ID please, Costa Rica (1 Viewer)

[Fwin71]

Pura vida!

My girlfriend and I just come back from a 10 day round-trip to Costa Rica.
Amazing birds there, many endemics, same rare finds like king vulture.
We still have a few pics for which we are not sure about ID.
Any help would be great!

1st one, taken in Monteverde, close to Hotel El Bosque: no idea!
2nd one, taken in Corcovado forest (South Pacific lowlands) : dot-winged antwren?
3rd one, taken in Sarapiqui (Caribbean lowlands): alder or willow flycatcher?

Thanks a lot
Marta and Arnaud

 

[Fwin71]

2nd pic is actually third on the uploaded pictures...

 

[pbjosh]

Gray-crowned Yellowthroat, Empid sp, and Dot-winged Antwren for me. That is a pretty borderline photo of an empid to try to get an ID from, no offense

 

[Fwin71]

Thanks a lot! Im convinced for the yellowthroat and antwren.
Indeed ... putting a pic from the back for Empid ID is quite challenging but never know
Any other opinions?

 

[Andy Adcock]

Gray-crowned Yellowthroat, Empid sp, and Dot-winged Antwren for me. That is a pretty borderline photo of an empid to try to get an ID from, no offense

Why Grey and not Olive-crowned, location?



A

 

[pbjosh]

The peaked crown/flatter forehead and heavy horn colored bill fairly readily distinguish Gray-crowned from all other Yellowthroats, and to my eye that bird is readily identifiable. Or do you think I'm missing something? In my experience / opinion Gray-crowned YT is a pretty distinctive bird, not just within the Yellowthroats, but within Warblers in general.

 

[Fwin71]

Altitude was ~1400m and I read in my field guide that olive-crowned warblers dont get that high (and into the Monteverde area in general). Anyway, the jeez of the bird indeed seem to clearly point to gray-crowned...

 

[Andy Adcock]

The peaked crown/flatter forehead and heavy horn colored bill fairly readily distinguish Gray-crowned from all other Yellowthroats, and to my eye that bird is readily identifiable. Or do you think I'm missing something? In my experience / opinion Gray-crowned YT is a pretty distinctive bird, not just within the Yellowthroats, but within Warblers in general.

You can't see the bill or the forehead?

I'm not arguing the ID, I just would like to know how it can be ID'd from this angle?


A

 

[Andy Adcock]

Altitude was ~1400m and I read in my field guide that olive-crowned warblers dont get that high (and into the Monteverde area in general). Anyway, the jeez of the bird indeed seem to clearly point to gray-crowned...

That's why I asked if the ID was based on range or altitude.




A

 

[pbjosh]

Andy the first picture is a composite of what I assume is the same bird. A zoomed view of the bird from behind and in the rest of the image the bird is perched atop foliage in the upper right. It's that view that is pretty obviously Gray-crowned Yellowthroat, at least to my eyes

 

[Andy Adcock]

Andy the first picture is a composite of what I assume is the same bird. A zoomed view of the bird from behind and in the rest of the image the bird is perched atop foliage in the upper right. It's that view that is pretty obviously Gray-crowned Yellowthroat, at least to my eyes

Oh damn!

I only saw thye central pic......off to the optician:t:


A

 

[Fwin71]

one more ID

Thanks for the answers!

Yes indeed we zoomed in on the warbler and added another picture of it in the bubble.

If you are up for it, I added two more pictures for ID...

One is a swift we found in La Selva Biological station (Caribbean lowland forest): chimney, Vaux's or gray-rumped?

Another one we just found in our batch of pics. Only my girlfriend remembers about this bird. Maybe someone has a clue about the species?

Thanks again

 

[Andy Adcock]

Small bird looks like a Euphonia


A

 

[Fwin71]

Maybe yellow-throated euphonia then. It has white belly and it was in Monteverde, where we saw a male with young the next day.
What about the swift?

 

[Andy Adcock]

What about the swift?

Tail shape looks totally wrong for any of the species you mention.

The pale undertail suggests Rough-winged Swallow to me?



A

 

[pbjosh]

Agree with a Euphonia but don't have field guides at hand and I haven't seen Cen American Euphonias in several years.

I don't think those birds are Swallows, wings are far too thin, they are definitely Swifts to my eye. Perhaps strong back-lighting is affecting the perceived tail shape, making parts of the tail near transparent or otherwise invisible due to a corona like light.

As far as getting to species on those photos, I think the wing is too stubby and short for Chimney - chimney shows relatively more length past the wrist and has a more slender wing. Gray-rumped vs Vaux's is harder. The slightly longer tail might lean towards Gray-rumped but I wouldn't bet on it.

Take a look at expected species, however:

http://ebird.org/ebird/barchart?byr=1900&eyr=2017&bmo=1&emo=12&r=L436195

Gray-rumped is the safest assumption but I wouldn't call it 100% bulletproof.

 

[Andy Adcock]

I don't think those birds are Swallows, wings are far too thin, they are definitely Swifts to my eye. Perhaps strong back-lighting is affecting the perceived tail shape, making parts of the tail near transparent or otherwise invisible due to a corona like light.

Light from above won't alter the white underparts, these birds have a white vent with dark outer and pale central tail feathers just like RwS?

Agree that the wings are narrow though but I reiterate that the shape of these birds, especially the tail, is completely wrong for any of the Swifts mentioned so far and Swifts don't flare the tail out like this either to my knowledge?

Here's a pic of a GrS

http://www.hbw.com/sites/default/files/styles/ibc_1k/public/ibc/p/dsc_0024.jpg?itok=K89ffl_j


A