Copyright monacoeye • Amazonia, Brazil • September 2011

Bird name: Red Capped Cardinal
Latin: Paroaria gularis
Other: Cardeal-da-amazônia (Br) • Cardenal bandera alemana, cardenal pantanero, cardenal gorrirrojo (Es)
Family: Emberizidae • Cardinals
Range: Amazonia - Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyanas, Peru, Bolivia, Trinidad
Similar:

A fleeting shot of a Red-capped Cardinal from a moving boat!

Copyright: monacoeye • All rights reserved • Rio Azul Lodge, Brazil, 2011.

Bird name: Purple Honeycreeper
Latin: Cyanerpes caeruleus
Other: Certiola de patas amarillas, tucuso morado, mielero cerúleo (Es) • Saí-de-perna-amarela (Br)
Family: Thraupidae • Tanagers, Honeycreepers
Range: Amazonia - Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, Guyanas, Venezuela, Trinidad
Similar:

Record shots of male Purple Honeycreepers. The bright yellow legs are diagnostic.More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • All rights reserved • Rio Azul Lodge, Brazil, 2011.

Bird name: Short Billed Honeycreeper
Latin: Cyanerpes nitidus
Other: Mielero mielero piquicorto, mielero pico de tuna, copeicillo pico corto (Es) • Saí-de-bico-curto (Br)
Family: Thraupidae • Tanagers, Honeycreepers
Range: Amazonia - Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, Guyanas, Venezuela
Similar:

A record shot of a couple of Short Billed Honeycreepers which were in a mixed flock with a Yellow-bellied Dacnis. The male is blue and black, the female pale with yellow-green

Copyright: monacoeye • All rights reserved • Rio azul , Brazil, 2011

Bird name: Yellow Bellied Dacnis
Latin: Dacnis flaviventer
Other: Saí-amarela (Br) • Dacnis ventriamarillo (Es)
Family: Thraupidae • Tanagers, Dacnises
Range: Amazonia - Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Venezuela
Similar:

Record shots of Yellow-bellied Dacnis, seen in Pará, Brazil, September. Yellow and black with red irises.More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • All rights reserved • Panama, Chiriqui, May 2010

Bird name: Bay Headed Tanager
Latin: Tangara gyrola
Other: Tángara cabeciroja (Es) • Saíra-de-cabeça-castanha (Br)
Family: Thraupidae • Tanagers
Range: Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil through N, W Amazonia
Similar:

More bright colours. The Bay-headed Tanager has a chestnut head, light blue underparts and green upperparts. The female is similar to the male but duller.

There are variations in race. In Para, Brazil, Bay headed-Tanagers had more yellow on neck and shoulders (pic below). In Mindo, Ecuador, they had much yellow on wing (pic below).

More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • All rights reserved • Serra dos Tucanos, September 2011

Bird name: Red Eyed Vireo
Latin: Vireo olivaceus
Other: Vireo ojirrojo (Es) • Juruviara (Br)
Family: Vireonidae • Vireos
Range: Canada through Amazonia, South America
Similar:

The Red Eyed Vireo has a red iris, thin black stripe above white supercilium, light underparts, yellowy green upperparts.

There are resident North American and South American populations, both migrating. A South-American resident group is called Chivi Vireo - birds have brown eyes and yellow vent.

The Chivi Vireo pictured above was seen at Serra dos Tucanos Lodge near Rio in September. Red-eyed Vireos are seen in many forests of South America, many for example in Oriente, Ecuador, in March. We saw a migrant Red-eyed Vireo at the Finca Hartmann in western Panama, in May (further below).More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • All rights reserved • Para, Brazil, September 2011

Bird name: Silver Beaked Tanager
Latin: Ramphocelus carbo
Other: Sangre de toro apagado, toche negro (Es) • Tie-sangue (Br)
Family: Thraupidae • Tanagers
Range: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyanas, Peru, Paraguay
Similar: Female Guira Tanager

The Silver-beaked Tanager is quite common over its range. It seemed to be the default tanager approaching Tena and into the Upper Napo region of Ecuador. Also the most common tanager in the Pantanal in August, where it was often seen beside rivers and in fruiting trees. Also seen in Parà.

The male Silver-beaked Tanager (above) is easy to identify - dark red with bright lower bill. It can look black in weak light.

Females (below) are browner - but still reddish - with less contrast on the bill. They look similar to female Brazilian Tanagers, but fortunately the two ranges do not overlap.More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • All rights reserved • Regua, Brazil, September 2011

Bird name: Yellow Backed Tanager
Latin: Hemithraupis flavicollis
Other: Pintasilgo de buche dorado (Es) • Saíra-galega (Br)
Family: Thraupidae • Tanagers
Range: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyanas, Peru,
Similar: Female Guira Tanager

The male Yellow-backed Tanager (above) is a small tanager, black above, white below, with yellow throat, rump and lower face up to bill. The female (below) is plainer, yellow below and olive above.

Regua in September seemed a good place to see this bird - they visit the feeders and were frequently seen in mixed flocks near the lake.

There are quite a few subspecies, with slighty different colouring.More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • All rights reserved • Brazil 2011

Bird name: Swallow Tanager
Latin: Tersina viridis
Other: Azulejo golondrina, tángara golondrina, tersina/frutero golondrina (Es) • Saí-andorinha (Br)
Family: Thraupidae • Tanagers
Range: Panama to Argentina, incl Brazil
Similar:

The male Swallow Tanager is distinguishable by its barred flank, black mask, bright blue colour (above). Females are green and yellow (see below).

The Swallow Tanager can be found throughout much of Brazil and neighbouring countries. This group were seen north of Rio in open country.More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • All rights reserved • Rio Azul Lodge, Brazil 2011

Bird name: Red Shouldered Tanager
Latin: Tachyphonus phoenicius
Other: Frutero de hombros rojos (Es) • Tem-tem-de-dragona-vermelha (Br)
Family: Thraupidae • Tanagers
Range: Amazonia - Brazil around Para state, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyanas
Similar: White-lined Tanager, Ruby-crowned Tanager

The male Red-shouldered Tanager is an entirely black bird - the red shoulder is generally not visible. This bird was identified on range - the only one of several similar black tanagers to inhabit this area of southern Para. The female is quite different - light underparts.More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • All rights reserved • Ecuador • 2011

Bird name: Blue Necked Tanager
Latin: Tangara cyanicollis
Other: Tangara capuchiazul (Es) • Saíra-de-cabeça-azul (Br)
Family: Thraupidae • Tanagers
Range: Brazil, Ecuador, …
Similar:

Blue-necked Tanagers have bright blue heads, with black mask, dark bodies, and orange on shoulder. Underfeathers are actually blue and green but in normal lighting the body looks blackish.More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • All rights reserved • Para, Brazil, September

Bird name: Flame Crested Tanager
Latin: Tachyphonus cristatus
Other: Tiê-galo (Br) • Frutero de cresta rojiza, parlotero crestado, tangara crestiflama (Es)
Family: Thraupidae • Tanagers
Range: Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyanas, Peru, Venezuela, Bolivia
Similar:

The Flame-crested Tanager showing its main markings: a red crest, generally black body and buff patch on chin. Also white shoulder. Female is brownish.

The Flame-crested Tanager lives in two distinct populations, one on the southeast coast of Brazil - at Regua, for example - the other further northwest - eg at Rio Azul Lodge.More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • All rights reserved • Brazil • 2011

Bird name: Green and Gold Tanager
Latin: Tangara schrankii
Other: Tangará carinegra, tangara verdidorada (Es) • Saíra-ouro (Br)
Family: Thraupidae • Tanagers
Range: Amazonia - Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela
Similar:

I only glimpsed Green-and-gold Tanagers a couple of times, at the Rio Azul Lodge, in Para, Brazil.More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • All rights reserved • Brazil • 2011

Bird name: Fulvous Crested Tanager
Latin: Tachyphonus surinamus
Other: Tem-tem-de-topete-ferrgíneo (Br) • Tangara crestifulva (Es)
Family: Thraupidae • Tanagers
Range: Amazonia - Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyanas, Peru, Venezuela
Similar:

A couple of record shots of the Fulvous-crested Tanager at Rio Azul Lodge. A blackish tanager with brown patches on shoulders and sides.More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy • Summit Gardens, Panama • April 2010

Bird name: Harpy Eagle
Latin: Harpia harpyja
Other: Aguila harpía (Es) • Harpia (Br)
Family: Accipitridae • Eagles, Birds of Prey
Range: Central America and tropical South America to Brazil
Similar:

The top pics are of a captive Harpy Eagle eating at the Summit Gardens zoo - further below there are a couple of pics of a wild bird in Brazil, sent in by Paula.

The Harpy Eagle is the largest and most powerful raptor in the Americas, with much larger talons than a Golden Eagle. Somehow, close up it didn’t look quite as big as I had expected. A rare bird, classed as Near Threatened, it is being reintroduced in several locations, including Soberania National Park in Panama.More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy • Para, Brazil • Sep 2011

Bird name: Grey Headed Kite
Latin: Leptodon cayanensis
Other: Gray-headed Kite (US) • Milano cabecigrís (Es) • Gavião-de-cabeça-cinza (Br)
Family: Accipitridae • Kites, Birds of Prey
Range: Mexico to northern Argentina, incl Panama, Brazil
Similar:

The Grey-Headed Kite has a pale grey head with white body contrasting with dark wings and barred flight feathers. Two narrow white bands on tail (a third sometimes visible). Bill bluish.

Also seen in the mountains of Valle de Anton in central Panama.More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • Para, Brazil, September 2011 • Do not copy without permission

Bird name: Bronzy Jacamar
Latin: Galbula leucogastra
Other: Jacamará bronceado (Es) • Ariramba-bronzeada (Br)
Family: Galbulidae • Jacamars
Range: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela
Similar:

Just record shots of this Bronzy Jacamar in Para state, Brazil. Note white neck and bronzy chest.More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • Para, Brazil, September 2011 • Do not copy without permission

Bird name: Paradise Jacamar
Latin: Galbula dea
Other: Ariramba-do-paraiso (Br) • Jacamará colilargo, jacamar del paraíso, jacamar negro (Es)
Family: Galbulidae • Jacamars
Range: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Guyanas
Similar:

The Paradise Jacamar has a long thin tail but is very dark, with a white collar and long straight bill. Seen here at Rio Azul Lodge in southern Amazonia.

Copyright: monacoeye • Para, Brazil, September 2011 • Do not copy without permission

Bird name: Blue Necked Jacamar
Latin: Galbula cyanicollis
Other: Blue-cheeked Jacamar • Jacamará cariazul, jacamar de cuello azul (Es) • Ariramba-de-mata (Br)
Family: Galbulidae • Jacamars
Range: Amazonia south of the Amazon: Bolivia, Peru, Brazil
Similar: Yellow-billed Jacamar, Rufous-tailed Jacamar.

The Blue-necked Jacamar is similar to the Yellow-billed Jacamar but lives south of the Amazon while the latter lives north of the Amazon.

The Blue-necked Jacamar has a yellow bill, no green on chest. More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • Rio Azul Lodge, Brazil, Sep 2011 • Do not copy without permission

Bird name: Swallow Winged Puffbird
Latin: Chelidoptera tenebrosa
Other: Swallow-wing • Urubuzinho (Br) • Buco golondrina (Es), chacurú golondrina, monjita culiblanca, aguantasol
Family: Bucconidae • Puffbirds
Range: Amazonia: Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, Guyanas; E Brazil
Similar:

There were a good number of Swallow-winged Puffbirds near the cabins at Rio Azul Lodge, in Para, Brazil, mostly visible around midday, often on telephone wires. This Amazonian bird burrows in the ground and can be seen throwing sand out of its burrow (photo below). Not too shy at midday.

Swallow-winged Puffbirds are often referred to by the name Swallow-wings. They are mostly blackish, with a red patch on the lower belly and white vent and underwings. The Brazilian name is Urubuzinho, which means little vulture.More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy without permission • Para, Brazil, September 2011.

Bird name: Greater Yellow Headed Vulture
Latin: Cathartes melambrotus
Other: Urubu-da-mata, urubu-maior-de-cabeça-amarela (Br) • Aura común (Es)
Family: Cathartidae • New World Vultures
Range: Northern South America, incl northern Brazil, Amazonia etc. Low altitude tropical forest.
Similar: Lesser Yellow Headed Vulture, Turkey Vulture, Comparison

Although in field guides The Greater Yellow Headed Vulture looks similar to the Lesser Yellow Headed Vulture and the Turkey Vulture, I found them quite easy to distinguish in practice.

Firstly there is not much overlap between Greater and Lesser Yellow Headed Vultures. Lesser is in the Pantanal, Greater in Amazonia, but with some Lessers near the Amazon itself.

Secondly, Greater Yellow Headed Vultures are very large birds, with very deep wings and long tails.

Thirdly, their wings are mostly dark underneath, with light patches nearest the body blending into the other darker feathers. Both the Turkey Vulture and the Lesser Yellow Headed Vulture have more delineated and lighter undersides.

The Greater Yellow Headed Vulture has a coloured head, with yellow, pink and blue parts, unlike the Turkey Vulture which is all pink-red with some white.

I saw Greater Yellow Headed Vultures flying over the Rio Azul Lodge in Para, usually around midday.

Below, Greater Yellow-headed Vulture. Photo lightened slightly to show wing pattern.
More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy without permission • Regua, Brazil • 2011

Bird name: Spot Billed Toucanet
Latin: Selenidera maculirostris
Other: Araçaru-poca (Br)• Tucancito de pico maculado, arasarí chico (Es)
Family: Ramphastidae • Toucans, Toucanets
Range: Brazil Atlantic Rainforest
Similar:

Above, a female (or juvenile?) Spot-billed Toucanet. Below a male.

Spot-billed Toucanets are readily identified by three or four dark marks on the upper bill. Seen on excursions from Regua and Serra dos Tucanos, in northern Rio de Janeiro state.

Below, male Spot-billed Toucanet, Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil • 2011
More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy without permission • Rio Azul, Brazil • Sept 2011

Bird name: Red Necked Aracari
Latin: Pteroglossus bitorquatus
Other: Araçari-de-pescoço-vermelho (Br)
Family: Ramphastidae • Toucans, Aracaris
Range: S Amazonia
Similar:

Red-necked Aracaris near open farmland in Para, Brazil, September.

The head is a deep chestnut red colour, but so dark it can look black.More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy without permission • Rio Azul, Brazil • Sept 2011

Bird name: Curl Crested Aracari
Latin: Pteroglossus beauharnaesii
Other: araçari-mulato (Br)• arasarí crespo (Es)
Family: Ramphastidae • Toucans, Aracaris
Range: W Amazonia, incl Brazil
Similar:

Rio Azul Lodge had several Curl-crested Aracaris visiting not far from the lodge, in degraded semi-open forest.

Purple, sky-blue and orange on upper bill, white lower bill, pale blue around eye, “curly hair”. The bird pictured above had no red on belly (maybe juvenile?), a little on flank, but many adults birds have the red band typical of many aracaris.More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • Rio Azul Lodge, Sept 2011 • Do not copy without permission

Bird name: White Throated Toucan
Latin: Ramphastos tucanus
Other: Tucán goliblanco (Es) • Tucano-de-peito-branco (Br)
Family: Ramphastidae • Toucans
Range: East Ecuador, Amazonia, incl Brazil
Similar: Channel Billed Toucan

These birds were identified by the Rio Azul Lodge guide as White-throated Toucans. Note blue patch at base of lower mandible, yellow above. Very similar to Channel-billed Toucan, though calls are different, so treat ID with caution.

Below, a White Throated Toucan in flight carrying food, in Para, Brazil, September
More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy without permission • Chapada, Brazil • 2011

Bird name: Channel Billed Toucan
Latin: Ramphastos vitellinus
Other: Tucano-de-bico-preto (Br)• tucán de pico acanalado (Es)
Family: Ramphastidae • Toucans
Range: Amazonia, E, SE Brazil
Similar: White-throated Toucan

These Channel-billed Toucans were identified as such by the guides at Chapada das Guimaraes, Mato Grosso, and Rio Azul Lodge, Para, in Brazil.

The main distinguishing feature between these Channel-billed Toucans and the local subspecies of White-throated Toucan is the colour of the base of the lower mandible: the Channel-billed Toucan is yellow on both upper and lower mandible, with a small patch of blue along the bottom edge of the base of the upper mandible, whereas the White-throated Toucan has blue on the lower mandible.

However, there are several subspecies …More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • Upper Napo, Ecuador, Mar 2011 • Do not copy without permission

Bird name: Lettered Aracari
Latin: Pteroglossus inscriptus
Other: Arasari Letreado (Es), Araçari-letrado (Br)
Family: Ramphastidae • Toucans, Aracaris
Range: W, S Amazonia including east Ecuador, Brazil
Similar:

Lettered Aracari were seen perching high up, on several occasions, in the Upper Napo region of Ecuadorian Amazonia. They are so named because of the inky markings on their upper bill. Like many other aracaris they often sit perched with a small fruit in their bills. Attractive birds and not uncommon.

Bill markings vary widely from individual to individual, some with few thick black lines, others with many thinner lines. The Ecuadorian subspecies pictured above is Pteroglossus inscriptus humboldti, which has a completely black lower bill.

The nominate subspecies, pictured below, lives in Brazil east of the Rio Madeira tributary of the Amazon, has much yellow on the lower bill, a black mark at base of lower mandible and black at tip.

Below, the Brazilian subspecies in flight. Bill mostly yellow. Para, Brazil, September.
More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy without permission • Rio Azul Lodge, Brazil • 2011

Bird name: Gould's Toucanet
Latin: Selenidera gouldii
Other:
Family: Ramphastidae • Toucans, Toucanets
Range: S Amazonia
Similar:

I saw these Gould’s Toucanets accompanied by Curl-crested Aracaris at Rio Azul Lodge. Identifiable by their bill pattern: black on half the upper bill, yellow at tip, black line on lower bill. Females have light brown heads.More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy without permission • Pantanal • August 2011

Bird name: Burrowing Owl
Latin: Athene cunicularia
Other: (Es) • Coruja-buraqueira (Br)
Family: Strigidae • Owls
Range: North, Central and South America - from Canada to Argentina
Similar:

The small Burrowing Owl is a photographer’s friend - it stands peched in the open during broad daylight. It does hunt at night but is also often active during the day.

I regularly saw Burrowing Owls in open country throughout Brazil - farmland or dry scrub is typical habitat. Often there seemed to be groups, perhaps families or two pairs.

This small terrestrial owl lives in burrows in the ground, and often stands on a mound by the entrance to its burrow.

In Brazil, the Burrowing Owl has bright yellow irises and a white brow.

Directly below, a Burrowing Owl at Rio Clarinho Lodge, Pantanal, Brazil. August 2011.
More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • Brazil • August 2011 • Do not copy without permission

Bird name: Thrush Like Wren
Latin: Cantorchilus longirostris
Other: Garrinchão-de-bico-grande (Br) • Soterrey Mirlo (Es)
Family: Troglodytidae • Wrens
Range: Amazonia, Pantanal, Bahia - Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil
Similar:

There is a tree you can climb with a rickety set of stairs on the approach road to Curicaca Lodge, off the Transpantaneira in the Pantanal. While standing on the upper platform, the Thrush-like Wren above alighted in the tree.

I also saw Thrush-like Wrens around the Lodge. It wasn’t initially obvious to me they were of the wren family from their large size, relaxed behaviour and plain colouring.

In the Pantanal subspecies pictured, Cantorchilus longirostris unicolor, barring is very faint on the chest but diagnostic on the flanks and under the tail. It has a light supercilium.
More photos...