MarkG

Sooty Thrush, Costa Rica

Volcano Hummingbird from the Quetzal Lodge in Costa Rica

A continuation from my previous post. About 45 minutes after the hawk had flown off I decided to climb up to the higher tiers of the Monte Alban site to see if I could locate the hawk again. To my surprise I found it in a tree enjoying its lunch. The nice thing about the upper tier is it put me even with the middle level of the tree and the hawk didn't seem to care much about me being somewhat close to it. I was able to get some more really good photos. It's a bit hard to see in the photos, but at this point the lizard was mostly consumed. After another 10 minutes, I think the hawk grew bored with me and flew off.

I saw this hawk while I was birding at the Monte Alban site in Oaxaca, Mexico about 10 days ago. When I first saw the bird it was on the ground and I thought it had caught something. But as I started taking photos I noticed that it just seemed to be hanging out, looking around. The bird was content enough to stay in that one spot for 10 minutes or so, until someone walked by and spooked it. It flew a short distance and landed at the base of a wall. I slowly walked over to where it was hoping to get some additional photos, but as I got a bit closer it flew up to the next highest terrace. As it flew up past that terrace it immediately swooped down and grabbed something. I couldn't tell what it caught, but it landed in a tree not far from where it swooped down. I was able to get a few shots of the hawk in the tree before another photographer scared it off. Lizard for lunch.

Part of my confusion was the Merlin photo ID would go back and forth depending on what photo I used. Thanks! I'll be posting some additional photos on the Best Photo of the Day forum.

I took these photos a few days ago at Monte Aban in Oaxaca, Mexico. I'd been seeing flycatchers and as usual for me I was having a tough time figuring out what I was seeing. Just prior to me taking these photos I turned on the Merlin Sound ID feature because I was hearing quite a bit of chatter from the brush. I thought the Sound ID would help with IDing some of the flycatchers I was seeing. I like the Sound ID feature, but I don't really trust it, for me it's a guide on what might be close to me. In this case it wasn't very helpful as in a very short period of time it identified hearing a Dusky Flycatcher, a Least Flycatcher and a Hammond's Flycatcher. The Merlin Photo ID feature identifies this bird as a Hammond's Flycatcher. I'm pretty sure it isn't a Dusky, but it could be a Least. I believe the Least Flycatcher would be a bit more common this time of year.

This bird was a real poser and I probably ended up with 200 or so photos of it. I initially pegged it as a Cooper's Hawk, but from some photos it looks more like a Sharp-shinned. Any thoughts? Thanks!