Birding Hacienda Jacana: May/June

This edition of the regular Hacienda Jacana mission found nesting season in full swing. Coinciding with the flowering of many native trees, there was much hurried activity – which funny enough, made the forest quieter than usual. It’s almost as if frivolous activities like singing one’s life away for no apparent reason were sidelined for the more serious business of securing the next generations. Oh, how this world would be if politicians took that lesson. Hah.

Interestingly enough, the mornings were even more devoid of birdsong than the afternoon periods. Even the Orange-winged Parrots were quiet! I just happened to look up at the right moment in the right direction through the right gap in the trees to see a bird flying in the distance that didn’t fly just as the Orange-winged Parrots do. Definitely a psittacine, but what was it? It was only 6:07am and the sun seemed to be slow in waking. I had to click the shutter to make sense of the silhouette, and a sighting of a Blue-headed Parrot was a fine way to start the ball rolling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flycatchers were the most active during the early morning period, with the usual Piratic Flycatcher occupying the highest exposed perches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An exciting addition was the first Fork-tailed Flycatcher for the season. These flamboyant birds migrate here each year from South America, just as Swallow Tanagers do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the high branches, Yellow-rumped Caciques bounded along, almost as monkeys do. Playful and noisy with a fascinating array of vocalizations, they are always fun to watch. All other birds seemed to be chasing the Cacique, everywhere it went. The smaller passerines just seemed to be annoyed by its presence.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl elicited an exponentially worse reaction from all avian neighbours, though. Hummingbirds and thrushes alike continually bombarded this tiny predator – much more severe than plain annoyance, this was survival.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the hunt for food, many different birds passed through my particular stakeout for that period of the morning. Generally, they all seemed to be travelling in more or less the same direction – west to east. One of the things I love most about nature is how she makes one think, and wonder “why”.

It makes each sighting all the more special, – if I wasn’t in that exact spot at that exact time, I would’ve not seen this White-shouldered Tanager. (although the counter-argument that I probably missed out on something else, elsewhere is also quite valid!)

 

 

 

 

 

Some birds are even easier to miss. Half the size of a woodcreeper but with the same habit of creeping and hopping along branches and twigs, the Streaked Xenops is as enigmatic as its name. Its bill looks like it was attached upside-down!

 

 

 

 

 

 

A little more conspicuous was the aptly named Boat-billed Flycatcher.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although there was rain forecast, the showers only started to accumulate once the ground heated up sufficiently. So for the first few hours of daylight, the sun blazed everywhere. The rising thermals didn’t show a wide variety of raptors, but for a brief moment there were so many Plumbeous Kites in the sky I just had to put my camera down and enjoy the moment. I’d say easily 200 Plumbeous Kites – they just kept on coming! And just as mysteriously as they drifted into the sky above our heads, they disappeared.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I contemplated running for my wide lens, but I would’ve missed that moment. Sometimes it is better to soak it all in!

Hungry mouths mean all hands on deck – and isolated incidents of throwing caution to the wind. There was a lot of behaviour that I had never experienced before – all which can be attributed to the earnest pursuit of more food. I observed a pair of Green Honeycreepers picking berries and plucking insects simultaneously, for that extra protein.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We even saw a Purple Gallinule regularly leave the comfort of the ponds to climb onto this banana tree and gorge on its ripe fruit.

 

 

 

 

 

The normally unseen Rufous-browed Peppershrike was also a welcome sighting, and guess what it was doing? Scouring each branch for anything edible, of course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I didn’t see any direct evidence of the resident Green Kingfishers nesting – but being able to sit comfortably on a bench and have a stunning male Green Kingfisher fly in multiple times and perch almost too close to us was definitely atypical behaviour of this species. I’d make a wild guess and say that he has young ‘uns to feed.

 

 

 

 

 

Just over the water where the Green Kingfisher was hunting, a tiny cup in a fork housed two (or three) tiny hummingbirds-in-process. Mama Black-throated Mango was busy drinking from flowers, as well as checking the edges of leaves for any insects. She didn’t pass up a single opportunity to get that nutrition in.

 

 

 

 

 

Also working tirelessly was a pair of Red-eyed Vireos. This is an interesting species, as some are resident and some are migratory. Both are different races of the same species. And there’s another subspecies that can be found on Tobago. Yeah. This pair was definitely homegrown, even if we never saw the nest we heard them vocalize. Migrants are usually silent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our largest species of woodpecker was also in the race to successfully raise young. We enjoyed observing an entire family of Crimson-crested Woodpeckers forage leisurely – I managed to fit mother and her young son in the frame as they flew into this palm tree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just as I was photographing the Crimson-crested Woodpeckers, a sudden movement to my left caught my eye. A pair of the smaller Golden-olive Woodpeckers gave me an eyeful then flew off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those who weren’t seeing after their young were in the process of scrambling nesting material before they lose the window. I observed a pair of Violaceous Euphonias stocking up on silk from a spider’s web. Both male and female birds took turns – they are a gorgeous pair and are generally seen together even when they’re not breeding. I’ve never been to another place where this species was more common. Not that I’m complaining, as they make wonderful images!

 

 

 

 

 

Also usually seen in pairs are White-lined Tanagers. The male can be mistaken for the smaller White-shouldered Tanager, but the presence of a female erases any possible ambiguity. The female White-shouldered is olive green and grey, while the female White-lined Tanager is a warm cinnamon brown.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the topic of tanagers, Palm, Blue-grey and Silver-beaked Tanagers were all in attendance. Epiphites on some of the large trees were sending out their flowers, which was providing quite the banquet for the tanagers and euphonias.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While the tanagers would pick the petals off, hummingbirds like this White-chested Emerald enjoyed some of the nectar available deep within.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Usually detected by its call, I managed to find a pair of Yellow-breasted Flycatchers also in the grind of nest-building. They always choose their nest location carefully – to within a foot of a large wasp’s nest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was one bird that seemed content to sit back and observe the goings-on of everyone else, though. Not that she didn’t have the success of her offspring in mind just as the others. She just had a different – albeit more sinister – plan. Shiny Cowbirds are notorious brood parasites and will hijack an unguarded nest and lay her own eggs – thus ensuring that someone else will raise her young.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even though it seemed relatively quiet, we still managed to record a reasonable number of species in our limited time – 84 to be exact.

1. Little Tinamou
2. Magnificent Frigatebird
3. Striated Heron
4. Cattle Egret
5. Turkey Vulture
6. Black Vulture
7. Plumbeous Kite
8. Long-winged Harrier
9. Grey-lined Hawk
10. Grey-cowled Wood-Rail
11. Purple Gallinule
12. Southern Lapwing
13. Wattled Jacana
14. Scaled Pigeon
15. Pale-vented Pigeon
16. Ruddy Ground Dove
17. Grey-fronted Dove
18. Lilac-tailed Parrotlet
19. Blue-headed Parrot
20. Orange-winged Parrot
21. Squirrel Cuckoo
22. Smooth-billed Ani
23. Tropical Screech Owl
24. Ferruginous Pygmy Owl
25. Common Pauraque
26. Short-tailed Swift
27. Rufous-breasted Hermit
28. Little Hermit
29. White-necked Jacobin
30. Black-throated Mango
31. Ruby-topaz Hummingbird
32. White-chested Emerald
33. Copper-rumped Hummingbird
34. Guianan Trogon
35. Green-backed Trogon
36. Green Kingfisher
37. Rufous-tailed Jacamar
38. Channel-billed Toucan
39. Golden-olive Woodpecker
40. Lineated Woodpecker
41. Crimson-crested Woodpecker
42. Streaked Xenops
43. Streak-headed Woodcreeper
44. Black-crested Antshrike
45. Barred Antshrike
46. Yellow-bellied Elaenia
47. Southern Beardless Tyrannulet
48. Yellow-breasted Flycatcher
49. Tropical Pewee
50. Piratic Flycatcher
51. Great Kiskadee
52. Streaked Flycatcher
53. Boat-billed Flycatcher
54. Tropical Kingbird
55. Fork-tailed Flycatcher
56. Golden-headed Manakin
57. Black-tailed Tityra
58. Rufous-browed Peppershrike
59. Red-eyed Vireo
60. Golden-fronted Greenlet
61. Grey-breasted Martin
62. Southern Rough-winged Swallow
63. House Wren
64. Rufous-breasted Wren
65. Long-billed Gnatwren
66. Cocoa Thrush
67. Spectacled Thrush
68. Tropical Mockingbird
69. White-shouldered Tanager
70. White-lined Tanager
71. Silver-beaked Tanager
72. Blue-grey Tanager
73. Palm Tanager
74. Turquoise Tanager
75. Green Honeycreeper
76. Bananaquit
77. Blue-black Grassquit
78. Greyish Saltator
79. Crested Oropendola
80. Yellow-rumped Cacique
81. Yellow Oriole
82. Shiny Cowbird
83. Trinidad Euphonia 
84. Violaceous Euphonia

See the previous lists here (Jan/Feb) and here (Mar/Apr).