The Barred Antshrike is a retiring bird of thickets, forest edge, and other tangled vegetation.
The distinctive song is heard regularly and pairs are usually within earshot of each other, but antshrikes generally remain hidden so I was really excited with these images.
The sexes look very different, but both have a spiky crest that is often raised. Male is barred black-and-white in ‘convict stripes,’ whereas female looks a lot like a wren with a stout bill that has a slightly hooked tip. Cornell All About Birds
The Wedge-billed Woodcreeper is a very small woodcreeper of evergreen forest in humid tropical lowlands and foothills.
Creeps up trunks, often in spirals, picking at the bark for food, then flies low to another tree before hitching upwards again. Forages on fairly large trunks as well as slender trees. Often travels with mixed-species feeding flocks. Note the short, wedge-shaped bill and pale buffy breast spotting. Cornell All About Birds
The Scaled Antpitta is a plump ball on sticks. Uncommon and elusive on forest floor in humid evergreen forest of tropical lowlands and foothills. Moves quickly and stealthily on long legs. May be seen feeding or hopping along quiet trails.
Okay, so one of the shots I really messed up on. We had waited hours in the rain patiently watching a dark forested path in the mountains at Hotel Quelitales on word that a Scaled Antpitta would eventually spend a few short seconds on the trail just after dusk. Sure enough it showed up, in the rain and in near darkness. Shooting at 256000 ISO and f5.6 at plus 2EV got me 1/4 of a second and a very shaky image of a Scaled Antpitta. A "record" shot to say the least.
The White-throated Shrike-Tanager is a large, long-tailed tanager with heavy hooked bill.
The striking plumage is reminiscent of an oriole with yellow body with black head, black wings, white throat, and white shoulder patch. They are found in forests, usually at moderate heights, often in pairs leading a mixed-species flock. Cornell All About Birds
The Volcano Hummingbird is a small hummingbird that feeds on small flowers in gardens, second growth, and forest edges, mostly above 2000m.
The male throat varies from steely grayish-purple to bright magenta. They have a short straight bill and rufous in tail.
The White-necked Jacobin is a rather large, spectacular hummingbird of humid tropical lowlands that favors forest edges, adjacent clearings with scattered trees and flowering bushes, and gardens.
The male has deep blue hood, green upperparts with white collar, white underparts, and mostly white tail. Some females, as above, look similar to males while others look very different, with dark spotting below and a mostly green tail with white tips.
The Volcano Junco, seen here gathering nesting material, has a staring yellow eye set against black face. Otherwise, gray with browner flanks, brown back with black streaks and a pale pink bill.
They are found in open habitats at high elevations, usually above 3000m but locally down to 2500m. Often on the ground or in small shrubs, usually in pairs or small groups. Very limited range only in Costa Rica and extreme western Panama. Cornell All About Birds
The Talamanca Hummingbird is a very large for a hummingbird and size alone separates it from many other species.
Males are green overall and the head appears black until it hits the light and reveals an iridescent purple crown and turquoise throat like seen on this male image above.
Females, as seen in the above image, are duller with fuzzy mottled appearance on grayish underparts and some greenish on sides. Note the large white spot behind the eye that trails into a messy eyeline. The females have a longer and slightly more decurved bill than males.
They use to be called Magnificent Hummingbird, but recently split into Rivoli’s Hummingbird (from southwest U.S. to Nicaragua) and Talamanca Hummingbird (found in mossy cloud forest in Costa Rica and Panama). Cornell All About Birds
The Spotted Woodcreeper is a medium to large woodcreeper of humid evergreen and pine-evergreen forest in highlands and foothills that feeds on trunks and larger branches, often at bromeliads.
The bill is straightish and rather stout. Note the pale buff spectacles and distinct pale spotting and scalloping on head, breast, and back. Although I love finding and observing Woodcreepers they are always in dark forests and usually climbing higher rapidly.
The Crimson-fronted Parakeet is a mostly green with long, pointed tail and red forehead.
Almost always in small flocks, which feed inconspicuously on fruit in gardens, forest edges, and second growth.
The Crested Guan is a very large, long-tailed game bird of tropical and subtropical forest. They are often seen high in trees or flying through the forest canopy.
Their plumage is dark overall (often looks blackish) with a bright red throat wattle. The white streaking on body is visible at closer range. Crest is bushy and usually not a striking feature.
The Collared Trogon is a relatively small, red-bellied trogon of humid forest in tropical lowlands and foothills.
They perch at all levels inside forest, less often at edges. The male’s tail is dark below with narrow white barring while the female’s tail is pale grayish below with narrow black-and-white bars at the tips.
The Gray-headed Chachalaca is a large chickenlike bird with long neck and tail and is overall brown with a grayer head.
Usually seen in small flocks crashing clumsily through the trees, typically at middle levels along forest edge or in second growth. Cornell All About Birds
The Rufous-collared Sparrow is a handsomely patterned sparrow from the highlands of Chiapas south to temperate South America. They occur in open and semiopen habitats such as villages, towns, and farmland with hedges and brushy thickets.
They have a bold black-and-gray head pattern, bright rusty collar, black chest patch and a peaked crown, most of which you can see here. Cornell All About Birds
The Great Curassow is a very large game bird of tropical forest, eliminated from most areas by hunting. Rarely found except in protected parks or very remote areas.
Usually seen on the forest floor, like in this image, either singly or in small groups, but also feeds in trees. Males often sing from high in canopy and their song is a very low-pitched, almost subliminal, booming sound.
Both sexes have distinctive curly crest. Female plumage is variable: some have bold barring, others have darker and mostly unbarred plumage. Cornell All About Birds
The Buff-rumped Warbler is a small ground-dwelling warbler frequently found around water, especially forested streams. Also often seen hopping along trails and sometimes around army ant swarms.
They are brown above and paler buffy-gray below with pale eyebrow and frequently flicks their tail back and forth so buffy rump and base of tail are very conspicuous.
