Oropendulas, Tanagers, Euphonias and Jays

[Ariel Matias]

Here are some more birds that I was able to shoot during our rainy-day trip to a place called Arenal Observatory Lodge.

The place is located on the foot of an active volcano. During clear skies, the place has a magnificent view of the volcano from the bedrooms. It also has several bird feeders on its view decks where one can shoot from a short distance. Lots of snakes can also be found including the poisonous pitvipers and therefore care must be taken while walking alone most especially in the early morning.



Oropendula, from the words "oro" which means gold and pendola or pendulum, perhaps from its behaviour to swing like a pendulum during mating season.

7d, 400mm f/5.6, 1/50s, ISO 1600







Brown Jay

1/80s, ISO 1600




Yellow-throated Euphonia (Male)

1/800s, ISO 640



And here's the female




Lastly, the blue-gray tanager

1/320s, ISO 640

[Ramon Quisumbing]

Wow, Costa Rica has so many unusual and beautiful birds. Thanks for sharing, Ariel.

I photographed the Blue-Gray Tanager and the Thick-billed Euphonia in Aguas Caliente, Peru in 2009. The Thick-billed Euphonia looks very much like your Yellow-throated Euphonia.

[steve pryor]

Hi Ariel,

Just a comment, and then an ID correction.

Oropendola - from Gr. oros (living in the mountains), and L. pendulus (hanging down - a reference to the conformation of the nest).

The Euphonia are not E. hirundinacea gnatho (Yellow-throated Euphonia) for the rather evident reason that the male does not have a yellow throat.

They are male and female of Euphonia affinis affinis (Scrub Euphonia). The confusion species in this location is Euphonia minuta (White-vented Euphonia), and I made the separation in this case because the male does not demonstrate a white belly center (male minuta have a white belly center, and because even though the female is a back-shot, we can see yellow peeking out from under the tail base which indicates that the crissum is yellowish, not white as would be with the E. minuta.

[Ely Teehankee]

I like all of them. Maybe more so because I have never seen birds like these. Well done Ariel & Mabuhay.

[Ariel Matias]

Nov 28, 2011 7:40:00 GMT steve pryor said:

Hi Ariel,

Just a comment, and then an ID correction.

Oropendola - from Gr. oros (living in the mountains), and L. pendulus (hanging down - a reference to the conformation of the nest).

The Euphonia are not E. hirundinacea gnatho (Yellow-throated Euphonia) for the rather evident reason that the male does not have a yellow throat.

They are male and female of Euphonia affinis affinis (Scrub Euphonia). The confusion species in this location is Euphonia minuta (White-vented Euphonia), and I made the separation in this case because the male does not demonstrate a white belly center (male minuta have a white belly center, and because even though the female is a back-shot, we can see yellow peeking out from under the tail base which indicates that the crissum is yellowish, not white as would be with the E. minuta.

Thanks for the info, Steve. Truly appreciate your inputs.

[Ariel Matias]

Nov 27, 2011 23:24:17 GMT Ramon Quisumbing said:

Wow, Costa Rica has so many unusual and beautiful birds. Thanks for sharing, Ariel.

I photographed the Blue-Gray Tanager and the Thick-billed Euphonia in Aguas Caliente, Peru in 2009. The Thick-billed Euphonia looks very much like your Yellow-throated Euphonia.

Thanks Ramon. The Thick-billed and the Yellow-throated euphonias indeed have many similarities.

[Ariel Matias]

Nov 28, 2011 11:32:19 GMT Ely Teehankee said:

I like all of them. Maybe more so because I have never seen birds like these. Well done Ariel & Mabuhay.

Thank you, Ely.

[Ramon Quisumbing]

Nov 30, 2011 3:19:59 GMT Ariel Matias said:

Nov 27, 2011 23:24:17 GMT Ramon Quisumbing said:

Wow, Costa Rica has so many unusual and beautiful birds. Thanks for sharing, Ariel.

I photographed the Blue-Gray Tanager and the Thick-billed Euphonia in Aguas Caliente, Peru in 2009. The Thick-billed Euphonia looks very much like your Yellow-throated Euphonia.

Thanks Ramon. The Thick-billed and the Yellow-throated euphonias indeed have many similarities.

Ariel, are you sure they are not the same species? Here is a documentary photo of the pair of Thick-billed Euphonias in Aguas Caliente, Peru. They both look a lot like your Yellow-throated Euphonias.

[steve pryor]

Ramon, I guess I must be more explicit. Does Ariel's male Euphonia have a yellow throat? No, it does not. It is not a Yellow-throated Euphonia (it is a Scrub Euphonia). Your male bird has a yellow throat, and it is a Thick-billed Euphonia (race zopholega).

Here is what a male Yellow-throated Euphonia looks like: ibc.lynxeds.com/photo/yellow-throated-euphonia-euphonia-hirundinacea/perched-adult-male-good-light

Most Euphonia species have many points of encounter as far as being generally similar (some exceptions however). The males are generally purple and yellow (maybe orange), a lot of the males have yellow or orange patches on the head (and this patch varies in extention towards the hindcrown), and usually they have central rectrices that are whitish and that can be seen on the undertail. Further, the male birds either have yellow throats, or they have purple throats that in some species extends down to the breast. The conformation of the bill is also important. For example, in your photos the bill is obviously more convex on the culmen (the upper margin of the upper mandible), and it looks thicker (pug-nosed) respect to the bill of the bird of Ariel. When you do a differential ID analysis for the separation of Euphonia, and you have photos of male birds, then you look at several things: yellow throat/purple throat, if purple with bib or not; presence (some races lack the white entirely) and extention of the white on the undertail; bill conformation with an eye to the thickness of the bill at the bill insertion (meaning where it attaches to the head) and the amount of convexity of the two mandibles (the lower mandible also is curved) respect to other Euphonia; the crown patch: if present (some don't); when present which color - usually either yellow or orange; how far back the crown patch extends towards the nape; color of the belly - usually yellow, but some species (or races within one species) can have an orange wash. Further, we must also look at the possibility of there being zones of white ventrally (different from the usual yellow, or orange). Some male Euphonia have white belly centers, and some have a white crissum (= the zone including the undertail coverts plus the vent).

Another factor is always the range! The location! Though we must always keep in mind the possibility that we might find a given species outside of its known range nonetheless it is a helpful thing the possibility of whittling down the possibles to a short list when we do differential species separations. In the case of Ariel's bird, not only would the laniirostris have a yellow crown patch that extends onto the hind-crown, but is also simply does not range in the location in which Ariel's bird was photographed.

[Ramon Quisumbing]

Steve, I did not read your first message closely. I was only replying to the string of messages between me and Ariel only. I did not intend to positively identify Ariel's bird as a Yellow-throated Euphonia but was only using Ariel's name for it. I did identify my bird as a Thick-billed Euphonia, which you have confirmed as correct.