Birds of the Neotropical Realm

by c. artuso

   

The Neotropic realm extends from northern Mexico to the southern tip of South America. Its exact border with the Nearctic region is usually defined as a somewhat abstract line that comes in south of Baja California, then dips a little in the centre of Mexico before exiting Mexico's east coast a little south of the southern tip of Florida. The birds on this page were all photographed south of Gomez Farias in San Luis Potosi (just south of the Tropic of Cancer). This realm is the most diverse on earth, with well over 3000 species of birds!! Northern South America is the richest area of this extremely rich realm, countries like Peru and Columbia having in excess of 1700 species each!

My experience in the Neotropics is limited to one visit to Mexico, and therefore you won't find the vast majority of this region's magnificent birds on this site… yet! Common names (following Sibley and Monroe) are listed in alphabetical order, alternative names (for example those used in Howell) are given in brackets. The abbreviation "f:" indicates "formerly" and is used to give the former names of recently split species. The status of endangered species (according to Birdlife International) is given in brackets.

Anhinga	Audubon's Oriole	Bat Falcon	Beautiful Hummingbird
Black-and-white Owl	Black-cheeked Woodpecker	Black-headed Trogon	Blue-crowned Motmot
Boat-billed Flycatcher	Bridled Sparrow	Brown Jay	Brown-backed Solitaire
Buff-throated Saltator	Brown-crested Flycatcher	Cassin's Kingbird	Cassin's Vireo
Collared Forest-Falcon	Collared Trogon	Common Black Hawk	Common Bush Tanager
Common Pauraque	Crested Caracara	Dwarf Jay (vulnerable)	Elegant (Blue-hooded) Euphonia
Fork-tailed Flycatcher	Golden-browed Warbler	Golden-hooded Tanager	Golden-olive Woodpecker
Greenish Elaenia	Grey Silky-flycatcher	Grey-breasted Woodpecker	Greyish Saltator
Grey-lined (Grey) Hawk	Groove-billed Ani	Hepatic Tanager	Hermit Warbler
Hooded Warbler	Keel-billed Toucan	Laughing Falcon	Limpkin
Magnificent Frigatebird	Masked Tityra	Military Macaw (vulnerable)	Montezuma Oropendola
Mottled Owl	Mountain Trogon	Northern Beardless Tyrannulet	Northern Parula