Rook

We visited Ireland in July 2024 and saw rooks a number of times. I did not have my camera. My photos are all by cellphone. 

This rook was photographed on the grounds of Kilkenny Castle, County Kilkenny, Ireland, on July 5. 

Photographed the same day near the Rock of Cashel, County Tipperary.

At the dock waiting for our boat to tour the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare, on July 13. 

Illustration of ssp. frugilegus, the western rook, from Birds of the World. 

Birds of the World describes the rook as a "small-headed, short-legged crow with low-slung belly, loose tibia feathering ('baggy shorts') and tapered pointed bill. [The] nominate race is wholly black, highly glossed with bluish and purplish ...most evident on [the] wing;...distinctive bare whitish area on chin and lores extending to bill base...; iris dark brown; bill dusky toward tip, becoming whiter towards base (making nostrils apparent, enhanced by absence of nasal bristles); legs dark slate-gray." There are two subspecies. The western rook, the nominate ssp. frugilegus, which I saw, is found from western Europe to southern Russia and extreme northwestern China. The eastern rook, ssp. pastinator, is found from central Siberia and northern Mongolia eastwards across the rest of Asia. Rooks nest collectively in the tops of tall trees and the groups of nests are known as rookeries. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Large-Billed Crow

The large-billed crow is sometimes called the thick-billed crow and has a large bill which is the source of its name. There are ten subspecies and I believe I saw ssp. levaillanti which is found from northeastern India and eastern Nepal eastward to western Thailand and the Andaman Islands. This ssp. has also been sometimes treated as a separate species known as the eastern jungle crow. It has an arched culmen which is the dorsal ridge of the upper mandible. The base of the culmen is hidden by a layer of overlapping black rictal bristles. Its glossy black plumage has a purple sheen. I saw several of them in the Eastern Range of Kaziranga NP in Assam, India. I have a bad habit of only taking one or two photos of crows and ravens because they all look the same to me. Then I often find out it is a new species I haven't seen before and I regret not having taken more photos. This was one of those circumstances. 

Illustration of ssp. levaillanti from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Plum-Throated Cotinga

On February 5, 2009 Judy and I were in Peru with my law partners and their wives. We were staying at the Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica on the edge of the Madre de Dios River near Tambopata National Reserve. I don't recall if we were near our lodging or on our hike into Lake Sandoval when I saw a plum-throated cotinga. I think it was the former. 

This is the original photo.

I just recently cropped it and it is of very low quality.

I have one identifier on iNaturalist confirming it, the third top identifier, but there was also the fifth top identifier that initially confirmed it, then withdrew the identification without specifying any reason. 

Illustration of a female from Birds of the World. 

Illustration of a male from Birds of the World. 

Males and females are highly dimorphic (different looking). The beautiful male is shiny turquoise-blue with a plum-purple patch on the neck. The female has dark grayish-brown upperparts, and lighter brown lower parts. It is found in the upper Amazon Basin, including the southeastern third of Colombia, the eastern third of Ecuador, eastern Peru, far northern Bolivia and part of Brazil. 

Range from Birds of the World.

Green and Black Fruiteater

On March 21, 2023 I was in Tatama NNP near Pueblo Rico, Risaralda Dept., Colombia, with Judy, my granddaughter Savannah, and our guide Fernando from Montezuma Rainforest Lodge. We had been to the top of Montezuma Hill, at about 8,500 feet elevation and were going down the mountain, partly walking, partly driving. Toward the bottom Fernando pointed out a green and black fruiteater standing on a tree branch just ahead and above us in the middle of the road. 

Green and black fruiteater, a male.

Adult males have a blackish-green head and upper breast with a yellow band or collar around the base, except on the nape. The upperparts and tail are green and the wings are mostly green, but the tertials have white tips. The underparts are yellow with black streaks that are heavier on the flanks than in the center. Females have a green head instead of the black and no yellow collar. There are six subspecies and I'm not sure which subspecies I saw. 

Illustration of female ssp. riefferii from Birds of the World. 

Illustration of male ssp. riefferii from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. It is found on both the western and eastern Andes slopes in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. It is the most widespread and abundant of the Andean fruiteaters and is ecologically the most tolerant. 

Orange-Breasted Fruiteater

On March 18, 2022 I visited the Mashpi Amagusa Reserve outside Mindo, Ecuador and had an extraordinary morning of birding, probably the most amazing of my life. One of the more bizarre birds I encountered was the orange-breasted fruiteater. I recorded it on iNaturalist as a green and black fruiteater. But the top identifier of orange-breasted fruiteaters on iNaturalist, Isueza, who has 107 identifications of it compared to the next highest identifier at 47, disagreed and identified it as an orange-breasted fruiteater. I checked it out and determined that he was right, it is a female orange-breasted frutieater.

Males have a glossy black head and bib, an orange throat and yellow belly with green mottling. The female has green upper parts and green and yellow streaked underparts. Both have yellow eyes, an orange bill and gray-green legs. 

Illustration of a female from Birds of the World.

Illustration of a male from Birds of the World. 

It is found on the slopes and foothills of the western side of the Anders in Colombia and Ecuador in the dense, wet, mossy forests. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Great Thrush

I saw a great thrush on March 17, 2023 in the La Candelaria neighborhood of Bogota, Colombia, near the house of Simon Bolivar, after we'd taken a funicular to the top of Monserrate Hill to see the Monserrate Sanctuary, a Catholic Shrine. 

The great thrush is considered the largest thrush in South America. Males can be identified by the orange-red beak and legs and yellow or orange eyering. Females and juveniles lack the orange eyering. The plumage is black-brown, darker on the wings and tail and pale on the belly. Subspecies have differences in coloration. There are seven subspecies, four of which are found in Colombia. I believe I saw ssp. gigas, found in the Andes mountains of Venezuela and Colombia. 

Illustration of a ssp. ockendeni, a female, found in southeastern Peru. There is no illustration of gigas and I wanted to show the difference between the eyering of a male and female. This female lacks a yellow eyering.

Illustration of ssp. ockendeni, a male, showing a yellow eyering. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Eurasian Blackbird aka Common Blackbird

The Eurasian blackbird, as it is known particularly in North America to distinguish it from the unrelated New World blackbirds, such is in Birds of the World and iNaturalist, is often referred to as the common blackbird or blackbird elsewhere, such as in Wikipedia, which follows English spelling rules and the usage where the topic is found. In fact, I was a little surprised that I couldn't find it in Wikipedia until I used the scientific name Turdus merula. 

The adult male, found throughout most of Europe, is all black except for a yellow eye-ring and bill. The adult female and juvenile have dark brown plumage. The nominate subspecies, merula, which is what I have seen, is found throughout much of Europe . 

This Eurasian blackbird male was seen on the grounds of Kilkenny Castle in Kilkenny, Ireland, on July 5, 2024. Photo was taken with a cellphone.

This female Eurasian blackbird was seen near Newgrange, County Meath, Ireland, on July 14, 2025. Photo was taken with a cellphone.  

This adult male was seen in Neubulach, Germany, on May 20, 2025, while I was staying with Judy and her family in an Airbnb, while visiting the area where her mother was born.  

This adult male was seen in downtown Pforzheim, Germany, on May 22, 2025. Phorzheim is where Judy's mother grew up. It was in a church yard next to the Enz River singing a beautiful song. Photo was taken with a cellphone.  

This adult male was also seen on the outskirts of Neubulach, Germany. The photo was taken with a cellphone. 

This is an illustration of ssp. merula, a female, identified as variant A, which I could not find a discussion of. 

This is also an illustration from Birds of the World identified as a ssp. merula, female, variant B. This looks more like the female I saw near Newgrange, above. 

Illustration of male, ssp. merula, from Birds of the World. 

Range from Birds of the World. 

Eastern Bluebird and Comparison to Western and Mountain Bluebirds

The eastern bluebird is dimorphic. Males have a bright blue head, back and wings. The breast is brownish red. Females are lighter with gray on the head and back  and some blue on the wings and tail. The female's breast is usually light and more orange than the male's. There are seven subspecies. I've seen the nominate ssp. sialis, found in southern and southeastern Canada, eastern and central U.S. and northeastern Mexico. We have western bluebirds where I live which I see quite frequently. 

I saw this when I was with my sons, Sam and Andrew, on the Patsy Pond Nature Trail in eastern North Carolina on May 13, 2024. The photo below is just a cropped version of this one.  

This and the next photo were taken in Shawnee Mission Park, Kansas, on November 1, 2024. 

Illustration of of a female, ssp. sialis, from Birds of the World. 

Illustration of male, ssp. sialis, from Birds of the World.

The difference between the western and eastern bluebird is male western bluebirds have blue (male) or gray (female) throats, while eastern bluebirds have an orange throat. The mountain bluebird lacks orange anywhere on its body.  

This and the next photo of western bluebirds were taken near the Chilao Visitor Center in the San Gabriel Mountains above Los Angeles on June 18, 2025. They are the ssp. occidentalis which are found throughout Southern California. 

Western bluebird female illustration from Birds of the World. 

Western bluebird male illustration from Birds of the World. 

Mountain bluebird, female, near Kenton, Oklahoma on October 19, 2020. 

Mountain bluebird, female, illustration from Birds of the World.

Mountain bluebird, male, illustration from Birds of the World. 

Range maps for each of the three species of bluebirds, from Birds of the World. 

Eastern bluebird

Western bluebird

Mountain bluebird

At our home in Redlands, Southern California, we get western bluebirds in the spring and mountain bluebirds (much more rare) in the winter.