boatmen, along the remote river in Darien, were indigenous people, not Tupi of course but the Embara tribe. It was all really quite an experience in a wild area - and the "good birds" of course added to it.        
That Agami Heron, during our ride, that was stalking along the riverbank, could not in any way ever be mistaken for an Anhinga, but it is true that the long neck and the slender and angled head of the bird does bear a resemblance. One can also wonder if the derivation of the name "Agami" for that bird along the forest river is, like the Anhinga (and the Aracari & Ani), from the Tupi tribe of Brazil, in the area of the biggest of American rivers, the Amazon.                      

Yes, the Darien province of Panama is wild, just about everywhere. As one travels about a good barometer of that are the constant calls of Tinamous (both Little and Great). Generally, throughout Central America, it's been that as the "wildness" of an area diminishes, the melodic calls of tinamous decrease.

After nightfall, in the Darien countryside, there were many calls of Pauraques. And, as we went along a dirt road after dark, there were both Barn and Striped Owls. The stars and planets shined brightly in the ever-so-clear sky overhead. Even though we had driven from Panama City, the noisy and bright accompaniment of the city seemed (and really was) so very far away!

Back when we were in Panama City, earlier during the tour, we saw two rarities for Panama: a Long-billed Curlew and a Ring-billed Gull.

Also earlier in the tour, when we in the Canal Basin, among the many birds there, maybe our best sight was that of the strikingly attractive male Golden-collared Manakin, as it was perched close to us. There are good birds to see and enjoy just about anywhere in Panama!

But back again in Darien, this summary will conclude in a small town, where twice we spent the night. By the road into town, in a field,  there was Crested Bobwhite, and in a marsh, there were Purple Gallinules. Further down the road, in large trees, there were Black-chested Jays. In the town, itself, in trees near the streets and houses, there always seemed to be birds. A number of them were common, yes, but it was nice to have that number of them. As we had breakfast, on a table outside by the sidewalk, among birds in view there were: Black-throated Mango, Streaked Flycatcher, other more-common flycatchers, Tropical Mockingbird and Tropical Gnatcatcher, Bananaquits, Yellow-crowned Euphonia, and Tanagers including Blue-gray, Palm, Plain-colored, Crimson-backed, and Lemon-rumped. And don't let that name "Plain-colored" fool you. They're nice to have, too, as all the other birds were. Also, as we were having breakfast by the sidewalk in that town that morning, with the birds about, people of the indigenous Kuna tribe somehow came along (they learned we were there), in their colorful attire, selling some also-colorful small sculptures of the more dramatic, big birds that occur in eastern Panama, away of course from the small town. Their ceramic sculptures were of birds such as the Harpy Eagle, the toucans, and parrots and macaws.
When we were there, we didn't have to pinch ourselves to