Collared Aracari, Macaw Mountain Bird Center, Copan Ruins, Honduras

Among the many birds that come regularly to the feeders at the coffee shop at Macaw Mountain Bird Center, in the hills above Copan Ruins in far western Honduras, are Collared Aracaris…which I think of (for no good reason) as Toucans’ poor relations. Okay, they are a bit smaller, and not quite so outrageously colored, but they are certainly striking birds. They are perhaps a bit more common…more often seen around the grounds of resorts in Central America, but I don’t know why that should make them any less noteworthy than than their Toucan cousins. Maybe it is just me. 🙂 Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. 1/500th @ f4 @ ISO 1000. Processed in Polarr.

Squirrel Cuckoo, Los Gloriales Inn, Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Los Gloriales Inn is up on the mountain slopes above the City of Tegucigalpa Honduras, on a ridge facing the ridge that runs up to La Tigra National Park. Built of local stone, it has a rustic beauty that makes it the ideal lodging for birders and naturalists visiting La Tigra. It also sits in the middle of a working coffee plantation and if you walk across the road to the coffee processing area, you have a wonderful view across the sharp valley to the ridges of La Tigra. The trees along the edge of the drop into the valley attract a wide variety of birds, depending on the season. Squirrel Cuckoos were there both times we visited. They are called Squirrel Cuckoos because of the way they move through the trees, running along branches very much like a squirrel. Though they are a common bird, and do not have the brightest plumage, they are certainly beautiful if you take a close look. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. 1?500th @ f4 @ ISO 1000. Processed in Polarr and assembled in FrameMagic.

Tody Motmot, EcoFinca Luna del Puente Reserva Natural, Santa Cruz de Yojoa, Honduras

EcoFinca del Puente is a small lodge with camping in foothills of the Blue Mountains of Honduras between Santa Cruz de Yojoa and Panacam Lodge. Last time we went there, on a trip a few years ago with Alex Alvarado of Hondura Birds, it was because they had a Great Pootoo with a chick in their garden. This time there was no Pootoo, so we went back on one the trails to look for the Tody Motmot. The Tody Motmot is the smallest Motmot in Honduras, and the one without the fancy bobbed tail. It is also one of the hardest to see. It sticks, in my experience, to deep thickets along stream beds where it is 1) very dark under triple canopy, and 2) very hard to see thorough the thick vegetation. Several times we stood with it calling right in front of us, and neither Alex or I could find it. Actually I spotted it first, but before I could get a pic, it dove deeper into the thicket. This is the best I could do…pushing the camera to the max at ISO 6400. Repeated attempts to find a bird in better light and better view produced no results, even though we got much more intimate with the thickets of EcoFinca del Puente than I ever expected or hoped to. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. 1/80th @ f4 @ ISO 6400. Processed in Polarr. (By the way, the Tody Motmot is the Motmot that most resembles the true Todys, a closely related group of birds of the Caribbean Islands.)

Butterflies from Honduras

I always have my eye out for interesting butterflies when traveling (and even around home, of course). These are a few of the many I was able to photograph during my 10 day tour of the Honduran Highlands with Alex Alvarado and Honduran Birds. I am not an expert on tropical butterflies…I am not even much of an amateur…but I think I have, left to right and down, a Gray Cracker (Macaw Mountain Bird Center, Copan Ruins), one of the Tiger Heliconians, though I am not sure which one (Los Naranjos Park on Lake Yojoa), Zebra Heliconian, Common Lenmark, (both also at Los Naranjos), a Glass-wing, though again I am not sure which species (the Opatoro Highlands), and a Red Postman (Los Naranjos). Perhaps someone who knows better can pin down the ids. 🙂 All taken with the Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. Processed in Polarr, and assembled in FrameMagic.

Red-tailed Hawk, Eastern Trail, Kennebunk Maine

Taking a break from my pics from Honduras, though there is no end to them (in sight). It is not every day you encounter such a cooperative Red-tailed Hawk. It flew over me and beside me while I rode my eBike along the final unpaved section as you come to Alwive Road, and perched in tree right at the edge of the cutting, in plain sight. I thought for sure it would be gone before I could get off the bike (so close to the bird), get the camera unpacked, and get a few pics…but in fact, it sat there longer than I needed to stay. It was very aware of me, and gave me “the look” several times as I shot and even repositioned myself down the trail for a better angle and light, but it was not in hurry to go anywhere, and it was not impressed enough with me to do anything about it. All for the good, as I got several classic shots of the bird posing in the sun. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. 1/500th @ f4 @ ISO 160. Processed in Polarr.

Grove-billed Ani, Limpkin, Bare-throated Tiger-Heron, Purple Gallinule, Red-winged Blackbird, Great Egret at Lake Yojoa, Honduras

Snail Kite was not the only bird we saw along the shore of Lake Yojoa in Honduras. Lake Yojoa is the largest natural body of water in Honduras, with extensive marshes along the shore, and it attracts all kinds of birds…from the mundane Red-winged Blackbird and Grove-billed Ani, to the more exotic Bare-throated Tiger-Heron. Reading top to bottom and left to right. Grove-billed Ani, Limpkin (after the same snails as the Snail Kite), Bare-throated Tiger-Heron, Purple Gallinule, Red-winged Blackbird, and Great Egret…all taken from the same dock that reached out 30 yards into the lake. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. Processed in Polarr and assembled in FrameMagic.

Keel-billed Toucan, Macaw Mountain Bird Center, Copan Ruins, Honduras

The feeders at the coffee shop at Macaw Mountain Bird Center have become a real treat for bird photographers over the last few years. Wild Toucans, Aracaris, Orioles, Motmots, and Parrots come every day to enjoy the fresh fruit the coffee shop folk put out on specially designed cantilever feeders that swing out from the deck where you can sit and sip your coffee as you watch. The feeders can be placed out away from the deck for better framing of the birds against a natural background, and then swung in for easy filling. Some photo orientated birds tours that Alex Alvarado of Honduran Birds organizes spend a full day at Macaw Mountain because of the excellent photo ops. We were there on a tighter schedule and I had about an hour with the birds, but long enough for some of my best shots of Keel-billed Toucan, Aracari, and Oropendola…and my first shots ever of Yellow-naped Parrot. This Toucan was on one of feeders mounted directly on the rail of the deck. I was able to remove the edge of the feeder bowl at the bottom of the frame for a more natural look, but this is about as close as you are likely to get to a wild Toucan. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. Program mode. 1/500th @ ISO 800 @ f4. Processed in Polarr and TouchRetouch.

Snail Kite, Lake Yojoa, Honduras

On our first morning at Panacam Lodge in the Blue Mountains of Honduras, Alex had planned a hike, but as we got down to the lake it was looking more and more like rain. He decided to take me to a restaurant / recreational center on the lake shore where there were covered boat sheds, docks, etc. where we could, if necessary, shoot in the rain. It turned out to be good call…not because it rained…it never did actually…but because there were lots of birds there, and exceptional photo ops. There were at least 2 Snail Kites hunting the area, and I already posted a sequence of one of them taking and eating a snail. This one came and sat quite close to us after an unsuccessful attempt to grab a snail, and, besides a series of portrait shots, I got to see him “shake off” the water he had gotten in his feathers. Impressive bird. Sony RX10iv at 600mm. 1/500th @ f4 @ ISO 1000. Processed in Polarr.

Fulvous Owl, Opatoro Highlands, Honduras

The Opatoro Highlands, exceptional coffee country, is the highest forest accessible by road in Honduras. Of course, calling them roads is a stretch…especially after a season of heavy coffee truck traffic. They do carry you high. The day we visited, I had a bout of Traveler’s Disease, so I was not at my best. We hiked down off the road a quarter mile to see this Fulvous Owl (or Guatemalan Barred Owl) admittedly a life bird for me, and I was really not sure I was going to make it back up. I had to pass my photo vest and my gear to the willing (young and strong) Older Rodrigues to carry the last 100 years up the very steep hill, while I climbed 15 steps, and rested for 3 minutes, the rest of the way up. Still, the owl was worth it. It’s range is limited to the mountains of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, and though it is common there, and often responds to recorded calls, you have to climb high to see it. Alex Alvarado, our guide for the trip, got some excellent video through my scope of the owl calling, and I certainly enjoyed my encounter. And I survived the hill, and the day, and the Traveler’s Disease, so all is well. Later in the day, while looking for a Resplendent Quetzal nest right next to the road, another Fulvous Owl flew in and perched right over our heads…but that does not diminish the life bird sighting or my efforts on the hill. 🙂 Sony RX10iv at 600mm. 1/320th @ f4 @ ISO 6400. Processed in Polarr. (I found myself at ISO 6400 way too often in the dim light under the heavy canopy of Rain- and Cloud-forest in Honduras. The Sony’s one inch sensor does better than the small sensor in your average P&S, but still not as well as a full frame sensor might have. I am still happy with the compromise though…as I would not have gotten a full frame camera and lens down and back up that mountain.)

Scarlet Macaws, Copan Ruins, Honduras

While we are on the subject of the Scarlet Macaws at Copan Ruins in Honduras…once again, the living proof of a successful reintroduction program…here is your classic shot of two Macaws doing that kissy kissy thing that parrots do. If you look closely you will see that their beaks are actually intwined. In the hour or so we observed the Macaws around the feeders we got to see a variety of different behaviors. At the end of the hour they all got up as a group and flew away up the open aisle between the trees, to disperse back to forest feeding and nest tending. Sony RX10iv at 95mm. Program mode. 1/1000th @ f4 @ ISO 640. Processed in Polarr.