FEATURED PHOTO Belted Flycatcher Xenotriccus callizonus El Sumidero National Park, Chiapas state, Mexico. Photographed with a Canon 50D camera and a Canon 100-400mm f4.5-f5.6 IS lens on 16-March-2009. You can find previous featured photos here. Direct link to the Neotropical birds photo gallery Direct link to photos outside of the Neotropics Direct link to complete species index Latest news: 17 June: I just finished a really interesting weekend getaway with Iain Campbell & Sam Woods. It started with slogging up Cerro Mongus in some of the thickest and ugliest mud I have ever seen. We saw Crescent-faced Antpitta, though I didn't manage a photo, and once again failed to find Chestnut-bellied Cotinga. I'm beginning to wonder if I will ever see that bird. I did get a decent photo of Agile Tit-Tyrant. Next day we drove a dirt road along the Colombian border that dropped from 3000 m all the way down to the Amazon near Lumbaqui. Here's a shot of Black-throated Tody-Tyrant from about 2700 m.  The Ecuadorian side is pretty cut-over near the road, but the forest on the Colombian side is some of the most beautiful I've ever seen. I suspect no one, apart maybe from some FARC, have ever been in that forest. Must be some spectacular birding in there. We found a surprisingly good dirt road through Amazonian forest near the town of Lumbaqui. A few hours birding there produced some great birds like Yellow-shouldered Grosbeak, White-browed Purpletuft, and Ornate Hawk-Eagle. There were big troops of monkeys around too! This new site is cheap to get to, and cold produce some great species with a little exploration. To the right is a photo of the 5800 m (19000 ft) Cayambe volcano as seen from this road. Oddly enough, two of the best photos from this short trip came at a gas station in town, where a Russet-backed Oropendola was displaying in a palm tree, and a Violaceous Jay was nearby eating fruit! 10 June: I've added a few new Ecuador photos over the last few days. The most interesting ones are of a pair of Variable Seedeaters bringing food to their nestlings, a displaying Club-winged Manakin, and a decent shot of the shy and hard-to-photograph Thrush-like Schiffornis. 01 June: I spent a quite weekend at a farm owned by Desirée, who is our logistics person for Africa and Asia tours. Despite being in the middle of a region dominated by African oil palm plantations, there were loads of birds in the secondary forest around her house, and I spend a couple of hours with my SLR. My favorite was this Red-billed Scythebill. I even got to fly a plane! Well, sort of... 19 May: Today I am adding a section to the site - photos of birds I've taken on trips outside of the Neotropics. These are in a separate part of antpitta.com, and are not nearly as comprehensive. I wanted to showcase some of my best photos, but don't want to create new websites for them. The main focus of the site is still Neotropical birds. 17 May: A short day trip to Papallacta Pass in my brand new jeep, where the weather was uncharacteristically nice, produced some nice photos. My favorites were of a very cooperative White-chinned Thistletail. Note that the provincial border goes straight through the pass, so some of these shots are from Pichincha and others from Napo. Recently added photos: 02 July: Streak-chested Antpitta from Ecuador. 30 June: Spectacled Owl from Ecuador. 30 June: Sapayoa from Ecuador. 21 June: Added 6 photos from a day in Lamington NP in Australia. 21 June: Added 13 photos from a trip to New Caledonia in July 2007. 21 June: Added 6 photos from a trip to Malaysia in June 2008. 21 June: Added 10 photos from a trip to Thailand in June 2008. 21 June. Added 16 photos from a trip to Borneo in June/July 2008. 17 June: Agile Tit-Tyrant from Ecuador. 17 June: Black-throated Tody-Tyrant from Ecuador. 17 June: Slaty-backed Chat-Tyrant from Ecuador. 17 June: Gray-breasted Mountain-Toucan from Ecuador. 17 June: Pearled Treerunner from Ecuador. 17 June: Russet-backed Oropendola from Ecuador. 17 June: Spectacled Whitestart from Ecuador. 17 June: Violaceous Jay from Ecuador. 10 June: Variable Seedeater (nest) from Ecuador. 10 June. Olive-crowned Yellowthroat from Ecuador. 09 June. Green Thorntail from Ecuador. 09 June: Andean Emerald from Ecuador. 09 June: Western Slaty-Antshrike from Ecuador. 09 June: Bicolored Antbird from Ecuador. 09 June: Esmeraldas Antbird from Ecuador. 09 June: Immaculate Antbird from Ecuador. 09 June: Black-capped Pygmy-Tyrant from Ecuador. 09 June: Choco Toucan from Ecuador. 09 June: Crimson-rumped Toucanet from Ecuador. 08 June: Club-winged Manakin from Ecuador. 08 June: Golden-winged Manakin from Ecuador. 08 June: Thrush-like Schiffornis from Ecuador. 08 June: Half-collared (Tawny-faced) Gnatwren from Ecuador. 08 June: White-shouldered Tanager from Ecuador. 08 June: Golden Tanager from Ecuador 08 June: Yellow-throated Bush-Tanager from Ecuador. 08 June: Ochre-breasted Tanager from Ecuador. 08 June: Wedge-billed Woodcreeper from Ecuador. 01 June: Great Antshrike from Ecuador. 01 June: Pacific Antwren from Ecuador. 01 June: Red-billed Scythebill from Ecuador. 01 June: Ecuadorian Ground-Dove from Ecuador. 01 June: Little Cuckoo from Ecuador. 01 June: Dull-colored Grassquit from Ecuador. 01 June: Variable Seedeater from Ecuador. 01 June: Streak-throated Bush-Tyrant from Ecuador. 01 June: Masked Water-Tyrant from Ecuador. 01 June: Velvet-purple Coronet from Ecuador. 01 June: Southern Rough-winged Swallow from Ecuador. 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