Red-Breasted Flycatcher

On November 25, 2025 I was in Keoladeo NP in India when our guide identified a red-breasted flycatcher. I was not able to get a photo of it before it flew. I don't recall whether it was a male or female. 

Illustration of a female from Birds of the World. 

Illustration of a male from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

European Robin

The beautiful European robin has an orange face and breast, a pale bluish-gray neck band that outlines the orange, a white belly and it is olive-brown above. Males and females look alike. I saw my first one at Kilkenny Castle in Kilkenny County, Ireland on July 5, 2024 while Judy and I walked the grounds. My photos are pretty atrocious because all I had was a cell phone. My best photo was taken down near the River Nore. The second one was taken out on the grounds just outside the castle. 

The next day, July 6, 2024, we were driving around the Dingle Peninsula and stopped at the Blasket Centre  in Dun Chaoin, the most westerly parish on the Dingle Peninsula. This European robin was in a tree as we were walking toward the entrance. These photos are pretty horrible. 

I saw the ssp. found in the British Isles and much of western Europe, melophilus. 

Illustration from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Common Swift

On July 25, 2022 we did a birding trip around the Tagus Estuary near Lisbon, Portugal. Before leaving Lisbon, we stopped to watch some common swifts flying around the buildings and I got several photos. 

The red line traces our route around the Tagus Estuary from our start in Lisbon. The first common swifts we saw were in Lisbon south of the Vasco da Gama Bridge which crosses the estuary (our route went counter-clockwise). We saw a number of them and I got one photo. The next ones we saw, of which I got several photos, were up on the northern part of the route, east of the northern point of our route, about where the dashed line crosses our route. 

The first ones photographed in Lisbon. 

One of two that I photographed in our second area. 

The second of two that I photographed in the second area. 

The next photographs were taken on May 20, 2025 while we were staying in Neubulach, Germany. 

An illustration of the common swift and a range map, both from Birds of the World. 

Black Swift

There are three subspecies of black swift. I saw the nominate ssp. C. n. niger, found in the West Indies and Trinidad. On February 18, 2023 I visited Hotel Mockingbird Hill in Drapers, Jamaica and had a guide, Lyndon Johnson of Arrowhead Birding. We spent time birding there and also at San San Police Station Road nearby. At one of the sites, I don't remember which, we spotted a black swift and I was unable to get a photo of it. However, I do count it as one of the birds on my life list. 

Illustration of a black swift from Birds of the World.

Range of the black swift from Wikipedia. Unlike the range map on Birds of the World, it shows them present in the Caribbean. The purple indicates they are present year round and not migratory there. 

European Honey-Buzzard

On Saturday, June 5, 2022 we did a birding tour of the Tagus Estuary in Portugal with Bernardo Barreto of Birds & Nature. We saw a European honey buzzard at a long distance which I was not able to get a decent photo of. It is one of the few birds I have put on my life list that I do not have a photo of, so I don't go into much detail here. 

Illustration from Birds of the World.

Illustration, flying, from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World

Broad-Tailed Hummingbird

On July 2, 2021 Judy and I were in the Dripping Springs Natural Ara 10 miles east of Las Cruces, New Mexico on the west side of the Organ Mountains. There was a little cabin near a trailhead with a hummingbird feeder and I got my first, and so far only, broad-tailed hummingbirds. 

The female has paler rufous on the flanks, white eye-ring and spotted cheeks. 

Per Birds of the World, "In flight, broad and rounded tail tail feathers are distinctive...[R]usty color at the base of the tail feathers and white tips on the [three] outer tail feathers." The male has a red gorget on the throat and lacks the spotted cheeks. 

Illustration of female from Birds of the World.

Illustration of male from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. Breeds in higher elevations in the southern and central Rocky Mountains, eastern California and Mexico. 

Black-Chinned Hummingbird

The male black-chinned is metallic green above and white below, with green flanks. The bill is long, straight and slender. The male has a black face and chin, a glossy purple gorget and a dark forked tail. The female has a dark rounded tail with white tips and no throat patch. I've seen lots of what I thought were black-chinned hummingbirds and ultimately most turn out to be something else. They can look a lot like broad-tailed, rufous, calliope, Allen's, lucifer, Anna's and Costa's hummingbirds. The male, with a black throat, can be confused with the other hummingbirds, such as the Anna's, with a red throat, in poor light. I'm often seeing them in early or evening light and it is difficult to distinguish, particularly because we have lots of Anna's and much fewer black-chinneds. It is even more difficult to distinguish a female black-chinned from a female Anna's or Costa's hummingbird (I've had my own black-chinned identifications on iNaturalist negated by both). The female Anna's is larger, often with red feathers in the center of the throat and gray underparts. Almost half of Costa's have small throat patch of violet feathers, but others have entirely white throats. Female black-chinneds have club-shaped outer primaries while ruby-throated have knife-shaped outer primaries. Apparently you need to look at the shape and width of inner primary flight feathers (good luck with that). 

This is my only verified black-chinned male on iNaturalist, seen at Big Morongo on May 11, 2022. 

This is my only female black-chinned verified on iNaturalist, also at Big Morongo, on October 3, 2022. 

Illustration of female from Birds of the World. 

Illustration of male from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World.