Yellow-Shouldered Grosbeak Gallery

The Yellow-Shouldered Grosbeak, or Parkerthraustes humeralis, is a distinctive but seldom seen inhabitant of the canopy of terra firma forests of the western and southern Amazon basin. Despite several trips to the Ecuadorian Amazon, I hadn't seen it until recently while birding from the new observation tower at Cristalino Lodge in Mato Grosso, where our guide Jorge Lopes taped a pair in that was foraging with a mixed flock (he digiscoped the second and third photographs using Aimee's camera). The monotypic genus honors the legendary neotropical ornithologist Ted Parker, who is long overdue for a biography, in my opinion.