White-tailed Shrike-Tyrant, Chiguata

I have only seen White-tailed Shrike-Tyrant a couple of times, and never photographed the species earlier. At about 3500 meters, Mauricio spotted one, but after a couple of minutes, it disappeared. I started to run after the bird without thinking about the altitude, and I found it after a ten minutes hike up the hillside. I felt shaky and could hardly held the camera, but I was able to take some pictures of the bird.

White-tailed Shrike-Tyrant (above and below)

 Black-billed Shrike-Tyrant, photograpet at 3000 meters in Chiguata the same day.

Garden birds from Cochabamba, November 2009

Rusty Flowerpiercer

Sayaca Tanager in strong light.

Yellow-browed Tyrant

Santa Cruz airport, Bolivia (First part)

Fork-tailed Flycatcher, there were several around perching together with Eastern Kingbirds.

Enough food!

Yellow-billed Cuckoo.

I stayed several hours at the airport 09 of November 2009. This is a good place to spend some hours watching birds. Unfortunately it was cloudy with some rain in the air as you can see from my photos.

Flycatcher ID

Some pictures from Loreto, Bolivia, 07. November 2009.

The first bird is a Boat-billed Flycatcher. The strong bill easily identifies the species. The next bird is a Great Kiskadee, often identified by it voice when it is repeating the second part of its name. The Great Kiskadee has a large bill, but far from the size of the Boat-billed Flycatcher.

This short billed bird is not as easy to identify as the two first. It is a Rusty-margined or Social Flycatcher. There is much overlap among this two species. My guess is that this is a Rusty-margined Flycatcher mainly because of the coloration on the wing, the black crown and plain wing coverts. It also looks like the Rusty-margined Flycatcher has a darker eye than Social Flycatcher on many illustrations (Birds of Peru, Songbirds of South-America), but this is not mentioned in the text.

Some common birds, Mejia

Pied-crested it-Tyrant is a quite common bird in the area, but this is my first photo of the species. The next bird, Rufous-collared Sparrow, is a lot easier to photograph.

Vermilion Flycatcher, Mejia 02.01.10

Between Trinidad and Loreto 07.11.09. Seeing the Blue-throated Macaw the hard way, part I

On the 06 of November at 21:00 PM I headed from Santa Cruz to Trinidad. The bus came to Trinidad at 06:00 the next morning. The next thing I had to do was to find the place were you can get a lift to Loreto. I soon learned that there is not any regular service to Loreto, so I just had to wait hoping that someone could pick me up. I met my guide Mauricio from Armonia at 10:00 PM, and half an hour later a Pick-Up shoved up (with all the seats occupied), and I got a space at the back of the car together with five other people. Mauricio headed towards Loreto at his motorcycle.

I had decided to see the Blue-throated Macaw "the hard way", at my own (paying a reasonable price), using Mauricio as my guide in Loreto. A week earlier Armonia had been very helpful providing information and the first contact with Mauricio. Then I had to find my way to Loreto, the last leg at the back of a Pick-Up. It was a sunny day and I managed to see 60+ species along the road. Among them Maguari Stork, Jabiru, Wood Stork, Plumbeous Ibis, Scarlet-headed Blackbird & White Monjita just to name a few.

According to Mauricio the best would be to visit the farm were we could see the Macaws in the afternoon. This meant that I could spend some hours watching birds walking around in the outskirts of Loreto on my own. It was quite warm, and in the middle of the day, but I still managed to see some birds.
Rufous Hornero, common in Loreto.

Narrow-billed Woodcreeper in the outskirts of the town.

Two White Monjitas could be seen at the end of the main street leading towards some ponds and lagoons.

White-rumped Monjita was easily seen in the town. I took this pictures in the late afternoon.

To be continued.

Gray-bellied Shrike-Tyrant, Sucre, Bolivia

The Gray-bellied Shrike-Tyrant is a scarce austral migrant in Sucre, and this bird was photographed today. This is only my third observation of this species in Sucre. I have also seen this species in Puno, Peru in August. All my observations are related to the austral winter, and my guess is that this is a migrant in this part of Bolivia and Southern-Peru.

Cliff Flycatcher, Sucre, Bolivia

This Cliff Flycatcher was photographed along the entrance road to "Hacienda siete cascadas" here in Sucre today.

Some common birds from Sucre, Bolivia II

Red-tailed Comet, not a long tailed male, but still a good looking bird.

Rufous Hornero

Saffron Finch, seen in large groups in the area.

Great Kiskadee, now even more common than five years ago.

Citron-headed Yellow-Finch, this near endemic is quite common here, but I didn't get any closer this time.

Colombia, July 2008 (6)

Here are some photos from Cali. This is the last of six posts. You should start the story at the first post.
Crested Bobwhite, male
Crested Bobwhite, female. The birds were observed when we visited Cristo Blanco above the town.

Great Kiskadee, Cali

Rusty-margined Flycatcher, at the airport, Cali

Blue-gray Tanager, at the airport, Cali

Colombia, July 2008 (5)

The third post with birds from Laguna de Sonso, Valle de Cauca.

Whispering Ibis

Purplish Gallinule

Common Tody-Flycatcher

Colombia, July 2008 (2)

Southern Lapwing, Las Lomas hotel, Medellín.

Striated Heron, from a park Antioquia area close to Medellín.
Tropical Kingbird, Bogotá

Mostly Mejía area

I had a search after unpublished photos on my computer; here are some of the photos I found from the last months.

Vermilion Flycatcher, Mejía, December 2008

Little Blue Heron, Mejía, January 2009

Gray-hooded Gull, La Punta, Islay, January 2009.

American Oystercatcher, Mar Villa, Lima, February 2009. Gray-hooded Gull in the background.

Juliaca - Lampa (2) 23.12.08

Pictures from the polilepis forest close to Lamapa.

Rufous-webbed Tyrant

Thick-billed Siskin

Some common birds from Mejía 1

Slender-billed Finch, common but not always easy to see.

The always present Vermilion Flycatcher. This is one of the most common birds in the area.

Rufous-collared Sparrow

House Wren from one of the three nests found around the house this weekend.

Peruvian Meadowlark