I forgot to put John Avise‘s regular Sunday batch of bird photos up yesterday, as I’m again afflicted with severe insomnia that’s fogging my brain. However, they’re only a day late. John’s notes and IDs are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.
Dominican Republic Birds, Part 1
In 2006, our annual meeting of the Pew Fellows in Marine Conservation was held in the eastern Dominican Republic. Each such Pew Fellows meeting consists of a series of talks, topical workshops, and breakout sessions dealing with conservation biology in the marine realm. This is the first in a two-part series on birds that I photographed during short breaks from our scientific business at this beautiful Hispaniolan site.
Hispaniolan Mango (Anthracothorax dominicus), male:
Hispaniolan Mango female:
Antillean Palm Swift (Tachornis phoenicobia):
Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola):
Black-cowled Oriole (Icterus prosthemelas):
Black-crowned Palm-Tanager (Phaenicophilus palmarum):
Cape May Warbler (Setophaga tigrina) in non-breeding plumage:
Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis):
Common Ground Dove (Columbina passerina):
Eurasian Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto):
Gray Kingbird (Tyrannus dominicensis):
Great Egret (Ardea alba):
Greater Antillean Grackle (Quiscalus niger):
Hispaniolan Lizard-cuckoo (Saurothera longirostris) holding a lizard (probably Anolis sp.):
Ah – I knew something was out of place, now I know.
… “Lizard cuckoo” is the perfect name for that bird! Wow!
Hooray—I always enjoy the Sunday birds, and I’m happy to see them on any day of the week.
Comment by Greg Mayer
I haven’t been to the West Indies for several years, so these were particularly welcome– thanks, John!
GCM
PS: Definitely an Anolis, but I can’t tell the species.
The Great Egret facing the branch was extremely compelling. As you’ve been doing bird portraits since forever, don’t you ever feel the urge to post what you guess they might have been thinking at the time?
Judging from my long-term relationship with my sweet parakeet, i’d guess that most birds spend a disproportionate time thinking about their favorite foods!
+1 😄👍
All beautiful. I love the creamy white Eurasian Collared Dove!
I love that bird, too. I get them in my yard a lot in the spring.
Pretty cool you caught the lizard cuckoo with a lizard in its beak. Poor little guy, though
Nice picture of the bananaquit – they were the species I saw the most of on St. Maarten. Colourful and cheery.
What a great set! That Cape May Warbler set amongst the leaves is just gorgeous.
Amazing bird diversity for such a small(ish) island. And since this is part 1, you obviously have more. Poor anole. 🙁 But a bird’s gotta eat!
What beautiful, and beautifully captured, birds. The oriole and tanager are stunning, as well as the cuckoo. Thanks for the photos, very much better late than never!