I seem to be seeing more of these this year and I thought this shot last week was particularly nice.
See more of my Tropical Kingbird photos in the gallery: Tropical Kingbird,
¡Pura Vida!
Tropical Kingbird
Reptile in the Garden!
Just one of the 245 species of reptiles in Costa Rica, an adult Black Spiny-tailed Iguana (my gallery link) climbing up the almost vertical concrete retainer-wall behind one of my gardens that is covered in vines, ground cover, ferns and whatever will cover plain ol’ concrete! (my jungle style!). Though I’ve had and photographed several juveniles in that garden, this is my first adult. 🙂 I guess he went on up the hill or driveway to K’s house and gardens! 🙂 Looking for food.
¡Pura Vida!
My CONTACT FORM Works Now!
If you have tried to contact me in the last year or two with no response, it was because the email system was not working properly and it has been replaced with WP Mail SMTP with SendLayer added (and I have no knowledge of any of that), but the techies who fixed it assure me that it will work now (and I tested it positively). Plus a captcha has been added to stop the robot scammers and spammers! So if you tried to contact me earlier with no response, please try again now as I believe it all works properly. Click the Contact button on the menu bar above or go to: https://www.charliedoggett.net/contact/
Lesson’s Motmot
In some ways I’m glad the visits aren’t every day, so I can get excited and enjoy the occasional visits of a neighborhood Lessons Motmot, Momotus lessonii (my gallery link). It lives solely in Central American lowland forests and in Costa Rica more on the Pacific Slope than the Caribbean Slope, though it is seen in the some inland forests on the Caribbean side, while the similar but less-seen Turquoise-browed Motmot (my gallery link) lives only on the Pacific Slope. I have had both in my garden, but many more of the Lesson’s. The species name of “Motmot” comes from an early morning hooting like an owl that the motmots make. 🙂 In both photos he is in a Nance Tree in my garden.
Palm Berries Pecking Order
That big bunch of green palm berries in my October 25 post turned red in November and multiple creatures began to eat with the Chachalacas and Boat-billed Flycatchers the most possessive. Below this introductory photo is a gallery showing the “pecking order” for these particular palm berries when I was out to see it. Note that I never saw the iguanas eating them (though they do eat the Nance Berries) but that doesn’t mean they didn’t partake, I just never got a photo. And they would possibly be some competition to the Chachalacas, though those birds stay in families or flocks outnumbering others, as well as being the largest. 🙂
Variegated Squirrel
There are four species of squirrels in Costa Rica but the largest population nation-wide is this Variegated Squirrel, Sciurus variegatoides (Ardilla Centroamericana en español) with the names linked to my photo gallery with shots from nation-wide. I think they are like squirrels everywhere, very hyperactive! 🙂 And though I have seen a solid black one and a mostly red one, most are variegated like this one in my garden.
White-winged Dove
As Christmas nears, it seems nice to see doves in the garden! 🙂 And this is my most regular or most seen dove, the White-winged Dove (my gallery link).
Polydamas Swallowtail
One of the late hangers-on in the late butterfly season is this Polydamas Swallowtail (my gallery link) and I’m sorry I let the camera focus on the flower more than the butterfly! 🙂
Marigold Pepper Leaf
In November this attractive leaf just popped up in my garden as what I figured was a “weed,” and thus I pulled it up, after photographing with my cell phone, and threw it away. Then I ran this leaf photo through iNaturalist and discovered that it is (was) a Marigold Pepper, Piper marginatum (iNaturallist link). Just another one of the many nature surprises I keep finding in my garden and all over Costa Rica! 🙂 What I read about this is that there are no “peppers” or fruit, but rather people use the leaves for seasoning and extracting a flavorful oil. Hmmmm, maybe I should have kept this “weed!” 🙂
See more such beauties in my Leaves & Nature Things GALLERY.
¡Pura Vida!
Lineated Woodpecker — Carpintero Lineado
One of our two woodpeckers with the “Woody Woodpecker” hair is the Lineated Woodpecker, Dryocopus lineatus, (my gallery link) “Carpintero Lineado” en español, with the Pale-billed Woodpecker being the other big hairdo woodpecker (his whole head is red!). 🙂 This one sensed that my Cecropia Tree is dying and landed first on the trunk then went straight to a dead limb looking for insects to eat. Because of their “pecking/eating” they tend to stay longer in a tree, making them sometimes easier to photograph than other birds, though the overcast afternoon was poor light that day with a glary white sky. 🙁 Here are two shots from this past Monday. See the gallery for more from all over Costa Rica. He is found only in Central & South America, with North America’s most similar bird being the Pileated Woodpecker (linked to my gallery of one seen on Nashville’s Stones River Greenway).
