Costa Rica. Woodcreeper and cowbird (1 Viewer)

[testoduro]

This summer. Can you help me sort these two friends?

1, A Streak-Headed Woodcreeper? Its bill is curved, but it is not pink. Could it not be a Cocoa Woodcreeper?
2. Same bird as 1. This picture clarifies nothing, does it?
3. Giant Cowbirds? I'm confused about the GC's eye colour. My guidebook depicts it reddish, but in most pictures of it I see on the net the eyerings are whitish. Is this a juvenile? Hence its black eye?
Thank you!

 

[njlarsen]

Giant cowbird in south america has a yellow eye. Juveniles start with grey eye and pale bill, but bill is black by winter according to my Mexico field guide.
Niels

 

[THE_FERN]

Giant cowbird in south america has a yellow eye. Juveniles start with grey eye and pale bill, but bill is black by winter according to my Mexico field guide.
Niels

Not melodious blackbird? (Not a species I'm familiar with). Don't get a giant cowbird vibe here: suggest bill wrong

 

[THE_FERN]

This summer. Can you help me sort these two friends?

1, A Streak-Headed Woodcreeper? Its bill is curved, but it is not pink. Could it not be a Cocoa Woodcreeper?
2. Same bird as 1. This picture clarifies nothing, does it?
3. Giant Cowbirds? I'm confused about the GC's eye colour. My guidebook depicts it reddish, but in most pictures of it I see on the net the eyerings are whitish. Is this a juvenile? Hence its black eye?
Thank you!

Probably streak-headed; good to know where these were taken, Inc rough altitude

 

[testoduro]

Not melodious blackbird? (Not a species I'm familiar with). Don't get a giant cowbird vibe here: suggest bill wrong

Thanks, Niels and the Fern!
A couple more pics of the black bird.

 

[testoduro]

Probably streak-headed; good to know where these were taken, Inc rough altitude

Near la Fortuna, Arenal Volcano area. Around 300 mts above sea level.

 

[jbpixels]

Maybe a Cocoa Woodcreeper ( Xiphorhynchus susurrans)?

 

[THE_FERN]

Maybe a Cocoa Woodcreeper ( Xiphorhynchus susurrans)?

No I don't think so. That has a much more robust bill than what we see here

 

[njlarsen]

Not melodious blackbird? (Not a species I'm familiar with). Don't get a giant cowbird vibe here: suggest bill wrong

I don't think it is melodious. These images shows some bulk to the long undertail coverts which seems to fit well for the cowbird and not for the melodious blackbird according to those images I looked at.

Niels

 

[THE_FERN]

I don't think it is melodious. These images shows some bulk to the long undertail coverts which seems to fit well for the cowbird and not for the melodious blackbird according to those images I looked at.

Niels

Had a look on a big screen and I'll stick with melodious. There's no hint of any red [or white or any colour other than black] in the eye, these birds don't have giant cowbird's large billed, small headed appearance. They also lack the "pigeon-chested" look of that species—this is usually very apparent, even from a distance.

 

[testoduro]

Had a look on a big screen and I'll stick with melodious. There's no hint of any red [or white or any colour other than black] in the eye, these birds don't have giant cowbird's large billed, small headed appearance. They also lack the "pigeon-chested" look of that species—this is usually very apparent, even from a distance.

Thank you, Niels and The Fern!


I've throughly checked out reports of sightings of both Melodious and Giant in neighboring resorts in the area and the result is: Melodious is a far more frequent occurrence, with many not listing the Giant at all. So, I might as well go for Melodious and yes, Streak-Headed Woodcreeper.

And Merlin does not help. It says Melodious one picture and Giant the other.

 

[pbjosh]

Agree w/ Streak-headed Woodcreeper and Melodious Blackbird.

For what it's worth, Streak-headed is by far the easiest Woodcreeper to see and photograph in Central America as it is basically the only species that you will find in parking lots, campgrounds, town parks, agricultural areas, etc. The other species are all forest birds or otherwise specialized to certain habitats.

Giant Cowbird has a different structure - not sure if I know the birds well enough to really give a master class but it has a more rounded head, longer beak, longer body with a bit more of a bull neck. Also you don't see it frequently, and I don't think I've ever seen one on the ground (though it must happen). And while you typically see Giant Cowbirds as single birds or occasionally duos in flight or hanging around Oropendola colonies, I once had a group (8 or 10) in a tree at forest edge at dusk. I literally thought I was crazy and spent a long time with the scope examining them all individually and they were all undoubtedly Giant Cowbirds. So anything is possible. I also once had nearly 20 Keel-billed Toucans in one bare tree in the Yucatan which I also cannot explain. I didn't do such a detailed examination there, though - was pretty confident on the ID