Copyright: monacoeye • Para, Brazil, August, 2011

Bird name: Bat Falcon
Latin: Falco rufigularis
Other: Halcón murcielaguero (Es) • Cauré (Br)
Family: Falconidae • Falcons
Range: Mexico, Central America, tropical South America
Similar: Orange-breasted Falcon

Above, record shot of Bat Falcon perched beside river in Amazonia, Brazil.More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • Chagres, Panama, April 2010 • Do not copy without permission

Bird name: Great Antshrike
Latin: Taraba major
Other: Choró-boi (Br)
Family: Thamnophilidae • Antbirds
Range: Panama, E Mexico to N Argentina

The photo above pretty well sums up the typical view of many antbirds in Panama!

We couldn’t entice this male Great Antshrike out of his dense thicket, but he was easily recognisable by the bright red iris, white underparts and black upperparts.

The female is rufous not black.

We saw this individual in the canal zone of central Panama, near the Gamboa Rainforest Resort.More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • Chagres River, Panama, April 2010 • Do not copy without permission

Bird name: Chestnut Mandibled Toucan
Latin: Ramphastos swainsonii
Other: Tucán de pico castaño, Tucán de Swainson (Es) • split from R. ambiguus
Family: Ramphastidae • Toucans
Range: Southest Honduras to western Ecuador
Similar: Choco Toucan (Ecuador and Colombia)

I saw just one Chestnut-mandibled Toucan while in Panama and this was it. It was with a group of other toucans near the Chagres River in the Canal zone of central Panama. Stunning.More photos...

Copyright: monacoeye • Central Panama, April 2010 • Do not copy without permission

Bird name: Collared Aracari
Latin: Pteroglossus torquatus
Other: Tucancillo collarejo (Es) • Arasarí acollarado (Br)
Family: Ramphastidae • Toucans, Aracaris
Range: Mexico to Venezuela
Similar:

The Collared Aracari was not at all rare at the Canopy Tower. In fact one could usually be seen every morning at the crack of dawn or just before, feeding at the cecropias and other fruiting trees that surround the hotel. But the conditions never seemed very good for photography.

Upper mandible mostly light off-white with black tip, lower mandible black.More photos...

Photos copyright: monacoeye • Do not copy • Cerro Azul, Panama, 23 April 2010

Bird name: Swallow Tailed Kite
Latin: Elanoides forficatus
Other: Gavião-tesoura (Br) • Elanio tijereta (Es)
Family: Accipitridae • Kites, Birds of Prey
Range:
Similar:

The Swallow Tailed Kite is unmistakable by its long deeply-forked tail and contrasting black and white plumage.

Its range includes much of South America, excluding the southern cone, and extends up through Central America into southern USA.

I was greeted by a close group of about twenty or thirty Swallow-tailed Kites, circling on thermals on Cerro Azul, where these photos were taken on my first morning in Panama. Possibly migrating, though there is a resident population.

More photos...