From the Deck, A Bird List

Tags

Ecuador, Ecuador Bird List. Birding, frigate, kingfisher, pelican

A birding friend recently asked, “How many birds can you see from your front door?”

I retrieved my modest scribblings and began to count.  Though not taken from the vantage point of the door,  this list documents birds seen from the deck that faces the river.

MANABI (Ecuador) BIRD LIST

Ani, Smooth-billed   

Coot, Andean

Cormorant, Neotropical

Cowbird, Shiny

Dove, Eared (?) (large)

Dove, Croaking Ground

Duck White-cheeked Pintail

Egret, Cattle

Egret, Great

Egret, Snowy

Elaenia (?) (gray with bushy crest) (Tyrannulet or flycatcher?)

Euphonia

Finch, Thick-Billed Seed

Fly Catcher, Vermillion

Flycatcher, Sooty-Crowned (?)

Flycatcher,  Boat-billed (?)

Frigate, Magnificent  +.

Gnatcatcher, Tropical *along road

Grackle, Great-Tailed             

Grassquit, Blue-Black

Grebe, least

Gull, Andean

Heron, cocoi

Heron, Great Blue

Heron, Little Blue

Heron, Striated

Heron, Tricolored

Hornero, Pale-Legged

Hummingbird

Hummingbird

Ibis, White

Ibis

Kingbird, Tropical

Kingfisher, Green

Kingfisher, Ringed

Martin, Gray Breasted (?)

Meadowlark, Peruvian

Mockingbird, Long-Tailed

Night Heron, Black Crowned

Night Heron, Yellow-Crowned

Oriole, Yellow-tailed

Osprey

Parrolet, Pacific

Pelican, Brown

Plover —

Sandpiper —

Seedeater, Variable

Stilt

Swallow, Bank

Tanager, Blue-Gray

Terns – (Royal?)

Vulture, Turkey

Warbler ?  olive y yellow w/yellow eye ring

Water Tyrant, Masked

Whimbrell

Willet (?)

|Wren.

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While subtle vermilion flycatchers and well-dressed seedeaters forage in the garden, my attention often wanders to the more raucous activity on the river.  Egrets, herons, pelicans, ibises, cormorants and frigates decorate the mangroves that line the river.

Frigates get my vote for the greediest of the waterbirds.   Kingfishers win for best spirit!

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When the pelicans start flap-flap-flapping their wings on the water, a mighty little green kingfisher hovers high overhead until it suddenly plunges straight into the river.  If outsmarted by the fish, it flies skyward and hovers again.  If it scores a morsel, it races away and rat-tat-tattles to the world that it’s king of the fishers!

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So how many birds can you see from your door or window?  Start counting!   Life could be much worse!

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Z

My Chatty Neighbor Mister Kingfisher!