PeterHG's eighth BY

[Kitsafari]

19 hours ago, Zim Girl said:

Beautiful picture of the Tawny owl.

x2

[shazdwn]

Great slow shutterspeed kestrel shot

[PeterHG]

Thank you @Zim Girl @Kitsafari @shazdwn!

 

Another outing to the Arkemheen area. The sun was out, which made for a change from the past week.

 

24 /NL 24. Gadwall. Arkemheen, January. It blends in well with the background.

 

25 NL 25. European Golden Plover. Arkemheen, January. They are present in fairly large numbers, but they keep their distance mostly. It's only when the are disturbed by a passing raptor or helicopter, that they wiull fly by, allowing for some shots.

 

When processing the photo I noticed two Dunlins in the group. I might as well claim them now. 26 /NL 26. Dunlin

 

27 /NL 27. Ruff. Arkemheen, January. They will look much more attractive later on, of course.

 

28 NL 28. Eurasian Teal. Arkemheen, January. Small and fast flyers, they are not really easy to catch in flight.

 

29 / NL 29. Eurasian Wigeon. Arkemheen, January. Still present in large numbers.

 

30 /NL 30. Grey Heron. Arkemheen, January. In winter they are almost outnumbered by the Great White Egrets, but the balance is shifting

 

 

[PeterHG]

And a few raptors from the same trip:

 

31 / NL 31. Common Buzzard. Arkemheen, January

 

32 / NL 32. Eurasian Sparrowhawk. Arkemheen, January.

 

33 / NL 33. White-tailed Eagle. Arkemheen, January. This area is a pretty reliable spot to see the (still rare) eagle after and before the breeding season. Always far away, but with the converter attached to the lens and some nice light I was still able to come away with a shot of the hunting adult. It actually caught something, but landed out of view, so I did not find out what its prey was. The moment the eagle flies off from its perch to start hunting it causes a panic among the thousands of lapwings wigeons, plovers etc,which is always a good sign to start scanning the horizon for the raptor.

 

[Peter Connan]

Stunning shot Peter!

[TonyQ]

Beautiful photos Peter, taking full advantage of the light 

[pedro maia]

Great BIF shots Peter!

[Zim Girl]

Marvellous shot of the White tailed Eagle!

[michael-ibk]

Great shots Peter! Love the Tawny Owl - still haven´t seen one.

[PeterHG]

Thanks, @Peter Connan @TonyQ @pedro maia @Zim Girl @michael-ibk

 

Time to add some more. I've been away for three weeks on a trip to Suriname, a former colony of the Netherlands and still having strong ties with our country, due to the fact that many Surinamese moved over here during the last century. Nearly all the people we met over there had some relatives across the Atlantic and Dutch is still widely spoken. It has some 600.000 inabitants, mainly in the northern part of the country. A large percentage of Surinam is still covered in primary or secondary rainforest. At the same time we were there, @michael-ibkwas visiting the neighbouring country of Guyana. (I hope you had a great time, Michael. You certainly picked up a lot more species than we did!)

We had booked a few places to stay, planning to do some day trips to birding spots in the vicinity. We tried to do some guided birding, but Suriname only has 2 birding guides and it was impossible to book either of them. That meant trying to locate and ID birds ourselves in the dense jungle and that proved very difficult. On top of that we had rain almost every day and not the short tropical showers, but on quite a few occasions it would rain all day. The local people told us that they had never see so much rain and that certainly affected the birding, too. Temperatures, however, were great: between 25 and 30 degrees every day. 

 

We first stayed in Domburg, a little village some 40 kms south of the capital, Paramaribo. In de dry spells we wandered about in the gartden and some muddy footpaths behind the property. There were always quite a few birds to be found there,

The signature bird of Suriname (and perhaps of other South American countries, too) must be the Kiskadee, a fairly large flycatcher species. We saw them every day and in virtually all habitats.

 

34 / SU 01. Great Kiskadee. Domburg, February

 

There are a few lookalikes that could also be found there.

35 / SU 02. Lesser Kiskadee, Domburg, February. Slightly smaller with a narrower bill and a different sound

 

36 /SU 03. Rusty-margined Flycatcher. Domburg, February. Smaller than the previous two, with a shorter bill/

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

Looking forward to your Surinam birds Peter. Very helpful to see a comparison sequence of the three lookalikes, always battled a bit with Lesser Kiskadee especially. 

[TonyQ]

Beautiful photos to start us off. I know nothing of Suriname so this will be an education!

[PeterHG]

Thank, @michael-ibk @TonyQ!

17 hours ago, michael-ibk said:

always battled a bit with Lesser Kiskadee especially. 

I did, too. I must have seen more then the one or two I ID-ed. Perhaps ypou could help me out with another lookalike. I had this one down as a Boat-billed Flycatcher, due to the size of the bill, but when I put it through Merlin, it gives Greater Kiskadee as a first and Boat billed as a second. Probably because of the rusty-coloured primaries. I am still hesitant though. The bill does look too heavy for a Kiskadee, in my view. And Merlin can be a great help, but is certainly not always right. I would appreciate your )or anyone else's take on this bird.

 

37 / SU 04. Boat-billed Flycatcher, Zanderij, February ( see comments below)

Edited March 10, 2023 by PeterHG

[michael-ibk]

Boat-Billed for me with that hefty bill, although I do understand your hesitation because of the wing colour. Sorry, not much help here. 

[Galana]

I go with Boat-billed too. Bill size and Culmen shape plus BB does have rusty primaries and rusty edges to wing coverts giving that scallop effect your bird has.

[PeterHG]

Thank you both for your input @Galanaand @michael-ibk, much appreciated! They confirm my own thoughts, so I’ll put it down as Boat-billed.

[PeterHG]

A few more from in and around the garden of our first accommodation:

 

37 / SU 05. Common Tody Flycatcher. Domburg, February.  The Tody-Flycatchers are tiny, with rather oversized heads. There were two different species present.

 

38 / SU 06. Spotted Tody Flycatcher. Domburg, February. Our absolute favourite in the garden. On rainy days (and there were plenty of those) it would come to cheer us up and it was not shy at all. A lifer, too.

 

And another lifer we saw quite regulary along the creek behind the property.

39 / SU 7. Black-capped Donacobius. Domburg, February

 

Not only birds in the garden. We saw the charming Squirrel Monkeys a few times there, too.

 

In the puddles on the dirt tracks we would sometimes find a wader.

40 / SU 08. Solitary Sandpiper. Domburg, February,

 

[TonyQ]

Beautiful photos Peter 

[PeterHG]

Thank you, @TonyQ!

 

41 / SU 09. Blue-black Grassquit. Domburg, February. Common and seen almost daily. They are small, often moving about in the grass and usually look completely black. Bu the blue is definitely there.

 

42 / SU 10. Silver-beaked Tanager. Domburg, February. A lifer and a beautiful one at that. Also quite common.

 

 

43 / SU 11. Pied Water Tyrant. Domburg, February. Seen almost daily. Often at the water's edge, where it was hard to miss with its black and white outfit.

 

The last three were quite approachable. but that didn't go for this one. Only seen twice and both times flying away from us at a distance. This time it fortunately landed in a tree. Far away, but good enough to take a shot and confirm the ID.

44 / SU 12.  Ringed Kingfisher. Domburg, February.

 

 

 

Edited March 14, 2023 by PeterHG

[BRACQUENE]

Stellar pictures Peter ; I am impressed not in the least by the Ringed Kingfisher !!

[Peter Connan]

Really beautiful pictures Peter!

[Galana]

Well done. Some lovely portraits there.

Great Tanager.

[PeterHG]

Thamk you @BRACQUENE @Peter Connan @Galana

 

45 / SU 13. Blood-coloured Woodpecker. Domburg, February. Not 'red-backed', but 'blood-coloured'. That definitely added to the thrill ofseeing a lifer.

 

46 / SU 14. Yellow-crowned Tyrannulet. Domburg, February.

 

47 /SU 15. Spotted Sandpiper. Domburg, February. No spots to be seen now. We saw them frequently, mostly just one or two.

 

48 /SU 16. Barred Seedeater. Domburg, February. Very common in most regions we visited.

 

49 /SU 17. Grey-lined Hawk. Domburg, Suriname. Seen only once. Another lifer.

 

50 /SU 18. Swallow-tailed Kite. Domburg, February. We only saw one, but at least it showed very well.

 

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

Beautiful, especially the Swallow-Tailed. They are such graceful raptors. Agree about the Woodpecker, the name makes it so much cooler.

[PeterHG]

51 / SU 19. Palm Tanager. Domburg, February. Common in all regions.

 

52 / SU 20. Striated Heron. Domburg, February. 

 

53 / SU 21. Buff-throated Saltator. Domburg, February. Only seen once, in the garden of our accommodation

 

54 / SU 22. Red-shouldered Macaw. Cola Creek, February. A recreation area, about 40 minutes' drive away. It can be quite busy in the weekends, but it was extremely quiet on the weekday we went there. Another grey and rainy day, but we did manage to see a few nice ones.

 

55 / SU 23. Plumbeous Kite. Cola Creek, February

 

56 / SU 24. Channel-billed Toucan. Cola Creek, February. As it was a lifer we were quite excited when we spotted one high up in the trees, but it got even better, when we followed it to a nesting spot close by. Keeping our distance, of course, we watched the Toucan approac the nest, get in to feed partner or chicks and fly out again a minute later.