Feast for a manakin

Back to content from the winter trip to Ecaudor.

After descending from a pretty amazing morning on the canopy tower our guide led us to a blind where Wire-tailed Manakin would (usually) come into some flower fruits.  We probably waited 20 minutes or so, but the bird did not disappoint, practically glowing in really really low light on the forest floor.

I've been fortunate enough to see several species of manakins, ranging from red to orange to yellow to green and blue, but this bird might have been the most striking of any of them.

Hawk errrr Finch watches

 With a decent amount of East to the wind I spent about 90 minutes on the dune today hoping for some hawks.  A number of people have had Rough-legged Hawks in the county this fall and roughies were the main hawk that was moving.

Dark morph buteos are always fun.

I have had crossbills atop the dune in November in the past and there were finches moving today.  They were mostly goldfinches, though I did have a small group of redpolls.  Evening grosbeaks were moving around (as were some robin and starling flocks).  The first finch I managed a pic of however was a singleton bird that moved through at medium distance, far enough away that hand focus was required.

It's a Red Crossbill, my first self-found in the county, and 260 for the year.

Eventually enough grosbeaks went by that I managed a few pics of them too.

Finally a sharpie that whipped past.

Shrikes are black and white (Chen geese too)

 Other birds are too, but first this bird from yesterday.  Northern Shrike is a bird I've found by surprise maybe only two other times in the LP.  The silhouette was a fun adrenaline rush when it popped up (just imagine if it's been April or May).  It moved around a lot and must have been attacking the local birds since the robins and chickadees were making a lot of alarm noises.  For a bird I would imagine that they'd never seen before they must have learned fast.

Haven't made a montage effort in a while...

Today's bird of the day was a Chen goose.  It was certainly mostly Snow, but when it landed had a bit of blue wartiness to the base of the bill.

The gulls chasing it are Herrings, so based on size it's at least mostly a Snow.

I have to admit I was kinda wondering how dramatic the pics would be if one of the local eagles had wandered by a little sooner than this one did, but the gulls flushed it first...

Redpoll in the green

 I can safely say I've never watched a redpoll with a green background before.  This one was incredibly tame, and not even seen until it was practically underfoot!  I think it must have assumed I was a caribou.

What finch will arrive next???