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Just the views are a reason to walk even if no birds or flowers! 🙂 The cow pasture is across from my house, included to show you how much higher the grass is in rainy season. All other views are from my street just up the hill from my house. And people have similar views all over Costa Rica! One of many reasons I retired in Costa Rica! Pura Vida! 🙂
And CLICK an image to enlarge it!
For more Costa Rica Vistas, see that gallery.
¡Pura Vida!
My hour and twenty minutes walk up the hill and back this morning provided many creativity opportunities as always! I almost overloaded this post with 4 categories of photos but will save the others for the next 3 days: butterflies, flowers and vistas. Today please enjoy the 8 birds I photographed. CLICK image to enlarge. Pura vida!
See also my BIRDS photo gallery.
¡Pura Vida!
I have not been regular in keeping my readers updated and sorry for that! I figured what was going on here does not affect you in other countries, but it may. For example, my sister sent me a birthday card and it bounced back to her. Our Ministry of Health includes the post office as part of the “Border Closing” which has been in effect since March, prohibiting travelers or mail from all other countries to help stop the spread of the virus.
I had to send my application for absent-tee voting by DHL (which along with UPS does work at a higher cost). And I get internet orders through my courier service Miami address, at Aeropost which flies packages directly here to our Customs Office for clearance.
LIMITED HUMAN FLIGHTS BEGIN AUGUST 1 from only Europe and Canada which will greatly help our struggling tourism businesses. Sorry USA! But you are the most dangerous country to let in right now, along with many other Latin American countries. I do not know what the restrictions will be on European and Canadian travelers, but I’m sure there will be requirements of some kind and maybe quarantines. We recently had another spike in cases, thus they are extra cautious while the tourism businesses beg for them to open. 🙂 Tough times!
Cars can travel on limited days only and everyone must wear a mask in public everywhere in the country. This week is our second week of restaurants providing only “to go” and “delivery” meals – no inside sit-down dining which might restart next week, but haven’t heard for sure. No barbershop until July 31 and I need a haircut! 🙂
But Costa Rica has the fewest cases of COVID19 of any other Latin American country which is something to be thankful for and proud of our national government for! So glad I live in Costa Rica now!
Featured Image is “Morning in the Rainforest” from Maquenque of course.
¡Pura Vida!
Charlie Doggett’s COSTA RICA Photo Gallery
“Nature as Art” was the name of my little photo business for a few years in Nashville and I was reminded of that theme during my week at Maquenque with lots of “little things” I photographed and enjoyed just seeing! 🙂
As much as I love most art, no artist can compete with the creative handiwork of God in Nature!
All art is but imitation of nature.
~Seneca the Younger
For more of Maquenque “Nature as Art” see these galleries:
or
¡Pura Vida!
Government bureaucracies are a pain everywhere in the world, even in paradise-like Costa Rica – though no worse than the states and West Africa topped them all in my limited world experiences – BUT – staying on focus:
For your first 3 years + in Costa Rica you can apply for and get a “temporary” (2 years) or in my case as a retiree it is called “Residente Pensionado,” meaning you will have two of these before you can apply for a “Residente Permanente,” which is not really permanent, but does last 5 years which is better than 2! 🙂
So, even though my second pensionado Cedula (name of resident card) was good until this July 26 (almost there) I followed the advice of my lawyer/translator and applied last year on July 26, one year ahead and still do not have it, though Immigration claims to do it in about 6 months. After 7 months they informed us that they were overworked and behind on applications with so many applying for residency (which I believe). So they gave me a little document that I have been carrying around in my wallet that tells people if my card is out of date Immigration still accepts it because they are backlogged in their work. Whew!
Finally I get an appointment to pay the four different fees ($400+) and get photographed for my new Cedula last week. Wellllllll, because there was a spike in COVID19 cases, the Ministry of Health shut literally everything down last week and most everything this week, but did reschedule my appointment to this week in Alajuela, my provincial capital. Instead of going to a bank to pay and the post office for photo and other paperwork, Belinda (my British Lawyer and Spanish Translator) wanted to try a new office in a suburb of Alajuela in one of the banks where you can do everything in one place (seems more efficient).
And it was fairly smooth with the mask requirements and the fact that my agent was a new young man employee doing his first permanent residency with the help of a senior agent. Very friendly and kind and it only took 2.5 hours! (Ohhh! in Gambia it would have taken all day!)
Belinda thought it funny that I wore both a mask and a face shield and made the featured photo on her I-Phone and asked me say something about it for her video which I tried to insert below but was told: “Sorry, this file type is not supported here.” (Apple junk!) thus I repeat the photo below. At least I am safe and I’m helping keep others safe, regardless how ridiculous the old man looks! 🙂 And masks are a national requirement here!
And oh yes, they won’t let you smile for the photo, just like the U.S. Embassy for my Passport! Guess all this is suppose to be serious stuff! But just another adventure for me!
🙂
¡Pura Vida!
My last bird post from Maquenque is two of the largest and most frequently seen groups of birds – Flycatchers and the more colorful Tanagers. Enjoy! And to see all of the bird species I saw on this trip to Maquenque, go to the Maquenque 2020 BIRDS Gallery or better yet, see all my June-July 2020 Maquenque Photos! 🙂
Below, please CLICK an image to enlarge.
See my Maquenque Birds 2020 Gallery from this trip with 61 species!
See also my Costa Rica Birds Gallery. 343 species!
And for more about the place: Maquenque Eco-Lodge & Reserve Website.
Or my travel gallery Maquenque Eco-Lodge July 2020 Visit.
And a new website: Visit Boca Tapada with info on all the lodges there.
And now I’ll get back to photos and reports about life here in Atenas, Costa Rica where everyday life is far from boring! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
I got all three of the Saltators found in this part of the country with only one other species (Streaked Saltator) found only in the southwest corner of Costa Rica around the Osa Peninsula and the only one I’ve not photographed.
Plus I got 4 of the many types of “blackbirds” here. And if you didn’t see the post about a Oropendola mother raising a blackbird, you might want to read A BLM Example in Nature. CLICK image to enlarge.
See my Maquenque Birds 2020 Gallery from this trip with 61 species!
See also my Costa Rica Birds Gallery.
And for more about the place: Maquenque Eco-Lodge & Reserve Website.
Or my travel gallery Maquenque Eco-Lodge July 2020 Visit
¡Pura Vida!
“Big” is somewhat relative, but just another way to group my bird photos from a week at Maquenque Eco-Lodge and Reserve. I used two photos of the common Turkey Vulture to show the easiest way to tell the difference in him and the Black Vulture – the white on the underside of the Turkey Vulture goes all the way across and the white on bottom of Black Vulture is only on the tips of the wings. The Red and Gray Heads are another way, but not always clearly visible and as seen here the red is not always very obvious.
And the Featured Image is a Laughing Falcon, one of my favorite big bird, just hard to get close to for a great photo, but I have a few times as you can see in my CR Birds Gallery.
CLICK image to enlarge.
See my Maquenque Birds 2020 Gallery from this trip with 61 species!
See also my Costa Rica Birds Gallery.
And for about the place, Maquenque Eco-Lodge & Reserve Website.
Or my travel gallery Maquenque Eco-Lodge July 2020 Visit
¡Pura Vida!
There are two species of Oropendolas common in Cost Rica and at Maquenque, the Montezuma Oropendola (3 photos here) and the less common Chestnut-headed Oropendola (1 photo here). There are two more Oropendolas in Central America, both in Panama with the Crested Oropendola occasionally coming over the border into southern Costa Rica and the Black Oropendola is found only further in southern Panama. Male & female appear the same in all Oropendolas.
This week at Maquenque I observed a mother Montezuma Oropendola feeding a baby or juvenile blackbird (either a Melodious Blackbird or a Giant Cowbird if the eye is red like some said). It was interesting to watch and the pair are in one photo below and I featured them in a post while I was there titled A BLM Example in Nature.
CLICK an image to enlarge or start a manual slide show.
See my Maquenque Birds 2020 Gallery from this trip with 61 species!
See also my Costa Rica Birds Gallery.
And for about the place, Maquenque Eco-Lodge & Reserve Website.
Or my travel gallery Maquenque Eco-Lodge July 2020 Visit
¡Pura Vida!
I have completed two new photo galleries from my recent trip to Maquenque. Of course the Maquenque Gallery is the biggest with most photos, but we stopped for coffee in Cinchona on the way back home and in 15 to 20 minutes I photographed 6 birds with two of them “Lifers” (new to me)! And of course the San Fernando Waterfall! And since it is a totally different location than Maquenque and my travel galleries are about locations – two galleries! 🙂
You have been getting samples or teasers on the blog (with 4 more to go through the 22nd) while this is the real collection from my #1 birding lodge and photos of 61 species this trip! Plus photos of lots of other nature! Check it out! And similar to the blog, you click photos to enlarge or sometimes open a sub-gallery for that bird or topic.
Maquenque Eco-Lodge, July 2020 Gallery
And the separate gallery for our coffee break stop on the way home at Soda & Mirador Cinchona for a waterfall and 6 birds, 2 of which are “Lifers” for me!
And in the interest of Coronavirus Safety I have no more trips planned until the middle of September, my annual Caribe Beach trip to Hotel Banana Azul where I will again be a “loner” doing things “solo” for safety. This place is more about relaxation than serious birding but there will be birds! 🙂 And solo walks on the beach searching for nature gems! And always enjoying someone else’s cooking! And reading! 🙂
And FYI, because of some spikes in Coronavirus cases, Costa Rica has shut down again until maybe August with no bars and restaurants only for “take out” or para llevar! (Or delivery, called “express” here.)
And even the banks were closed this week! I hope not next week as I’m trying to renew my residency! And for two weeks at least, private cars are allowed on the road for only 1 day a week based on tag number. We take the virus seriously here! And most of us wear masks. The borders are still closed to everyone until announced otherwise. They had hoped for limited border openings in August but that is not looking likely now, especially for Americans, the most infected country in the world! (Love your money but not your virus!) 🙂
Stay safe everyone and wear your mask!
¡Pura Vida!