Thursday, July 3, 2025

That was June 2025

 


Time flies by and June 2025 has slipped through my fingers. Almost every day I went out with my binoculars, often on the farm, but also outside the farm. No big day trips, because we are busy on the farm with  doing chores. June is the month of the immatures. Everywhere you hear the squeaking of newly fledged young. The parents are busy looking for food, often with young noisy baby birds flying behind and around them. Every year I notice that the busiest times for fledging are late afternoons around 4pm. In June it often rains heavily that time. Don't always see the logic in it. You often see such a small baby bird squeaking in the rain asking for food. How many birds survive that.? Why not fly out early in the morning, then the sun often shines and more food can be found. Maybe the reason is that there are few active enemies in the rain?

Yes, after all these years of birdwatching I am still full of questions without really satisfying answers...


Two days I was birdwatching the whole day. One Day was with my friend Ann, we went to a "new"city park in the town David. It was very nice. The park is not finished yet and that makes it that some areas are pretty wild and so good for birds. This nest of a rufous and white Wren was made in a brush of very big spines..with in the spines ants who can bite bad..when you disturb them . A very safe place  for the birds...apparently it is a great symbiosis. The name of the brush is Bullhorn acacia. The spines are home  to ants that protect the plant also from herbivory.


Another day I did go to a big farm high up in the mountains, the owners of the farm are big coffee growers, but the biggest part of the farm is protected area and even a part of it is nacional park.
It is so great of the owners that I can go there and see the birds and wild life. When I see something special I always let them know that. Did see good birds including juvenile Quetzales. Did hike from1850m altitude to 2750m altitude. My highlight was this cute immature buffy Tuftedcheek...

Super cute! I was sitting for 1,5 hour just there on the level of 2750 m in the clouds..cold and happy!
On the way back I did see 4 resplendent Quetzales , one of them was a juvenile Male. 
and I felt on a certain  moment that somebody was staring at me...love this picture:
SO cloud forest!
On another morning trip did see on the Quetzal trail a lot of immatures prong billed Barbets. One was just fledged...
and a whole family...

a cute immature white throated Mountain Gem

Last June week I took these pictures that I do like to share with you...one from our balcony a juvenile white-naped Brush-Finch :

And a nice very young female collared Trogon (orange bellied) on 1850 meters altitude ...

Well July is already arrived and that means that still birds...like Seedeaters /  Grassquits / Sparrows / Tinamous / Woodrails are nesting and here on the farm a lot of singing orange-billed Nightingale Thrushes . No songs any more from clay colored Thrushes and white throated Thrushes.
I do see a lot of juvenile clay colored Thrushes and white Throated Thrushes, they look messy with their not really adult plumage.

And last but not least...the highlight of the month was a Sunbittern in our  stream on the farm. Not a new bird for me but yes new for the farm and a nice thing was also that I heard his call...that was new for me!
This was my story of the month June 2025...up to new bird stories!
Greetings from Terry