With forests lining much of the Rio Tarcoles, there are also a lot of “regular” birds like these Kiskadees (linked to my gallery). Just 2 shots in this post, one perched and one flying, with more in the gallery . . .
Great Kiskadee
Great Egret
Always one of my favorite on the water as you can see in my Great Egret GALLERY.
Just on shot here. Go to the gallery for some of the several others made.
¡Pura Vida!
Common Black Hawk
This is the most seen hawk of all for me, almost everywhere I go. See more of my photos in the gallery Common Black Hawk. Not super good photos this trip, but this one of him flying right above me (close) is kind of interesting! 🙂
Brown Jay
It’s been a couple of years since I’ve seen a Brown Jay (my gallery link), so I was glad to find these two near the dock for our boat tour.
Blog Technical Issues
I apologize to the more than 500 subscribers of my blog “Retired in Costa Rica,” for no email notices now for maybe two weeks. Various tech help support have tried different things and this post is a trial for them to see if it triggers the automatic email notice of each post.
You can see the missed daily email posts for the past few weeks online at: https://www.charliedoggett.net/blog/
Blue-gray Tanager
There are more than water birds on Rio Tarcoles with both shores lined with forests. And this is one of the more common Central & South American birds that even comes to my garden. See more in my gallery: Blue-gray Tanager.
¡Pura Vida!
Black-necked Stilt
This unmistakable to identify, black & white shore bird, with unreal hot pink & very long legs, is found throughout the Americas and on both slopes of Costa Rica in both fresh & salt waters. See my photo collection of this unique bird in the linked gallery: Black-necked Stilt.
Black Vulture Juvenile
I’ve seen many black vultures over the years here but never before a juvenile. A family of at least 3 or maybe 4 children were on the ground in the grasses adjacent the river with no adult seen near them. I hesitate to call them babies, but still pretty young with some semi-downy feathers and unable to fly. I guess the nest is on the ground in those grasses, though it seems dangerous to me, even for the larger birds. So I asked Google and its AI said . . .
“Yes, black vultures commonly nest on the ground, usually in secluded areas like thickets, hollow logs, caves, or abandoned buildings. They do not build traditional nests, instead laying their eggs directly on the ground, soil, or debris.”
For a lot of photos of adult Black Vultures, see my gallery: Black Vulture
¡Pura Vida!
Bare-throated Tiger-Heron
Another common water bird on most all rivers in Costa Rica is this Bare-throated Tiger-Heron – Tigrisoma meicanum (my gallery link). Fairly common on both slopes from Mexico to Columbia.
¡Pura Vida!
Female Anhingas
We saw only females. The males are solid black and usually seen on the river. See my photo gallery: Anhinga – Anhinga anhinga. Every river and lake in Costa Rica has Anhinga’s on both slopes. Often called “Snake Bird” because after they dive into the water to catch a fish, they swim back to shore with only the long neck above water, appearing as a swimming snake. 🙂
