Recent Photos Gallery - May 2019

Once known as Yellow-headed Picathartes, the otherworldly White-necked Rockfowl is the uncontested grail bird of West Africa, secretive but hardly shy, a bird that moves by remarkable leaps and bounds through gallery forests and caves. This image, by participant Craig Caldwell on the Ghana: Window into West African Birding tour, provides an avian ambassadorial welcome to our Recent Photo Gallery for May 2019. Thanks for tuning in. We hope you enjoy the (virtual) tour!

These young male African Bush Elephants, by turns engaged in roughhousing and bathing at Mole National Park, took no notice of their admirers on the far bank. Thanks to participant Mary Scala on our Ghana tour for this nifty photo.

African Bush Elephant (Loxodonta africana), here the same two males from our Ghana tour, is the largest terrestrial animal that currently inhabits earth. The scarcer, smaller African Forest Elephant (L. cyclotis) was elevated to full-species status only in 2010, after extensive biochemical research. Photograph by participant Gregg Recer.

Egyptian Plover, often a "most wanted" on our African tours, is the only member of the genus Pluvianus and now also the only member of the monotypic family Pluvianidae (formerly, it was placed in Glareolidae, with coursers and pratincoles). Once called "crocodile bird," it was believed to pick scraps of food from the teeth of dozing Nile Crocodiles! Thanks to Gregg Recer for this shot.

Also by Gregg Recer on our Ghana tour, this pair of Senegal Thick-knees put on a fine show. This species forages extensively at night, aided by large eyes, and is an intra-African migrant that probably moves mostly in response to cycles of drought and deluge in western Africa.

Often found in Borassus palms (though not here!), Red-necked Falcon is a widespread sub-Saharan species that hunts birds and bats in low chases, often at dusk. An allopatric subspecies is found in India and is sometimes considered a full species, Rufous-necked Falcon. Photo by participant Gregg Recer.

Another fine day of birding on the savanna of Ghana! If we had to guess here.... Phil and local guide(s) perhaps serving as beaters for a buttonquail search? Participant Mary Scala shared this window into the tour.

White Helmetshrike makes an irresistible subject for photographers. Found in savanna habitats across West and Central Africa, it is a bold but restless bird, so this portrait of a nicely perched adult by Gregg Recer is an accomplishment!

Finfoots are tricky birds! All three members of the family Heliornithidae, including this African Finfoot, move around in search of optimal (often ephemeral) wetland habitat, such as this mangrove swamp in Ghana. When a finfoot appears, participants often gasp (as guides breathe an audible sigh of relief). Gregg Recer snapped this image.

Also from the Ghana adventure, participant Craig Caldwell sent in this super image of a shy Shining-blue Kingfisher, an unobtrusive aquatic kingfisher that resembles juvenile Malachite Kingfisher but for its blue face and malars.

Africa's largest rail is also its most bizarre. On the Ghana tour, Gregg Recer photographed this Nkulengu Rail our group saw on its night roost, from which it was delivering its raucous, honking song. Its name, Nkunlengu, is derived from the song, an instance of West African onomatopoeia. Fantastic!

White-crested Bittern, formerly White-crested Tiger-Heron, is a secretive, seldom-seen species of mangrove swamps and forested streams in West Africa. It is usually nocturnal, but this one obliged by putting in a daytime cameo for the Ghana tour, photographed by Craig Caldwell. (In case this isn't enviable enough, this bird was later photo-bombed by the finfoot!)

From Africa now to Central America, where participant Jay Pruett caught these Scarlet Macaws in flight on our most recent Costa Rica tour. This unbelievably attractive (and deafeningly loud) species is always popular on tours from Guatemala to Bolivia and Brazil. The long, all-scarlet tail and extensively white face distinguish Scarlet from Red-and-green Macaw.

Jay Pruett likewise photographed this Crested Guan in a pensive moment on the recent Costa Rica tour. Where not hunted, this species is remarkably approachable.

A retiring woodpecker of humid lowlands and foothills, Chestnut-colored Woodpecker is usually seen in pairs or as part of a mixed-species flock in Central America. Our group enjoyed seeing this one on the Costa Rica tour. Photograph by Jay Pruett.

Widespread in the American tropics from Mexico to Brazil, Collared Araçari is a brazen small toucan that often enters gardens or plantations in search of fruit and seeds. Flocks follow each other in comical single file through the canopy, giving loud, metallic pink! calls. Photograph by participant Jay Pruett.

Often heard in Costa Rica, but rarely seen, Great Tinamou is the largest of the family Tinamidae, about 47 species of which are found in Middle and South America. Although they can fly, they prefer to walk along the forest floor in search of seeds, fruit, insects, spiders, frogs, and lizards. Male Great Tinamous incubate the eggs and raise the chicks without assistance from females. Jay Pruett managed this nice image on our Costa Rica tour.

Participant Mary Elfman photographed this spectacular Red-headed Barbet, also on our Costa Rica tour. Though usually found in mixed-species flocks, bounding along branches in search of prey in dead leaves, these barbets can be tempted by feeding stations at several lodges!

Trogons in their elegance seem made for photography, and their tendency to sit quietly as they scan for prey helps photographers (and birders!) in their work. This female Collared Trogon posed for Jay Pruett on the Costa Rica tour.

Cobweb Morpho (Morpho deidamia) is a fairly common but lovely butterfly we often see in forest gaps in Costa Rica. Jay Pruett snapped this image on our recent tour there.

Even when soggy, owls intrigue us. Spectacled Owl's reverberating voice (hence its genus name, Pulsatrix) is often heard at night in tropical forests, but birds on day roosts are difficult to find. Photograph by Costa Rica participant Jay Pruett.

If Talamanca Hummingbird sounds unfamiliar, that's probably because you know it as Magnificent Hummingbird -- which was recently split into two species: Rivoli's Hummingbird (found from Arizona to Nicaragua) and Talamanca Hummingbird, found only in Costa Rica and a bit of western Panama. Photograph by participant Jay Pruett.

A lovely view of Two Foot Bay, Barbuda, by our intrepid Lesser Antilles guide Jesse Fagan. One would hardly guess that in September 2017, Hurricane Irma -- the strongest storm on record to exist in the open Atlantic -- struck this island as a Category 5 storm, demolishing virtually every structure and forcing the evacuation of all residents to Antigua.

Remarkably, and thankfully, the endemic Barbuda Warbler (Setophaga subita) survived the effects of Hurricane Irma, and we had great looks at this lovely bird on this year's tour. Photograph by guide Jesse Fagan.

A shocking discovery on the Lesser Antilles tour was this Eurasian Spoonbill at the Congo Swamp Road shooting ponds, Barbados, one of perhaps four New World records! Photograph by guide Jesse Fagan.

Jesse Fagan took this super image of a Forest Thrush at Les Chuts de Carbet (Carbet Falls) on Guadeloupe. This scarce species also inhabits forest on Montserrat and Dominica.

Likewise at Les Chutes de Carbet, the intrepid Lesser Antilles participants got up close and personal with the seldom-seen Bridled Quail-Dove, found on many but not all islands from Puerto Rico to St. Lucia. Photograph by guide Jesse Fagan.

Island-hopping Jesse Fagan also guides our spring tour in the Bahamas, where the group very much enjoyed this Cuban Parrot of the local subspecies at Palm Shores, Abaco Island. Photograph by Jesse Fagan.

Resembling a yellow-bellied Yellow-throated Warbler with an absurdly long bill, Bahama Warbler was only recently recognized as a full species. This bird, photographed by guide Jesse Fagan, was a nice find at Marsh Harbour, Abaco Island, on the Bahamas tour.

Wintering in the Bahamas, Kirtland's Warblers can be quite shy, staying within dense coppice habitat away from roads and trails. This young bird cooperated nicely for this year's Bahamas tour participants at Governor's Harbour, Eleuthera. Photograph by guide Jesse Fagan.

Endemic to the Bahamas (but with one record from Pennsylvania!), Bahama Woodstar is seldom so nicely photographed as this adult male at the Levy Nature Preserve on Eleuthera Island. Photograph by guide Jesse Fagan.

From the Bahamas to the continent's center. Early spring is the season for the ever-popular Colorado Grouse tour, an epic criss-crossing of that state (and several others) that attempts to see five species of prairie-chickens and sage-grouse performing their communal courtship displays. Here, guide Cory Gregory's portrait of Colorado National Monument.

Not far away from the Monument, at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park, participant Scott Harvell photographed the last of the winter snow and last of the wintering Clark's Nutcrackers, before this bird moved up to higher elevations for nesting.

Scott Harvell's image of an American White Pelican coming in for a landing at Neenoshe Reservoir in eastern Colorado captures perfectly the feeling of early spring on the plains, where we begin the tour.

At a private ranch in western Kansas, we watched a remarkable aggregation of Lesser Prairie-Chickens on the lek from a comfortable blind (or in one case, from inside an old bus!). Photograph by guide Cory Gregory.

Guide Cory Gregory took this image of a displaying Lesser Prairie-Chicken beginning his dawn dance. Smaller and more delicate than Greater Prairie-Chicken, Lesser is also paler, with narrower, paler barring below. Its esophageal air sacs are a rich rose-pink.

After Kansas, we moved back into Colorado, where near Wray, on the private Bledsoe ranch, we thrilled to the spectacle of lekking Greater Prairie-Chickens. Here, males vied for the attention of passing females in boisterous displays and epic battles. Thanks to Scott Harvell for this "killer" image.

Participant Shelley Rutkin captured the detail in this Greater Prairie-Chicken's eye-combs, pinnae (erectable feathers at the neck that look like rabbit ears), and vivid orange esophageal air sacs, which are used to amplify the bird's booming call.

Guide Cory Gregory's close-up of this male Greater Prairie-Chicken shows that the base of their pale orange air sacs in Greater is a fuchsia color.

On the first of the two grouse tours, part of the group spotted several hybrid male prairie-chickens at a lek attended by both Greater and Lesser. In these cases, the hybrids looked like small Greaters but with narrower and paler bars on the belly than Greater. Importantly, their vocalizations and display were also intermediate between the two species. Photograph by guide Ned Brinkley.

North Park, a wide valley in Jackson County rimmed by mountain ranges at the headwaters of the North Platte River and several smaller tributaries, is the best area in Colorado to see Moose. Based in cozy Walden, our groups were lucky in finding a few of these immense boreal deer. Photograph by guide Ned Brinkley.

Cory Gregory snapped this image of the beautiful San Juan Mountains, not far from where we enjoyed displaying Gunnison Sage-Grouse.

A widespread prairie-chicken at home in many habitats, Sharp-tailed Grouse performs its displays on mobile leks -- unlike Greater and Lesser, which use fixed traditional leks. Finding a group of male Sharp-taileds dancing involves a little luck in Colorado, but we found a few not far from Steamboat Springs this year, including this male considering his options, smartly photographed by Scott Harvell.

Scott Harvell also sent this image of the Black Canyon at sunrise, a beautiful and under-visited part of the Gunnison National Park, not far from Montrose.

At Black Canyon, both tours experienced several fearless displaying Dusky Grouse, the interior representative of the (former) Blue Grouse. The second tour also found a surprise Dusky Grouse up at Loveland Pass! Photograph by guide Cory Gregory.

Guide Doug Gochfeld took this early-morning image of a male Dusky Grouse contemplating commencing his deep-hooting display.

North America's only extant antelope, Pronghorn is usually seen well in Colorado or Utah on the grouse tour, though not always as close as this male photographed by guide Doug Gochfeld.