Tuesday, May 9, 2023

Great Kiskadee

I heard one of our guides at Tinamu Reserve say that the great kiskadee is one of the most common birds there. There was a tree near our covered outdoor dining area with a great kiskadee nest in it and we saw them a number of times with frogs in their bills whipping them against a tree limb to kill them and then flying into the nest. We also saw them with frogs at Montezuma Rainforest Lodge. 
This and the following photos were taken at Tinamu Reserve. 










They are found in southern Texas, near both coasts of Mexico, down through Central America and in over three-fourths of South America. There are ten subspecies.
Great kiskadee range - Wikipedia

This and the following photos show a great kiskadee killing a Boettger's Colombian tree frog. 




It is one of the largest tyrant flycatchers, which is a very large family. It has a black head, a large white supercilium, chin and neck and a concealed yellow crown-stripe. The remaining underparts are bright yellow. It has brown upperparts and rufous fringes in the wings and tail. It was one of my favorite birds. We could get close, it was very colorful, and very entertaining as it continually whipped the frogs back and forth against tree limbs. 
This and the following photos were taken at Montezuma Rainforest Lodge.


It has a similar appearance to a number of other birds, including the boat-billed flycatcher, with a more massive bill and less rufous in the tail and wings; and the social flycatcher which is much smaller. 

It is very aggressive and did not seem particularly bothered by our presence. 

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