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Nicaragua (1 Viewer)

Kalamazoo Ken

Well-known member
Hi there, folks!
I just got back home from two weeks in Nicaragua. I was up in the north of the country, in and around the town of Esteli for most of the time. The purpose of the trip was not birding, or even vacationing at all, so I didn't get to spend a lot of time out looking for birds. Still, I enjoyed what I saw. Here are some of my personal "highlights" from the trip:

Social Flycatcher; Hoffmann's Woodpecker; Grey-breasted Martin; Blue-grey Tanager; Rufous-naped Wren; White-throated Magpie Jay; Clay-colored Robin; White-eared Hummingbird; Tropical Parula; Grey-headed Tanager; Black-headed Saltator; Yellow-throated Brushfinch; Masked Yellowthroat; Stripe-headed Sparrow; Rusty Sparrow; Streak-backed Oriole; Masked Tityra; Black-vented Oriole; Squirrel Cuckoo

None of these are rarities, but all were lifers for me. The Masked Tityra was perhaps the most striking of all. But the most magical moment of the trip was wlking down the road from a volcano crater near Managua, and coming upon a small grove of trees where there was a flock of at least a hundren Green Parakeets. They chattered in the treetops, flew overhead and around me in wave after wave of brilliant green. What a delight!

I saw a number of birds I couldn't identify (of course), including a hummingbird with an orange gorget which I can't find in any of my field guides. If anyone out there has some expertise they'd like to share with me, I'd be happy to give a more detailed description.
 
Thanks for posting, Ken...

As much as I would love it, there is somethign rather daunting about the prospect of birding abroad, where almost everything you see would be new.

A Squirrel Cuckoo eh? Lays it's eggs in another squirrel's drey ???
 
birdman said:
Thanks for posting, Ken...

As much as I would love it, there is somethign rather daunting about the prospect of birding abroad, where almost everything you see would be new.

A Squirrel Cuckoo eh? Lays it's eggs in another squirrel's drey ???

You're right about the challenges of birding in exotic locales. There are so many new families, let alone species. And of course, just like home, it is a relatively small percentage of what's there that you actually see or hear, and of that percentage, there are many that you don't see well enough to identify positively (e.g. my hitherto undescribed hummingbird!). On the other hand, just getting a chance to glimpse things utterly unlike what is possible at home is worth the frustration of not being sure of what you see (for me, at least).

One interesting thing about this trip was how many familiar species I did see down there. At least a third of my total list (which came to only around 60 or so) consisted of birds that breed up in N.A. and which I am used to seeing as they migrate through in the spring. I've spent quite a bit of time in Africa, and there almost the only birds that were common to the U.S. were Cattle Egrets, House Sparrows and Feral Pigeons!

Oh, and you must be confusing the Squirrel Cuckoo with the Cuckoo Squirrel, which is one of the very few mammelian brood parasites. ;) The S.Q. is so-called because of it's color (mainly rufous), its tail (very long) and its habit of bounding along branches. That was definitely one of my favorite sightings. I first cought a glimpse of one flying into some bushes as I was bouncing down a very rocky road in a minivan. There is only one bird in the area it could have been with that color and that tail, so I put it down on my list. But a few days later I came upon one at eye level in a tree about twenty feet from me, and had a good ten minutes or so to feast my eyes on its details -- very satisfying!
 
scampo said:
Sounds as if you had a great time out there!

I did have a fantastic time there. The birding moments were limited, and there was a certain awkwardness about walking in prime birding territory (we had one day to visit Miraflor, a "cloud forest" preserve about 30 kilometers from Esteli) with half-a-dozen non-birders. I had to excuse myself as politely as possible and meander down the road alone so our mutual differences of interest wouldn't grate on one another.
But the best thing about the whole trip was not the birds, but the Nicaraguan people. As Someone said, people are of much more value than many sparrows. o:)
 
Ken,
Sounds like you saw some great birds. Yes, the Squirrel Cuckoo is a fantastic bird. Nicaragua would be a great place for birding if they had the infrastructure. They certainly have the birds much like their neighbors in Costa Rica.
 
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