Copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy without permission • Iguaçu, Brazil 2006

Bird name: Giant Cowbird
Latin: Molothrus oryzivorus
Other: Iraúna-grande (Br)
Family: Icteridae • Cowbirds
Range: S Mexico through N South America
Similar: Great Tailed Grackle

The Giant Cowbird is a brood parasitic icterid, laying its eggs in the nests of oropendolas and caciques. It is found from Central America to the northwestern half of South America and to a lesser extent the southern part of Brazil.

The Giant Cowbird is a large bird (40 cm) - it looks a bit similar to the Great-tailed Grackle in Panama, but the latter has a much thinner bill. The adult male is larger and shiny blue-black, the female browner and smaller. Irises can be red or yellow, depending on regional differences, also in some regions males tend to have red irises and females yellow irises.

Great-tailed Grackles have thinner bills.

Below, a Giant Cowbird in the Canal zone of Central Panama, 2010
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Copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy without permission • Panama, May 2010

Bird name: Bronzed Cowbird
Latin: Molothrus aeneus
Other:
Family: Icteridae • Cowbirds
Range: SW USA to Panama
Similar: Shiny Cowbird

The male Bronzed Cowbird is dark with a big ruff, the female is lighter.

Bronzed Cowbirds should have bright red irises - none of these photo show this feature which makes me think they may not be Bronzed Cowbirds!

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Copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy without permission • Chiriqui & El Valle May 2010

Bird name: Piratic Flycatcher
Latin: Mitrephanes phaeocercus
Other:
Family: Tyrannidae • Tyrant Flycatchers
Range: Mexico to Argentina, Brazil

We saw Piratic Flycatchers fairly often in Panama, but they were often in tall trees and moved off fairly quickly. They have streaked chests, and dark mask, but are much smaller than the Streaked Flycatcher, with short bills.

They take the nests of Orependolas, Caciques, Panamanian Flycatchers etc. driving away the original inhabitants.More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy without permission • El Valle, Panama, 3 May 2010

Bird name: Striped Cuckoo
Latin: Tapera naevia
Other: Saci (Br) • Crespín (Es), cuco rayado, trespiés
Family: Cuculidae • Cuckoos
Range: Mexico to Argentina

The Striped Cuckoo is a brownish bird, light underneath, with white stripe running above eye, rufous crest sometimes raised and long tail.

This individual was attracted by a call, and perched nearby in the open, in El Valle, central Panama.More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy without permission • Pipeline Road, Panama, 24 April 2010

Bird name: Pheasant Cuckoo
Latin: Dromococcyx phasianellus
Other: Saci-faisão (Br)
Family: Cuculidae • Cuckoos
Range: Mexico to Argentina

Little more than record shots of this hard-to-see bird, the Pheasant Cuckoo, which was calling in very dark forest undergrowth, near the Pipeline Road, in central Panama.

Like the Striped Cuckoo, the Pheasant Cuckoo has a white line above the eye, but more of a pronounced rufous crest, and a voluminous fanned tail - tail feathers are white-tipped.More photos...

Pipeline Road Panama, 24 April 2010

Bird name: Rufous Vented Ground Cuckoo
Latin: Neomorphus geoffroyi
Other: Jacu-estalo (Br)
Family: Cuculidae • Cuckoos
Range: Nicaragua to Brazil

Since the Rufous-Vented Ground-Cuckoo is such a rarely seen bird, I’ll break my rule and add an entry even though I don’t have a photo (if anyone out there has one I’d love to post one here - send to monacoeye@gmail.com).

We were lucky enough to encounter a pair calling across the Pipeline Road in central Panama. With complete beginner’s luck, I called out the female inadvertently by clapping my hands, thinking I had heard a manakin! I got a very brief glimpse of the bird before it retreated into the undergrowth, but didn’t take a photo…

Photo copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy • Images: Itatiaia November 2009

Bird name: Shiny Cowbird
Latin: Molothrus bonariensis
Other: Vira-bosta (Br) • Tordo (Es), Tordo común, Tordo renegrido
Family: Icteridae • Cowbirds

The Shiny Cowbird is one of a few entirely black birds to be found in Brazil. The photo above may be of a female - the adult male is jet black and shiny.

The Shiny Cowbird’s range covers much of Latin America and has recently extended into Chile and Florida.

It’s usually seen in groups but not always. It tends to walk around on the ground and looks more relaxed than the male Ruby-crowned Tanager. The Chopi Blackbird has a more peaked head and grooved bill than the Shiny Cowbird.

The Shiny Cowbird, not beloved by many birders, is a brood parasite, like the European Cuckoo, laying its eggs in the nests of other birds, and in some cases endangering host species survival.More photos...

Photos copyright: monacoeye • Danube Delta, Romania • May 2009 • Do not copy without permission

Bird name: Common Cuckoo
Latin: Cuclus canorus
Other: Coucou gris
Family: Cuculidae • Cuckoos

The brown cuckoos are female and the grey ones here are probably male, although there is both a brown and a grey female form.

In the Danube Delta in May, you are never out of earshot of a cuckoo, and they are a fairly common sight, flying over the reedbeds and settling in trees.

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