Yellow-faced Grassquit

Also feeding in the lawn at the Hotel de Montana Monteverde were a couple of Yellow-faced Grassquits. The little finch is common in fields and roadsides in lowlands from Eastern Mexico south through Cental America to northwestern South America. It casually occurs in Florida and has been recorded in south Texas. Yellow-faced Grassquits are introduced in Hawaii.

DNA research suggests that the Yellow-faced Grassquit, although definitely a finch, is not closely related to other species in the genus Tiaris, where it currently resides (Torok and Burns 2011). One assumes some reclassification is in order for this species.

Clay-colored Thrush

We saw Clay-colored Thrushes in many of the locations we visited in Costa Rica. I have shared with you a photo of one from our hotel on our first evening in San Jose. Both its ubiquity and its pretty song contribute to its being Costa Rica’s national bird. They are often found around people—cleared woodlands, clearings, open areas, lawns, cities, and, occasionally into more heavily wooded areas. They range from southern-most Texas to Venezuela and Colombia. This image was taken on 6 July at the Hotel Montana Monteverde.

Yellow-throated Euphonia

What are euphonias? Ornithologists used to classify them with tanagers. Now DNA studies indicate that they are finches. These Yellow-throated Euphonias were acting just like finches, as they fed on the lawn of the Hotel de Montana Monteverde. A male is in the first photo, a female in the second. The species ranges from eastern Mexico to western Panama. Yellow-throated Euphonias usually eat fruit, especially mistletoe berries. I am not sure what they were eating in the hotel lawn—insects or weed seeds? Either is possible.

Rufous-collared Sparrow

Next I have a series of bird photographs from the grounds of the Hotel de Montaña Monteverde. Most were taken on 6 July, but others on the afternoon of 5 July, or the morning of the 7th. Rufous-collared Sparrows greeted us at the hotel. These birds are in the same genus as our White-throated Sparrows.

Rufous-collared Sparrows are abundant from southern Mexico to Tierra del Fuego. They are also found from sea level to the tops of Andean peaks. Across their range, they flush along roadsides, parks, human habitations, and other cleared areas. With such a huge range, it is not surprising that at least 25 subspecies are recognized by ornithologists. The Handbook of Birds of the World speculates that some of these races will be declared full species. The race found in Monteverde is found from Costa Rica to Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador.

Black-tailed Darner

Black-tailed Darners are found along sunny ponds from Mexico to Panama. This individual is probably a female due to her yellow side stripes. Our companions had netted this dragonfly at the pond at the base of the hillside at the Hotel de Montaña Monteverde on 6 July. She remained perched after she was released. Before Erika and I returned to our forest trail, I was able to capture this image.

Thorn-tipped Dancer

This dancer used to be named Argia exranea, found from Arizona to Panama. But entomologists realized that this damselfly was actually two species—a northern and a southern one, with no overlap in range. The southern one, Argia elongata was only described in 2017! The Northern species is now called a Spine-tipped Darner. the southern one, the Thorn-tipped Darner. Argia elongata are found in Costa Rica. I took this image from the pool below the Hotel de Montaña Monteverde.

Long-tailed Manakin

We returned to the Hotel Montana Monteverde in the mid-afternoon of 6 July. We stopped first for a protracted lunch at the Hummingbird Cafe we visited the day before. At the hotel, most of our group hiked down to a small pond at the base of a hill. Erika and I were intrigued by the hotel’s 15-hectare forest trail, which also ended at the pond. Two of our companions walked with us, but, about half way down the trail we went separate ways.

We saw very little during our hike. On the way back up the trail Erika exclaimed, “look at that small, green bird with the long tail!” I never saw it, but figured that a female Long-tailed Manakin was a possibility. I played the manakin’s song on my cell phone, not knowing that male Long-tailed Manakins do not respond to each other’s calls. But a small, black and azure manakin flew across the trail and landed on a bare perch within the forest. I was able to get one, not so good photograph before the bird flew again. But, as you can see below, this was quite a striking bird.

Male manakins form dancing courts called leks. Any male is welcomed to the lek, at least until a female shows up. Then lower-ranking males are chased away. Long-tailed Manakin leks are strange. Two unrelated males hold court. The two males remain together, even outside the breeding season. These pairs may last several years. Younger males move from lek to lek, often dancing with other males. Females watch and listen to the males, but visit relatively few leks. Only a few males mate successfully in any given year. Usually only the dominant male mates, but females may mate with his partner if the alpha male is absent—even if she has already mated with the dominant bird (Neotropical Birds).

Blue-throated Toucanet

The taxonomy of small, emerald toucanets is a mess. I was aware that ornithologists split Mexican and South American subspecies into two species, Northern and Southern Emerald-Toucanets. In fact, nobody seems to know what to do with the dozen or so populations from Mexico to Bolivia. Their ranges almost never overlap, so it is hard to tell if they might interbreed. Consequently, ornithologists recognize anywhere from one to eight species. The “splitters” call the toucanets of Costa Rica, the Blue-throated Toucanet.

High in the treetops a Blue-throated Toucanet watched while we headed back towards Monteverde after our 6 July jungle stroll. Northern Emerald-Toucanets range from eastern Mexico through Central America. They prey upon small vertebrates and eat fruit. They nest in tree cavities. We saw other birds during our morning adventure, but none that we did not subsequently see better. I will cover those in later posts.

Mountain Flatwing

A few inches away from the Costa Rican Flatwing of my last post, we found a Mountain Flatwing under the same riverbank. These two damselflies are in the same family, but different genera. Thus they are not so closely related. Mountain Flatwings are found in Costa Rica and Panama south to Peru. They inhabit the edges of cloud forest streams, and thrive with high humidity, shade, and cold water (Nadkarni and Wheelwright).

Costa Rican Flatwing

On 6 July, as we hiked along a dirt road near Monteverde, Costa Rica, we turned around where a creek rushed over the road. Under the overhanging logs and vegetation of the riverbank, we found two species of flatwings. This habitat is typical of flatwings, although occasionally females wander in the forest away from water. These are a family of damselflies that are larger than spreadwings and hold their wings flatter. Usually the forewings are at a different angle than the hind ones.

These photos are of Costa Rican Flatwings. The first photo was taken on 6 July, near Monteverde. The  second was taken a week later, on 16 July,  at Braulio Carrillo National Park. Costa Rican Flatwings are known only from Nicaragua and Costa Rica.