Common Squirrel-Cuckoo

We were in Tikal NP in Guatemala with our guide, Rony, in an area thick with trees. Rony heard the call of a squirrel-cuckoo and was trying to find it. He'd walked up the trail a ways and while I waited I noticed a bird sitting motionless and quietly in the top of a tree. I took a few photos and showed them to Rony when we re-connected, and asked him what it was? He looked closely and then said he thought it was a squirrel cuckoo, but perhaps was an adolescent. I've posted it on iNaturalist and one identifier has confirmed it, the number 4 identifier of common squirrel-cuckoos with 808 identifications. 

There are 13 subspecies. Those west and north of the Andes have greenish-yellow eye-rings and those east and south of the Andes have red eye-rings. Northern populations have shorter tails. I saw ssp. thermophila, also known as the "Middle American" common squirrel-cuckoo. It is found in eastern Mexico (eastern San Luis Potosi and southern Tamaulipas south to Veracruz, Yucatan and the Isthmus of Tehuantapec, south through Central America to Panama and northwestern Colombia. AI notes that the differences of an adolescent from an adult are: (a) adolescents have a grayish bill, instead of a yellow or yellow-green bill; (b) they have a gray eye-ring instead of a red or yellow-green eye-ring; (c) the tail feathers are narrower and less pointed (this is particularly evident); (d) the plumage is more lax, fluffy and shaggy; and (e) the throat is grayer, not as rich in color as the adult's chestnut throat. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Wood Thrush

We saw a wood thrush in Tikal NP, Guatemala with our guide Rony. It was heavily wooded and quite dark with the thick over-story. I've seen quite a few species of thrush and thought I may have previously seen a wood thrush, but no, it was a lifer.  

As you can see from the range, they are very prevalent in the eastern half of the U.S., where they are summer residents, and through Central America, where they are winter residents. It breeds most commonly in the Appalachian Mountains and parts of the Mid-Atlantic (New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C.). 

Rose-Throated Becard

Another one of the few birds I spotted on my own in Tikal NP, Guatemala was the rose-throated becard. We were with our guide, Rony, down a small dirt road that led to somewhat of a garbage dump. It was early light and visibility wasn't great. I took a photo of the bird while Rony was distracted elsewhere, and showed it to Rony a little later. The photo was quite dark. He said he thought it was a becard and was trying to see if it had red on the throat which would make it a rose-throated becard. When I got home and worked on the photo in Lightroom I was able to lighten it up and saw the red on the throat. My photo looks more like a female with a red throat, but that's probably from my messing around with the color. 

It is my second species of becard. I saw a barred becard in Ecuador. 

Illustration of a female from Birds of the World. 

Illustration of a male from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

AI notes that the subspecies insularis is found in the Yucatan Peninsula, northern Guatemala and Belize, which includes Tikal NP. Males are gray with a black cap and a small, hard-to-see rose-colored throat patch. Females have a rusty back, pale underside and dark cap. 

Plumbeous Kite

In Tikal NP, Guatemala our guide, Rony, identified a plumbeous kite standing high in a large dead tree amidst the Mayan ruins. The thing that stood out for me, weirdly, was the name. What the heck is "plumbeous"? Well, it turns out that plumbeous means dull, or lead-gray in color. 

They are slate-gray with paler head and underparts, a short black tail with two to three white bands on the undersurface, orange legs and red eyes. It has rufous patches on its primaries. You can see the white bands and bits of the rufous patch in the photo above. It closely resembles the Mississippi kite which is not as dark a gray. has white secondary patches and lacks the rufous wing patch.  

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

Illustration of it flying from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Montezuma Oropendola

One of the birds I really looked forward to seeing in Tikal NP in Guatemala was the Montezuma oropendola. I'd never heard of an oropendola until we visited Colombia a few years ago and saw both the russet-backed and chestnut-headed oropendola. The oropendolas, at least the ones I've seen, are large, elongated and have huge bills. I'd read that the Montezuma oropendola nested near the Mayan ruins in Tikal and I gave it a decent chance I'd see one. I hadn't anticipated that we would find it nesting in a huge tree in the Central Plaza, between Temple I and Temple II, below the North Acropolis. The sun was not conducive to seeing them well, but I could see they were among tear-dropped shaped nests. It wasn't until I got home and was able to lighten up the shadows that I got a good look at them. 

Blue cheek patch and pink wattle are easily seen here. 

A female below and male above, illustrating the size differential between the two.

A female near a nest.

Adult males are mainly chestnut with a blackish head and rump and a tail that is bright yellow except for two dark central feathers. It has a bare blue cheek patch, a pink wattle, a brown iris and a long black bill with a red tip. Females are similar but are smaller and have a smaller wattle. Males are 100% larger than females in body mass. They live in colonies, each with a dominant polygynous male which mates with most of the females. The females build the hanging woven nests of fibers and vines and she incubates the eggs. There are typically 30 nests in a colony, but up to 172 have been recorded. Females average two eggs per nest, but only one is fledged and only one-third of the nests are successful. 

Illustration of a female from Birds of the World.

Illustration of a male from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Red-Lored Amazon

We were in Tikal NP in Guatemala with our guide, Rony. We were sitting among some Mayan ruins, sitting on square rock benches, when I notice a parrot standing ahead of us in a tree. I'd reviewed the Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Northern Central America on our flight down and I'd taken notice of the red-lored amazon, also known as the red-lored parrot. I asked Rony if that was what it was and he concurred. One of only a few birds I saw first, before Rony. 

The plumage is primarily green, with a blue crown, red lores (the area between the eye and the base of the upper bill), and an orange-red speculum (an iridescent patch on the secondary wing feathers). You can see part of the red speculum in the photos on the wings just above the branch where the feet are standing. There are two subspecies. We saw ssp. autumnalis, the nominate ssp., which has yellow upper cheeks that extend to the ear coverts and a white eye-ring. It is found on the Caribbean slope of eastern Mexico to northern Nicaraugua and Bay islands. Ssp. salvini has yellowish-green upper cheeks and ear-coverts and a pale yellow eye-ring. 

Illustration of ssp. autumnalis from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

They are common pets in the Americas and can live 80 years. There are also naturalized feral populations in Los Angeles and Orange, San Diego and Riverside Counties in California. 

Lineated Woodpecker

Rony, our guide in Tikal NP, Guatemala, heard the hammering of a woodpecker in the trees near us. He quietly entered into the thick trees and waved for me to follow him. It was quite dark. Soon he pointed to a beautiful woodpecker hammering against a tree which he identified as a lineated woodpecker. It looked quite a bit like the pileated woodpecker I'd seen in Nevada City, California last year and it turns out they are closely related. They are mainly black above with a red crest and whitish lines from the base of the bill, down the neck and shoulders. The underparts are whitish, heavily barred with black. Males have red on the cheek and forehead which females lack (I saw a female that lacked the red cheek and forehead). The bill is typically black, but pale-billed individuals are regularly seen and the one I saw had a pale bill.

 

There are five subspecies. I saw ssp. similis which is found in eastern and southern Mexico south to northwestern Costa Rica. Ssp. similis has a pale bill and the white on it is dull to bluish white and its underparts are buffy. 

Illustration of ssp. lineatus, the nominate ssp., from Birds of the World. There was not an illustration of ssp. similis. Note the red forehead and red cheek indicating it is a male. 

This is an illustration of ssp. lineatus, a female, from Birds of the World. It lacks the red forehead and red cheek.  

This is the range from Birds of the World.