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Hilltop Morning Walk

Margaret, the lady birder from Canada who was in a nearby casita for one month, did most of her birding right here in Roca Verde, including uphill above my casita and on Calle Nueva, the country lane alongside Roca Verde. (She also walked to other neighborhoods in town and had a few trips away, including to Rancho Naturalista & the Tarcoles River.)

But her finding so many birds here got me back into more birding where I live and beyond my own garden where I have no feeders now which has reduced the numbers. Friday morning I spent an hour walking up and down the hill above my house with the result of the following photos of vistas and birds.

Not bad for less than a 200 meter walk from my house! And I know I have already shared similar views and birds on this blog before, but each new time in the viewfinder is a little bit different perspective, a different light, a different pose or action of the bird, and a new joy for me! No new bird species this time, though the immature Blue-black Grassquit was my first immature version of that species! Notice how different she looks from her mother or some other adult female Blue-black Grassquit in photos above.    🙂    I loved the walk and will keep doing it occasionally!

“In every walk with nature, one receives far more than he seeks.”  – John Muir

Vistas

 

Birds

 

“I love walking because it clears your mind, enriches the soul, takes away stress and opens up your eyes to a whole new world .”    – Claudette Dudley

 

See also Walking Calle Nueva Atenas, the country lane alongside Roca Verde or . . .

Walking Atenas – emphasizing flowers in this small farming town in Central Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Tractor Centipede?

There are literally thousands of species of centipedes in Costa Rica, thus the name “Tractor” is dubious but the closest match I could find online for this centipede on my terrace today.

It is interesting to note that centipedes don’t have 100 legs or feet as the name implies and neither do millipedes have a thousand.   🙂    Centipedes have two pair of legs per body section and they stick out to the side like those in this photo, while a millipede looks more like a worm with his legs (one pair per section) barely showing and he is a slower mover than a centipede plus burrows into the ground. There are thousands of species of each here and I wonder if all the species even have names? Regardless, they are interesting to watch!

 The centipede was happy quite,

Until the toad in fun

Asked him which leg went after which,

Which drove him into such a pitch

He lay distracted in a ditch,

Considering how to run. 

~Author Unknown

¡Pura Vida!

See my photo collection of Millipedes in Costa Rica with this appearing to be my first centipede photo. Or if you really like funny-looking tiny creatures, check out my whole More Insects gallery which is separate from my butterflies gallery. Our world is full of so many interesting creatures!   🙂   And I love my constant exploration of nature in my retirement in Costa Rica!

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Spanish Names Added to CR Birds Gallery

For the last two weeks I have been adding the Spanish name after the English name on each of my 337 Costa Rica Bird Galleries, one bird at a time! My source was the fairly new book Aves de Costa Rica, Guia de Campo by Garrigues and Dean which is available only in bookstores and lodges here in Costa Rica, while the English version, Birds of Costa Rica is available on Amazon.com as well.  This Spanish version is a translation of this older English version, Second Edition and is my first printed source of Spanish names for the birds here in Costa Rica. Nicaragua had one first that is bilingual!   🙂

I should add that for my English bird information I now use the more up-to-date Princeton Field Guide to Birds of Central America. My online source of birding information is Cornell’s eBird and Neotropical Birds websites. But even they do not have the Spanish names added to their articles. Wikipedia does but it is not specific to Costa Rica like the above book and my web gallery and I’m not sure of their sources.

Needless to say, this makes my web gallery of Costa Rica Birds one of the best online and the only one I know of that is bilingual, though I only have photos of 337 species out of over 900 here – so a long way to go!   🙂

“The presence of a single bird can change everything for one who appreciates them.”
― Julie Zickefoose

¡Pura Vida!

 

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Chachalaca

I possibly have more photos of this species of bird from my yard than from any other location, though I have seen them all over Costa Rica. It is a large chicken-sized bird that usually moves in flocks, but this one was solo at breakfast this morning in my Guarumo or Cecropia Tree (Wikipedia article).

When together as a flock they chatter a lot and thus the fun nickname here of “Chachalacas” for a group of people chattering or all talking at the same time.  🙂

There are two types in Costa Rica, this Gray-headed Chachalaca (link to Neotropical Birds site) found only in Central America from Honduras to the beginnings of Columbia, and the rarer Plain Chachalaca found here only in parts of Guanacaste (our Northwest Province) which I am yet to see or photograph.

On the Neotropical Birds site be sure to listen to their calls which is what wakes me some mornings!   🙂   And for more of my photos of this bird, both in my yard and other Costa Rica locations, see my photo gallery Gray-headed Chachalaca.   Another one of my tropical friends here!   🙂

A chattering Good Morning from Atenas, Costa Rica!

¡Pura Vida!

🙂

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Village Morning

The Featured Photo is a shot from my terrace at breakfast this morning looking toward our mountain village of Atenas. I live in a peaceful place, appropriately called tranquilo in Spanish by the people here.   🙂

-o-

 

My Google Timeline Report for February:

WALKING: 36 km, 9 hours

BY VEHICLES: 351 km, 13 hours (Around town by taxi, several Alajuela trips by bus and the longest trip was to Heredia, north of San Jose. The walking was an almost daily walk to town plus 3 local birding walks with a Canadian friend.)

And they reminded me that my most distant destination for February was Heredia from which came my photo below. Should I be worried that Google knows so much about me?   🙂

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Heredia Historic Building by the Spaniards – photo by Charlie.

¡Pura Vida!

Retired in Costa Rica

See Charlie Doggett’s COSTA RICA Photo Gallery.

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Praying for Nashville

This morning I prayed for Nashville, Tennessee which was devastated last night with a major overnight tornado.

For those who don’t know, I lived in Nashville for about 37 years (1977-2014, minus 3 in The Gambia) and lived in two of the neighborhoods hit by the tornado last night, Germantown and Hermitage, thus the destruction is very real to me plus I knew people in other areas hit bad, like East Nashville.

But I also know Nashvillians and that they will work together to get through this and be a stronger community because of it. Yet still, I send my sympathies to the many families who lost loved ones last night (19 at last report seen).  Washington Post Article on Storm.

bible verses to get through hard times Beautiful Some inspirational quotes to you through the tough

To Nashville

Love & Pura Vida from your friend in Costa Rica.

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More Bloomin’ Trees!

At breakfast this morning I just zoomed out a little further for some additional trees that are blooming now. Sorry I didn’t do it earlier when there where some bright orange trees and yellow trees, but I think I’ve shown them before and they are somewhere in my gallery called Flora & Forest Costa Rica, if you want more!   🙂

 

“They blossomed, they did not talk about blossoming.”
― Dejan Stojanovic

 

¡Pura Vida!

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Un-immersed

Is that a word?   🙂   Well, anyway, I finished my week of Spanish Language Immersion and can say that it was very good or helpful! The most effective language immersion class/living is when one does it for two months straight or longer, then you are more or less fluent, people tell me. If I had my move to Costa Rica to do over, I would have scheduled the first two months in language immersion, but I didn’t – so I will keep up my plodding along here in Atenas with a tutor two hours a week along with relating to locals in Spanish and I may go back to Heredia for some more one week experiences in the future. We will see. It is not as expensive as my birding trips but nor is it as much fun!   🙂

The featured photo is from my breakfast table back home in Atenas this morning (got in last night) with that pretty pink-blooming tree on the horizon. It is always good to “get back home” after a trip. And in a lesser sense, I still have a type of language immersion living in Atenas, just not in my house! Though I guess I could talk to myself in Spanish!   🙂   I use only Spanish here with taxistas, at the supermercado, mostly in restaurants & other business and with my tutor – so not bad – but still not quite like the full immersion of this past week.

I recommend the experience and really liked the folks at Tico Lingo which I recommend, though I can’t compare it to any of the many other such programs here or in other countries. My uncle and some friends had good experiences at a similar program in Antigua, Guatemala while I have known others to do it in various places in Mexico – thus there are many opportunities if you are interested! And remember that living in a local home that speaks only Spanish is maybe just as important as the several hours of class work in the school.   🙂   AND using the language when you leave!  🙂  And I just now found one website that compares 18 such schools mostly geared to youth also wanting a beach experience and it doesn’t even include Tico Lingo, but if interested check out: Language Schools. My relocation tour stopped at two of these schools for quick introductions and there are more than these!

Speaking in Spanish with other students was also helpful. I was at a lower level than the one group class during my week, thus I had a solo class or 3 hours of personal tutoring each morning which was definitely best for me, but I did go out to lunch with some others and practiced with them a little, though it’s too easy to relapse into English with other Americans!   🙂

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They have “Graduation” every week! Me with my certificate & Profesora Ana.
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And as I left my home for the week 4-year-old Daniela said “adios” to me!

 

And of course I have a “Trip Gallery” of photos from this week, titled:

2020 February 22-28 — Heredia for Spanish Immersion

 

“The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.”
~Ludwig Wittgenstein

¡Pura Vida!

 

 

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Toucan Rescue Ranch

png-logoOne of the things Heredia is know for is The Toucan Rescue Ranch, which is actually in a suburb, San Isidro de Heredia, which like so many other such places in Costa Rica was started not too long ago by someone dedicated to wildlife, and all the animals that recuperate from injuries or whatever to a level of independence are released into the wild.

After class today I had a quick lunch of something other than the rice and beans I’ve been having here 3 times a day and took a taxi to the rescue ranch for a pre-scheduled “Educational Walk” at 1:30 that lasted until nearly 3:30 and my taxi was waiting on me when finished. Plus a funny thing about the tour, there were 14 people on it with 5 of us from Atenas! Two retiree couples from Atenas were there, plus me. I have met both couples in the past but don’t really know them – another one of those “small world” kind of things!   🙂

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Our guide was a really nice & knowledgeable young man from Hungary (the country).

 

Birds at Toucan Ranch

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Other Animals

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Flowers

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San Rafael Church

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On the way back through the suburb of San Rafael de Heredia my taxista stopped here for me to photograph this Gothic architecture church building, second tallest in Costa Rica.

 

And of course I have a “Trip Gallery” of photos from this week, titled:

2020 February 22-28 — Heredia for Spanish Immersion

 

¡Pura Vida!