Do you celebrate it? How?
I thought I would celebrate my Easter with pics for my friends ;)
These were all taken at 'Parque Histórico', Guayaquil, on March 15th, 2008.
I would like to start with the first guy we found there, the local name is 'Canclón', but you might know it as Horned Screamer (Anhima Cornuta), although this bird is supose to be related to ducks, swans and geese, it does look like a big fat black turkey! It could weight up to 3.5 kg (aprox 7.7 lbs) and be up to 85 or 95 cm (aprox. 33-38 inches)
It has a long quill on its head, kind of going forward, which is one of the reason for the name of this species. projecting forward from the crown, which gives this species its name. It lives in well-vegetated marshes and feeds on water plants.
The one seen on this pic was hanging around with the ducks in a small pond, it was strange to see them together, it looks huge next to them!
Horned Screamer (Anhima Cornuta)Our next friends were loud and colourful... Thanks to this pdf guide on neotropical birds I was able to id them. I hope I did it right! (I'll write first the local name)
This guy is a 'Lora harinosa' (Amazona Farinosa), most of the body is green and it grows up to 38 or 46 cms. Usually travels in groups.
Amazona FarinosaThese guys are smaller and have red on top of the beak, they are 'Loras frentirojas' (Amazona Autumnalis) and travel in small groups or alone.
Amazona AutumnalisThe next guy is a 'Lora Alibronceada' (Pionus Chalcopterus), it is smaller than the previous ones (28-30cm) and personally, is the one I liked the most! You can't see enough in the pic, but the colours were amazing!
Pionus ChalcopterusThis fellow was the loudest of them all, easiest to find, came very close to us! It is a 'Papagayo Azul-Amarillo' (Ara Ararauna), and it's a BIG bird! It grows up to 71-90cm, and if you consider the colours (once more not as bright as seen with the 'eye'), it is a pretty amazing view if you were looking for small hidden treasures and this apears in front of you!
Ara AraraunaMy last bird of this post wasn't free. It's part of a local project to help protect and reproduce this species. If you enlarge the pic by clicking on it you'll find the unmistakable shape of... Harpy Eagle (Harpia harpyja) or Águila Arpía in Spanish. This is a special treat for Markus at Birdingnet.com, who first told me about this species a couple of weeks ago! He sent me this link.
We took this pic from a very high tower and about 50 mts away, and even that far you could see a HUGE bird, too bad we couldn't see it flying free :(
Harpia harpyja
11 comments:
wonderful parrot pictures. I've never seen a parrot in the wild, yet. The more I read your blog, the the sooner I want to go to South America.
It must have been awesome to see a Harpy Eagle, even in captivity.
here is another link with information about South America's most powerful bird:
http://www.peregrinefund.org/conserve_category.asp?category=Harpy%20Eagle%20Conservation%20and%20Research
Hi Markus!
Hope you can visit this side of the world soon :)
Thanks for the links and info that you often send, it's very useful and interesting, hope birdingnet.com keeps growing!
See you around!
Dear Mel,
Happy Easter. I do not actually celebrate Easter any more. Once the kids grew up we sort of drifted away from from Easter Bunnies!
Thank you for all these amazing pictures. I too want to come to South America!You have beautiful birds!
Kiwicha would be very appriciated...my e-mail is on my profile. Drop me an e-mail!
It is a joy getting to know you and your country and your birds!
Hugs,
Sherry
Mel,
Your birds are so colorful and large! I'd love to make a trip to South America - I'd be mesmerized.
Easter Sunday here is celebrated with a visit to church and a family meal. Since there are no small children in the family, I don't do Easter Baskets anymore.
Hope you had a great day. Thanks for sharing your wonderful birds!
Mary
Thanks for sharing these wonderful photos with us! Happy Easter to you and your family!
Hi Sherry! Mary! Mon@rch!
Hope you can make it to this side of the world sometime, it would be nice to have you around!
Wow, those are some great photos of beautiful birds. Thanks for posting them.
Hi Mel, Happy Easter. Is Guayaquil the name of the park you visited or are you in Guayaquil, Ecuador? Thanks for the comments you leave on my blog. We've had some great birds for this part of the world lately. Are you familiar with this site? It maight help some with your ID's http://birding-peru.com/
Hang in there and don't get frustrated. Dan
Hi Dr. Monkey! Great to see you around :) Glad you like the pics!
¡Hola Dan!
Yes, Guayaquil, Ecuador, I had to travel to solve a family matter and tried to make the best of it.
I know the the site you talked about, I get e-mails from the group and has been helpful (and still is), it helps me learn a lot about birds over here, most of them I haven't seen yet, but hopefully soon! The birds you've seen are beautiful, I'll hope to be able to see a few of those sometime soon :)
A friend and I stayed a couple of nights in Guayaquil while birding there. We were in the city during a celebration of Founder's Day and Simon Bolivar's birthday. There were literally hundreds of thousands of people in the streets. Quite a wild party! There is a good nature preserve west of Guayquil in the Chongon Hills but I can't remember it's name.
Hi Dan,
I know there's a nice Reserve called 'Manglares de Churute' and a recreational area called 'Parque Lago', this one on the highway to Chongon, I guess they are a few others. We were there to take care of a family thing, so we couldn't spend time visiting all the places we wished to go :(
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