Nature Trips

The Masked Trogon is a medium-sized bird, typically measuring around 25 to 28 cm (9.8 to 11 inches) in length. Its striking appearance is characterized by iridescent feathers that shimmer with various hues depending on the light.

The Spotted Antbird is a small, striking bird found in the understory of tropical forests. Adults measure about 12.5 cm (5 inches) in length. Males have a black face, throat, and upper chest, contrasting sharply with a white belly that’s covered in bold black spots—hence the name «Spotted.» Their upperparts are olive-brown with chestnut-colored wings marked by white wingbars. Females are similar but duller overall, with a more subdued face pattern and less contrast in the spotting.

The white-eyed tody-tyrant (Hemitriccus zosterops) is a species of bird in the family Tyrannidae, the tyrant flycatchers.It is found in the northern Amazon Basin of Brazil and the Guianas of French Guiana, Suriname, and southeast Guyana; also Amazonian Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru.It is a small short-tailed bird, medium grayish and olive-greenish with fleckings of deep black and white on its wings. It has a short sharp stout black bill, and is named for its narrow white eye-ring and its white eyes. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical dry shrubland. In the Amazon Basin it is only found north of the Amazon River; in Venezuela it is in the headwaters of the Orinoco River in the south.

The booted racket-tail (Ocreatus underwoodii) is a species of hummingbird. It is found in the Andean cordillera of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. A population also occurs on the Venezuelan coast. This is the only species in the monotypic genus Ocreatus.

It is a noisy bird that lives in the lowlands east of the Andes and, unlike other species of the genus, it forages more frequently in the understory. Its name Monasa derives from the Greek monas, monos = lonely. The epithet nigrifrons means black forehead and derives from the Latin roots niger = black and frons = forehead.

Silent bird that lives in low strata of humid forests. Its name Malacoptila means soft plumage and derives from the Greek roots malakos = soft and ptilon = plumage. His epithet mystacalis means mustache and comes from the Greek mustax, mustakos.