Weavers of Bwindi: Strange and Brown-capped
Strange and Brown-capped Weavers: Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — The Strange Weaver (yes that is its official name) is another Albertine Rift endemic and the Brown-capped Weaver is limited to the Albertine Rift and the highlands of Kenya and maybe Tanzania (eBird shows nothing in Tanzania but the field guide range maps show a small area). There are also isolated populations of Brown -capped Weaver on the west coast of Africa. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro, Pixelmator Photo, and Apple Photos. Strange: ISO 2500 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Brown-capped: ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/1000th.
Scarlet-rumped Tanager
Scarlet-rumped Tanager: Danta Corcovodo Lodge, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica, December 2022 — The world is a poorer place since they lumped Passerini’s and Cherrie’s Tanagers into Scarlet-Rumped Tanager. I am sure they had good reasons, but still. Passerini’s used to the be the bird on Caribbean slope and Cherrie’s on the south Pacific slope…which includes the Osa Peninsula and the foothills above. Granted, the males, like this one from the roadside almost into Danta Corcovado Lodge, are visually identical, but the females are distinct…distinct enough to make anyone not armed with DNA data suspect that these are different species, especially combined with the clear geographical separation. But no. They are now all just Scarlet-rumped Tanagers. We saw them here in the lowlands, and we saw them in foothills at Wilson Botanical Gardens. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 1250 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Black-faced Apalis
Black-faced Apalis: Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — This used to be the Mountain-masked Apalis, and is another Albertine Rift endemic…restricted in range to the highlands forests of Western Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi. It is a very active bird, often found, as we encountered it along the edge of the parking for the Gorilla Trek in Bwindi, in mixed feeding flocks…though typically higher in the canopy than we found it here. Sony Rx10iv at about 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. In the changing light of the understory, ISO 1600 down to ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Bronzed Cowbird
Bronzed Cowbird: Danta Corcovado Lodge, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica, December 2022 — Another bird from the wet field just as you turn toward Danta Corcovado Lodge. There were many Bronzed Cowbirds, a few Shiny Cowbirds, and at least one Giant Cowbird in the field around the cattle. I had only a limited view out the windows on that side as I was sitting on the “wrong” side of the van, but I managed this portrait of a Bronzed on the wire. In other light that iridescence would be more bronze and gives the bird its name. I have seen these birds in Southern Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, and they have a foothold in California and Louisiana. They are occasionally seen along the coast as far as Florida. You can see them almost anywhere in lowland Central America where there are cleared fields and cattle. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f5.5 @ 1/1000th.
Uganda Edition: Rwenzori Apalis
Rwenzori Apalis: Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — This little bird of the thickets under the rainforest canopy is one of the Albertine Rift endemics, only found in a very narrow range in south-western Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi. Apparently it was the Collared Apalis until recently. There seems to be a move afoot to give the Albertine Rift birds more distinctive names. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications and multi-frame noise reduction. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. Equivalent ISO 3200 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Smooth-billed Ani
Smooth-billed Ani: Danta Corcovado Lodge, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica, December 2022 — Also on the way back from our morning excursion to find the Yellow-billed Cotinga, we stopped by a wet field just as you turn off the main road toward the lodge with cattle, Cattle Egrets, and lots of back-birds, including a couple of Smooth-billed Anis. The Anis in Costa Rica are well separated geographically, at least according to the range maps in both field guides to the birds of Costa Rica that I have, with the Grove-billed occupying the larger territory on the Caribbean slope and half way down the Pacific…then maybe somewhat of a gap before the Smooth-bill takes over in the southern lowlands, on the Osa Peninsula and down to the Panama border. The Smooth-billed is predominantly a South American Bird, only reaching up into Central America in the south, while the Groove-billed has a range that covers from South Texas in the US, trough all of Central America, and well down the west coast of South America. However, the ranges on eBird, which rely on field reports, are not so clearly defined, especially on the Osa, where both birds are regularly reported. This does look like a Smooth-billed to me though…with that big crest on the bill. What remains of the tail is too scraggly to see whether it is square or rounded. 🙁 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Uganda Edition: Streaky Seedeater
Streaky Seedeater: Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park, Uganda, August 2022 — The sun had not yet reached the ground floor around the parking area for the gorilla trek at Bwindi but it was strong in the treetops, where this Streaky Seedeater was warming itself. The Streaky Seedeater is a common bird of mid to high elevations in openings and along forest edges, from Ethiopia south through most of East Africa. There is a separate race with a yellow wash across the face in Tanzania. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/1000th.
Roadside Hawk
Roadside Hawk: Rincon, Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica, December 2022 — On our way back from the Rincon River Bridge and our search for the Yellow-billed Cotinga, still before breakfast, we came up on this hawk sitting on the wires by the road. It is, of course, a Roadside Hawk…the most common hawk of the lowland tropical Americas…with a range from the US border (it is occasionally seen in extreme South Texas) to Northern Argentina and Uruguay. Costa Rica has two of the 12 recognized subspecies. This is the one that inhabits southwest Costa Rica and the adjacent Panama. Seeing this bird, so close and so cooperative, only a yards from the windows of our tourist van, we had a brief discussion of what it might be called if there were no roads…or what it might have been called when there were no roads. It is certainly a hawk of the openings and edges, and is, therefore, closely associated with roads, which are often the first openings in any forest where man travels or lives. I said they were all thinking backwards…roads are called roads because that is where you see the Roadside Hawks from. 🙂 (Okay, I know, but remember it was still before breakfast.) Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. (These photos were actually taken across the width of the van through an open window, so we were indeed pretty close.) Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/640th.
The Best Christmas Gift! Barred Owl
Barred Owl: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, December 2022 — We were on our way back from Christmas dinner with my wife’s local immediate family, with sun already setting here in the short days of December, and we were talking about looking for Snowy Owls and Eagles behind the Catholic Church which sits out half way across the marshes in Wells, when, there on a wire above the road, was what certainly could have been a Snowy Owl. It was silhouetted against the open sky and I was past it before I could stop. We backed the car up and I parked half off the road and fumbled my camera out and got it set for multi-frame noise reduction, which I knew I would need in the low light, and climbed out of the car. In the camera viewfinder, at 600mm equivalent, it was a Barred Owl, not a Snowy, but still. Like most Owls, it knew I was there, but was not terribly concerned, as I worked around and down the opposite edge of the road to get bit closer. Such a gift! Terrible light and all, but I spent 5 minutes photographing it…so intent I forgot to breathe as much as I should have. When I got home it was a processing challenge to make the most of the low light, back-lit exposures, but still…such a gift for Christmas Day 2022. My wife emailed her sister, and it turns out the owl is a well known local character, and often hunts that stretch of road in twilight, waiting for car headlights to highlight an unwary rodent…as owls do. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications and multi-frame noise reduction. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. Equivalent ISO 2000 @ f4. 1/500th. Plus 1.7EV.
Home for Christmas Edition: Bluebird!
Eastern Bluebird: Kennebunk, Maine, USA, December 2022 — For Christmas Day, something close to home. We only started getting Bluebirds in our yard about 6 years ago, and I am still surprised and blessed each day they show up in winter. We had 6 on the deck on Christmas Eve day…and I am sure they will be back today. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro on the Mac Air. ISO 1000 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Plus 1EV.