Last month while I was birding with some guests we had the great fortune to find two species of bird in areas out of the range reported for these species. While we were birding around Tranquilo Bay’s grounds, we observed two hummingbirds on a tree, I got to ID the first one with my naked eye, it was a Green-breasted Mango (Anthracothorax prevostii), then, when I look through my binoculars, a bright red beak of the other hummingbird stand out, and immediately knew it was a “lifer” for me (lifer: specie of bird never seen before by the observant), it was a male Blue-throated Goldentail (Hylocharis eliciae) for a moment it perched on a little branch and then flew to fight the Green-breasted Mango, that was perched on the same tree. Fortunately one of the guests had a camera, and got some good pictures for identification, thanks a lot Chris for the pictures!Photo credits Christopher Ng. Male Blue-throated Goldentail (Hylocharis eliciae)

Photo credits Christopher Ng. Male Blue-throated Goldentail (Hylocharis eliciae) fighting a Green-breasted Mango (Anthracothorax prevostii)

The following day, we went birding on the Snyder Canal, at the San San Pond Sak wetland, and there we had the other unusual encounter (another lifer for me). In front of us a big bird flew from the forest to the edge of the forest, so we slowly approached with the boat and to our surprise this bird perched on a branch, out in the open. It was a gorgeous Black-collared Hawk (Busarellus nigricollis).

Black-collared Hawk (Busarellus nigricollis)

After enjoying this hawk for some time we continued the boat ride, and I noticed a strong smell of dead fish, which I probably had not noticed previously due to the excitement with the Black-collared Hawk. Looking around, and for the next 100 meters, along the canal, there were hundreds of small dead fish. Jay helped me to ID them (back at the lodge), they are commonly known as shad, and apparently are very susceptible to changes in their environment.

One of the many groups of dead fishes at the Snyder canal

If you want to know the different species of birds we saw during the two birding experiences, you can check on my e-bird:

Species seen while we where birding around Tranquilo Bay: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25332931

Birding trip to the Snyder Canal (this excursion includes different locations):

Canal: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25348643

Mouth of the river: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25349342

Bird Island: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S25349367