Boat-billed Flycatcher

This is one of several common brown & yellow birds with Black & White trim and this one most often is confused with the Great Kiskadee as about the same size. Social Flycatcher is colored the same but always smaller (and chubbier) and after awhile you get an eye for size and even the personality of birds which in this Boat-billed is different from the cockier Great Kiskadee. Plus I got a shot from behind and the white ring around this one’s head has all black in the center while the Kiskadee has yellow plus a spot of yellow on the black next to his beak. AND this Boat-billed has a bigger or fatter beak (boat-shaped?). But at first glance all of these look almost the same! I further verified my ID by running 3 of these photos through Merlin, the magical bird-ID app for your phone from eBird. 🙂

Read about Boat-billed Flycatcher on eBird or for more of my earlier photos see my Boat-billed Flycatcher GALLERY.

Boat-billed Flycatcher, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

3 more shots . . .

Continue reading “Boat-billed Flycatcher”

Early Birds 1

I was going to do one post with the first or early birds photographed here on the lodge grounds, but with 14 already I’m dividing it into two posts of 7 each. Then we go to another island today and the mainland tomorrow for many more birds I hope! But with slow internet, 7 is enough for one post!

Red-lored Parrot
Tranquilo Bay Eco Adventure Lodge, Bocas del Toro, Panama

Red-lored Parrot
Tranquilo Bay Eco Adventure Lodge, Bocas del Toro, Panama

There are also Mealy Parrots and Blue-headed Parrots here, but I have no photos of them yet. 

Lineated Woodpecker
Tranquilo Bay Eco Adventure Lodge, Bocas del Toro, Panama

Black-cheeked Woodpecker
Tranquilo Bay Eco Adventure Lodge, Bocas del Toro, Panama

Boat-billed Flycatcher
Tranquilo Bay Eco Adventure Lodge, Bocas del Toro, Panama

There is a slight difference between this flycatcher and the Kiskadee which I will show one of tomorrow. They are easy to confuse!

White-lined Tanager
Tranquilo Bay Eco Adventure Lodge, Bocas del Toro, Panama

The “white line” is on his shoulder and only seen when in flight. 

Blue-gray Tanager
Tranquilo Bay Eco Adventure Lodge, Bocas del Toro, Panama

Living slow in the jungles on an island in the Western Atlantic or Western Caribbean Sea. It is very hot and humid and you tire easily but it is a great place with lots of wildness, This afternoon we go to another island for a particular bird found only there, the Snowy Cotinga. Tomorrow we do the first of three trips to the mainland for birds. The two families running the lodge are very accomodating of us and our needs/desires. Cabins are very nice and the food is very good. We are experiencing a Panama version of pura vida!

TTranquilo Bay Eco Adventure Lodge 

Bocas del Toro Archipelago, Panama

Birds at Cerro Lodge

Cinnamon Hummingbird
Cerro Lodge, Tarcoles, Costa Rica

Turquoise-browed Motmot
Cerro Lodge, Tarcoles, Costa Rica
My first to see in Costa Rica, though I saw many in Nicaragua.

White-tipped Dove
Cerro Lodge, Tarcoles, Costa Rica
I almost called them Inca for the scaling, but white tips on tails ID them.

Warbler of Some Kind   (I’m pretty sure but hard to ID)
Cerro Lodge, Tarcoles, Costa Rica

Hoffman’s Woodpecker
Cerro Lodge, Tarcoles, Costa Rica

Blue-gray Tanager
Cerro Lodge, Tarcoles, Costa Rica

Boat-billed Flycatcher
Cerro Lodge, Tarcoles, Costa Rica
Several flycatchers look similar, but the bill and red cap ID this one.

Melodious BlackbirdCerro Lodge, Tarcoles, Costa Rica
Very similar to Bronze Cowbird which has red eyes an this one doesn’t.
Only the Melodious Blackbird has everything black, eyes, bill, feet.
Cerro Lodge Entrance
Cerro Lodge, Tarcoles, Costa Rica

Last time I stayed down here it was at Villa Lapas which further off the highway,
closer to Tarcoles, & deeper in the forest, but services and facilities are similar.
This one is actually in the middle of an upscale housing development but with
plenty of land for privacy and lots of birds. The gate is like what the neighbors
have to enter their mansions. Good friendly service, views, birds and food.

I’m saving the birds photographed at Carara National Park for tomorrow since I got a lot at the lodge and the park was my last stop before going home. Some nice birds at the park this time! Better than my last trip there.