On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Costa Rica, New York City, Quebec. Looks to be a great week!
(click the schedule below for a bigger, non-blurry version)
Albatrossity
Lots of people know that Costa Rica hosts a lot of species of hummingbirds. But that is not the only species-rich family of birds there. Flycatcher species generally outnumber the hummingbird species in the Neotropics, and that is the case in Costa Rica for sure. As photographic subjects, the flycatchers have a lot to recommend them. They are active, vocal, often perch in the open, and tend to return to the same perch after sallying out to catch an insect that made the mistake of venturing into their territory. So here are ten flycatcher species that I encountered during my time in Costa Rica; as before, species which I had not seen previously are tagged with an asterisk.
Tropical Kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus) is a bird that you can see in the United States; there are breeding populations in Arizona and Texas, and vagrants have been reported in more northerly states (although not Kansas, alas). But it is very common in much of Central and South America, extending south to Uruguay and Argentina. Those far southern birds migrate north to the Amazon for the austral winter, as one would expect. Click here for larger image.
Another flycatcher that can be encountered in the southern US is the Great Kiskadee (Pitangus sulphuratus). A hefty flycatcher with a ringing call, it is a resident in lowland habitats from southern TX to central Argentina. Everywhere it is found, it it is an integral part of the local soundscape. Click here for larger image.
A relative of the kiskadee, the *Boat-billed Flycatcher (Megarynchus pitangua) is named for its distinctive and massive bill They are somewhat larger, but otherwise similar enough to the kiskadee to cause confusion among birders. Thankfully this one was vocalizing, so my task was made easier! Click here for larger image.
Yet another kiskadee wanna-be, the Social Flycatcher (Myiozetetes similis) is smaller, with a smaller bill and a different vocal repertoire, but it can also confuse unexperienced birders in Central and South America. How a bird that is classified as a tyrant flycatcher got the name “social” is uncertain, but it is very chatty, and perches in conspicuous spots, so it is very easy to see and hear. Click here for larger image.
The final bird in the large bright yellow flycatcher category for today is the *Gray-capped Flycatcher (Myiozetetes granadensis). When I first spotted this bird, I mistakenly assumed it was just another Social Flycatcher. But that white eyebrow is much less extensive, and the face and crown are light gray rather than blackish-brown. Once I got used to noting those fieldmarks, I found this species to be fairly common at the lower elevation places we visited in Costa Rica. Click here for larger image.
Another lowland denizen, the *Piratic Flycatcher (Legatus leucophaius) got its name from the fact that it does not build its own nest, but rather usurps the nests of other birds of several different species. Sometimes that species will defend the nest vigorously, and only abandoned nests of that species are pirated. Sometimes nest defense fails, and the unceasing harassment (as well as egg-tossing and other aggressive behaviors) drives away the nest-builders, leaving a nice new nest for the pirates. There are only a handful of records for this species in the US, but one did show up in Kansas a few years back. I didn’t chase it, but I was happy to find it here in its native range. Click here for larger image.
One bird that I hoped to see in Costa Rica was the *Common Tody-flycatcher (Todirostrum cinereum). The field guides all used the word “tiny” to describe it, and the word “tody” is derived from the Latin todus (small bird) via the French todier. But when I first saw this one, I thought it was a hummingbird. Dinky, it was. It was busily collecting spider web silk as nesting material (as do many hummingbirds), and darted back and forth so speedily that it fooled me at the beginning. But it finally perched, and posed with a bright yellow flower long enough for me to get this shot. Click here for larger image.
We also spent some time in the highlands, and there are flycatchers up there too. One of those is the *Black-capped Flycatcher (Empidonax atriceps), found only in the mountains of Costa Rica and neighboring Panama. It is a target species for many guided bird tours in Costa Rica, and I felt fortunate to find it on my own! Click here for larger image.
Another empid with a slightly larger range (highlands from Mexico to Panama) the *Yellowish Flycatcher (Empidonax flavescens) is not quite as yellow as many of the species above, so it got that nondescript descriptor of “yellowish”. This little cutie sallied back and forth from the same branch in a streamside clearing for quite some time, allowing me to admire and photograph it before speeding off across the river to forage elsewhere. Click here for larger image.
The final bird for today is also a lifer, the *Mountain Elaenia (Elaenia frantzii). There are 22 species in the genus Elaenia, all of them found in Central and South America. The field guides often use the word “inconspicuous” for this species, but after I saw the first one, they seemed to be surprisingly common throughout the highland sites we visited. Click here for larger image.
Scuffletuffle
Gotta love the Yellowish Flycatcher pic!
eclare
@Scuffletuffle:
I know!
OzarkHillbilly
@Scuffletuffle: @eclare: Yep, it’s looking at A like, “What a strange looking bird you are.”
Argiope
Thank you for the wonderful photos! Kiskadee sounds like it may have been named for its song? I saw a scissortail flycatcher in NE Ohio once this spring. Gorgeous birb with an apricot breast and jazzy black and white split tail. Just passing through, so I felt very lucky to see it.
zhena gogolia
@Scuffletuffle: Yes, what an expression!
SteveinPHX
Thank you for the wonderful photographs AND the education!
JoyceCB
I once drove many kilometers for a 5-second look at a Great Kiskadee that had turned up in South-western Ontario. We birders are nuts!
JeanneT
Sweet! Thanks as always for teaching us about these lovely creatures.
frosty
Great pictures! Technical question: how many shots does it take to get the one best one?
Albatrossity
It depends. Sometimes I only get one chance, and sometimes that shot is a good one, but usually it’s not. Sometimes I get lots of chances, and if the bird is cooperative and the light is good, I have lots of choices to sort through. If the bird is uncooperative, jumpy or if the light is lousy (which is often the case in cloud forests or rain forests), I might shoot a lot of pics (dozens) and end up with just one that is acceptable to share here,
As an example, the tody-flycatcher in this set was in and out of shadows much of the time, and he moved very quickly. I have 60 or more shots of this bird; I usually shoot in burst mode at 10 frames per second, so they add up quickly. I would consider only 3 or 4 of them to be good enough to share
frosty
@Albatrossity: Thanks! I have a friend who shoots burst mode and can have several hundred to sort through. I’m still doing one at a time. And in the woods, doing manual adjustments of autofocus. They have to sit still!!
WaterGirl
Look at the puffed up yellow chest in that second photo!!! I have a crush.
Albatrossity
@frosty: I spent way too many years shooting in manual mode, with manual focus, since that was what was available in the past. Birds don’t sit still, and for many years I would get only the rare picture where one was in focus, properly exposed, and doing something interesting.
Technology has freed me from that, and I am a big fan of burst mode, auto-ISO, shutter-speed priority, and auto-focus. I don’t long to go back to those manual days!
Torrey
That Yellowish Flycatcher was obviously a teacher in a previous life, and does not believe you actually read the book your book report was about.
Rob
@Scuffletuffle: Yes! The Yellowish Flycatcher is checking to see if we are behaving.
way2blue
The Pirate Flycatcher is my favorite. (I can’t imagine trying to sort out all the yellow-breasted ones. Oof.) Albeit the Yellowish Flycatcher is a cutie.
pieceofpeace
Yellowish Flycatcher look expresses “Hey! Here’s lookin at you, too, Kid!”
I imagine Costa Rica must be a birder paradise. Great shots.
mvr
These are all cool! And some of them have what seem to be massive beaks for their size. Still, I kind of like the plainer looking ones, maybe because they look like the flycatchers I have seen around here.
I woke up in my remote rocky mountain cabin in Wyoming to a ruckus outside the window screen besides my head. It was a pair of Western Flycatchers (apparently recently demoted from Cordilleran Flycatchers by those who determine such things) making a good bit of noise and not the usual calls. One of them perched on the window sash a foot away from me. There seems to be a nest on a flat surface of the cabin early every summer, but there is none there yet. I wonder whether what I witnessed was courtship behavior prior to nesting.
Thanks for showing me their international cousins.
stinger
Very late to comment, but this is a spectacular set of images! I’m glad you are adding to your life list.