Copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy without permission • Panama, April 2010

Bird name: Palm Tanager
Latin: Thraupis palmarum
Other: Sanhaçu-do-coqueiro (Br) • Tangara (Es), Azulejo de palmeras
Family: Thraupidae • Tanagers
Range: Guatemala to Paraguay & S Brazil
Similar: Olive-green, Sayaca Tanager (Brazil), Plain Tanager (Panama)

The Palm Tanager is one of the duller looking tanagers, in Brazil mostly uniform olive-green, with lighter patches on wing and darker tips, head lighter and greener, with only a black iris and bill which stand out.

In Panama, at least one pair roosted in the eves of the Canopy Tower. The Panama Palm Tanager (above) has brown wing tips and tail and is far less uniform and green than its Brazilian counterpart (lowest photo, next page). On close examination there was an almost purplish sheen to some of the back and chest of the birds in Panama.

In Brazil, the Olive-green tanager is yellower below, with distinct upper and lower halves, and fluffier. The Sayaca Tanager is obviously blue, not green, but from below in some lights, when both are pale can look similar - the same goes for Golden-chevroned Tanager, which can also look similar from below.

The Palm Tanager is fairly common throughout most of the northern half of South America and extending into Central America and the Caribbean. Found near houses as well as other areas.

Directly below, a Palm Tanager in Panama.


Below, a Palm Tanager in Ubatuba, Brazil, Nov 2009. Brazilian Palm Tanagers were a uniform greenish colour and lacked the brown wing of the Panama variety.
More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy without permission • Metropolitan Park, April 2010

Bird name: White Shouldered Tanager
Latin: Tachyphonus luctuosus
Other:
Family: Thraupidae • Tanagers
Range: Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Amazonia
Similar: Grey Headed Tanager

Pictured here are male White-shouldered Tanagers, which are black with white shoulders. Females have grey heads, yellow underparts and olive upperparts. We saw these at the top of the Metropolitan Park in Panama City.More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy without permission • Panama, April 2010

Bird name: Red Throated Ant Tanager
Latin: Habia fuscicauda
Other: Tangara rojisucia fuscicauda, Tangara hormiguera gorjirroja (Es)
Family: Thraupidae • Tanagers
Range: Mexico to Colombia
Similar: Red Crowned Ant Tanager

The male Red-throated Ant Tanager is red-brown with brighter red throat and red crown. The female, below, is olive-brown with brighter yellow throat and yellow crown. I relied on the guide’s ID for these.

More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • Panama, May 2010 • Do not copy without permission

Bird name: Clay Colored Thrush
Latin: Turdus grayi
Other: Clay-coloured Thrush (UK), Clay-colored Robin (US), Yigüirro (Es)
Family: Turdidae • Thrushes
Range: South Texas to Northern Colombia including Panama, Costa Rica etc

The Clay-colored Thrush is the national bird of Costa Rica. It is common in Panama, including around habitations, and one of the most frequently seen birds. A typical garden or park bird.

The Clay-colored Thrush is generally brown and differentiated from other similar thrushes by its red irises and light bill.More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • Panama, May 2010 • Do not copy without permission

Bird name: Long Billed Gnatwren
Latin: Ramphocaenus melanurus
Other:
Family: Polioptilidae • Gnatcatchers
Range: Southeast Mexico through Amazonia

There’s no mistaking the Long-billed Gnatwren, which has a very long bill and mostly buffy underparts. It also has a long thin tail, which is often cocked, like other gnatcatchers.

Not that easy to see. We spotted this one in Metropolitan Park in Panama City.More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy without permission • El Valle, Panama • April 2010

Bird name: Bright Rumped Attila
Latin: Attila spadiceus
Other: Polymorphic Attila
Family: Tyrannidae • Tyrant Flycatchers
Range: West Mexico through Amazonia, E Brazil

This Bright-rumped Attila was seen in the Metropolitan Park in Panama City.More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy without permission • Panama City, April 2010

Bird name: Sulphur Bellied Flycatcher
Latin: Myiodynastes luteiventris
Other:
Family: Tyrannidae • Tyrant Flycatchers
Range: Arizona to Costa Rica, migrating to Colombia to Brazil, via Panama etc.
Similar: Streaked Flycatcher

The Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher looks very similar to the Streaked Flycatcher, which is much more common in Panama.

The Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher is differentiated by a yellower belly and dark malar stripe which forms a black chinstrap below the bill. Feathers under the tail are not streaked.

Copyright: monacoeye • Lagoa do Peixe, Brasil • Do not copy without permission

Bird name: Neotropic Cormorant
Latin: Phalacrocorax brasilianus
Other: Olivaceous Cormorant • Biguá (Br) • Cormorán Neotropical (Es)
Family: Phalacrocoracidae • Cormorants
Range: Southern USA to southern South America

The Neotropic Cormorant is widespread in the American tropics and sub-tropics. The photo above was taken in Lagoa do Peixe in southern Brazil, Phalacrocorax brasilianus brasilianus, the photo below was taken in Panama City, where there are large colonies of Neotropic Cormorants along the Pacific coastline.

Directly below, birds on the Pacific coast of Panama, near Panama City, where there are large colonies.

Copyright: monacoeye • Panama City, Panama, May 2010 • Do not copy without permission
More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy without permission • Metropolitan Park, Panama, 8 May 2010

Bird name: Squirrel Cuckoo
Latin: Piaya cayana
Other: Alma-de-gato (Br)
Family: Cuculidae • Cuckoos
Range: Mexico to Brazil

The Squirrel Cuckoo in Panama, Piaya cayana thermophila, has a pinkish-brown head and neck, grey chest and belly. Otherwise it is mostly rufous, with conspicuous white ends to very long tail feathers, which are dark underneath. It has red irises, and eye rings and bill are dirty yellow. Seen in central Panama and Chiriqui.

More photos...

Photo copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy • Costa del Este, Panama, 9 May 2010

Bird name: Willet
Latin: Tringa semipalmata
Other: Maçarico-de-asa-branca (Br)
Family: Scolopacidae • Waders
Range: North, Central, South America

Willets seen on the Costa del Este beach in Panama City near the airport.

Photo copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy • Panama City, Panama, 9 May 2010

Bird name: Whimbrel
Latin: Numenius phaeopus
Other: Maçarico-galego (Br) • Zarapito trinador (Es)
Family: Scolopacidae • Curlews
Range: Worldwide

A single Whimbrel seen on the Pacific coast of Panama City. The Whimbrel is a large wader, with long curved bill. They breed in the sub-Arctic and migrate to southern coastlines, worldwide.More photos...

Photo copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy • Costa del Este, Panama, 9 May 2010

Bird name: Grey Plover
Latin: Pluvialis squatarola
Other: Black Bellied Plover (US) • Pluvier argenté (Fr)
Family: Charadriidae • Plovers
Range: Worldwide

The above Grey Plover, or Black-Bellied Plover, were seen on the beach by the airport in Panama City in good numbers, mixed with other seabirds, in May.

In full breeding plumage they have a well-defined black band running from face to belly. The others are in non-breeding plumage, like those below (“more photos”) seen in France in March.

Grey Plover breed in the Arctic and migrate to southern coastlines worldwide in the northern winter.More photos...

Photo copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy • Costa del Este, Panama, 9 May 2010

Bird name: Laughing Gull
Latin: Leucophaeus atricilla
Other: Larus atricilla • Gaviota reidora americana (Es) • Gaivota-alegre (Br), guincho-americano
Family: Laridae • Gulls
Range: North, Central, South America

Laughing Gull is the most common gull in Panama, seen here in large numbers by the airport shoreline in Panama City, mixed with Black Bellied Plover and other shorebirds and sea birds.

Laughing Gull adults in breeding plumage have a black cap and red bill, the majority of those above are immatures.More photos...

Photo copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy • Images: Ubatuba Florianopolis Brazil

Bird name: Magnificent Frigatebird
Latin: Fregata magnificens
Other: Tesourão (Br) • Fragata magnífica (Es)
Family: Fregatidae • Frigatebirds

The Magnificent Frigatebirds I saw often seemed to accompany other birds - stealing fish from Brown Boobies in Santa Catarina, or soaring on thermals with Black Vultures in Ubatuba.

Many seen on the coast in Panama CityMore photos...

Photos copyright: RP/monacoeye • St Barths • 2008 • Do not copy without permission

Bird name: Brown Pelican
Latin: Pelecanus occidentalis
Other:
Family: Pelecanidae • Pelicans

Pictured above is the Caribbean Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis occidentalis, sent in by Robert Paylor in St Barths.

The Brown Pelican, the smallest of the pelicans, is found in North, Central and South America. In ”more photos”, a colony in Panama.More photos...

Photo copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy • Metropolitan Park, Panama • 29 April 2010

Bird name: American Kestrel
Latin: Falco sparverius
Other: Quiriquiri (Br), Falcão-americano • Cernícalo americano (Es), Halconcito colorado
Family: Falconidae • Falcons
Range: Alaska to Argentina

This American Kestrel was sheltering from a downpour in the eves of an amenity building at the Parque Natural Metropolitano in Panama City.

The American Kestrel is a small falcon, widely distributed throughout the Americas.

Other observations: Mostardas, Brazil, November 2009, a pair roosting on the town satellite tower.More photos...