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Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
Rancho Naturalista, Turrialba, Costa Rica
Photo by Charlie Doggett

These guys have been feeding a lot in my garden and at the hummingbird feeder I inherited from Anthony.

Watch One Feed on Porterweed Flowers – A VIDEO
You can see what it is like with this video another nature photographer (Steven Williams)  here in Costa Rica posted on an Expat Facebook page. He calls it a Berylline Hummingbird, but I disagree. Those live mainly in Mexico with a few as far south as Honduras, still a long way from Costa Rica! I think it is a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird which is what we have a lot of in Costa Rica. Either way, this is how they feed in my garden:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F2Hw_Zctoc   (Video is slow-motion, not real time!)
See also my Costa Rica Birds photo gallery

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Tropical Blossom Haiku

In My Home Garden
Atenas, Costa Rica

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INTERESTING NEWS FROM COSTA RICA: 
Environmental agency orders suspension of pineapple farming project
which means that the American imperialists (Del Monte) cannot destroy any more of our wetlands and forests. Yay! I’m glad that the government here is defending our environment. This particular case is on the Osa Peninsula near Corcovado where I just traveled. Costa Rica is recognized internationally for protecting its land and environment and has 25% of the land set aside as national parks or reserves. And don’t feel sorry for Del Monte. There is plenty of legal land they can build pineapple farms on with plenty of cheap labor to make them rich!

The Dollar is at its highest value in Costa Rica right now, meaning a good time for U.S. people to visit or vacation or buy property here when you get more colones for the dollar, as much as C581 this article says. It had been at around 530 for a long time which was good, but this is better!  🙂 Best in the last 7 years says the article!

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Fern Haiku & My Simple Life

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CATCH UP ON MY SIMPLE LIFE
Today I took the bus to Alajuela, getting off before downtown to get a few items at PriceSmart (our warehouse store like Costco). Then a taxi to Walmart for some other items they have no one else does, and then walked three blocks to the big City Mall where I finally found some thicker short socks, looked at some kitchen items in the expensive but nice Cemaco Store and ate a burger in the food court. Then taxi to bus station for bus trip back to Atenas by 3. That was my day. I watched the 30 minute ABC World News which is as much TV news as I can handle now. But even that makes me continue to thank God I live in Costa Rica! 
Rainy season is good and normal this year with late afternoon showers with some into the night and the rest of the day beautiful. Everything is green and attractive this time of year. My favorite. 
For my angiogram June 2, my young friend Jason Quesada is going with me and will stay with me since I will be put to sleep. I’m also using Walter Ramirez for my transportation to and from the hospital in San Jose. So I feel good about it even with my bad Spanish, I will have someone who is truly bilingual! And they don’t speak much Ingles in Hospital Mexico!
No more trips until July. I love my simple life!
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Maracas are Flourishing!

Maraca Plant or Shampoo Ginger
My Garden, Atenas, Costa
As always: Click Image to Enlarge

I had the gardeners clean out my garden today, cutting back the plumbago which was taking over everything like a plant-eating monster and this is part of what was opened up. New surprises every day in a garden! And I used to be happy with one or two of these flowers! 20+ now! This sure is different from gardening in Tennessee!  🙂

See also My Garden Photo Gallery  or  the bigger FLORA & FORESTS gallery

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Whale’s Tail

Use your imagination. This bit of beach on the South Pacific Coast
near Uvita is famously called “The Whale’s Tail.” Sorta looks like it!
And this is the area where you can go Whale Watching in August/September.

And other people have better photos than this one I made from our little plane to Drake Bay.

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Corcovado! THE BOOK

A 100 page book with 84 photos form two visits to Corcovado.
 CLICK the image or this to preview the book on Blurb.com.

Note that I set up the softcover book with “standard paper” which makes it a little cheaper, but the hardcover is set up with a higher quality paper for better photos. Sorry they are so expensive, but most “print on demand” self-publishing is, since they often print just one book at a time. And see my Facebook page for how you can make and order your first book with Blurb at 30% off.

See also my trip gallery on the recent Drake Bay Trip  for some of the same photos and

For the 2009 Corcovado Trip, click for my old Pbase gallery which includes photos from that visit to Corcovado along with my first visit to the cloud forest of San Gerado de Dota.

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Photos of Hotel Aguia de Osa, Drake Bay

My Front Porch Hammock & Bay View
Aguila de Osa Lodge, Drake Bay, Costa Rica

 

My Front Door & Outside Chairs
Aguila de Osa Lodge, Drake Bay, Costa Rica

 

My Room, All those windows have only screens. High ceiling with Fan!
Aguila de Osa Lodge, Drake Bay, Costa Rica

 

One of 3 Flights of Stairs UP to Rooms on Top of Hill
Aguila de Osa Lodge, Drake Bay, Costa Rica

 

One of 3 Flights of Stairs DOWN from Rooms on Top of Hill
Aguila de Osa Lodge, Drake Bay, Costa Rica

 

Exit Sign from Drake Bay Community Trail to Hotel
Aguila de Osa Lodge, Drake Bay, Costa Rica

 

3 Meals a Day Overlooking the Bay 
 Though some trips included a box lunch on the day trip 
Aguila de Osa Lodge, Drake Bay, Costa Rica

 

Gourmet Meals Served Three Times a Day! 
Plus Happy Hour with Appetizers!
Aguila de Osa Lodge, Drake Bay, Costa Rica

 

Hotel’s Fleet of Boats is Important to Guest Transportation!
Aguila de Osa Lodge, Drake Bay, Costa Rica

 

As Are the Boat Captains!
Aguila de Osa Lodge, Drake Bay, Costa Rica

 

A Familiar Scene Coming and Going from the Hotel
Aguila de Osa Lodge, Drake Bay, Costa Rica

 

And the Hotel Pier is Really the “Front Door” to Hotel
You get here by boat or by walking a trail. No road for cars.
Aguila de Osa Lodge, Drake Bay, Costa Rica

I loved it here! Being gone the bulk of the daytime on adventures kept me from missing air-conditioning, which in the hot and humid coastal rainforest would have been better for resting inside during the day. But who does that with all the things to do during the day? At night the ceiling fan was more than adequate and I actually turned it off two nights and used the blanket.

The tour possibilities, guides and all other staff were simply great in every way! One family went deep-sea fishing and the kitchen cooked one of their fish for their dinner that night and the rest of us got a little as part of the appetizers! The food was excellent as was the food service. I highly recommend Hotel Aguila de Osa for anyone considering Drake Bay. Of course I have not tried any of the other hotels here to compare.  This was not my best birding location, but was very good and a big variety of total animals to see both in and out of the park. I was disappointed I did not see a wild Tapir, though people on other tours did. Wildlife is always unpredictable and sightings cannot be scheduled!
It is not easy to compare this to my visit to the southern end of Corcovado Park at Carate Village and the two inns of Luna Lodge and Lookout Inn. That was on a 2009 Birding Tour from the states and the link is to my old PBase Photo Gallery of the total trip that included San Gerado de Dota in the mountains, so more than Corcovado. It was my first trip to Costa Rica and I fell in love with the country immediately! I may have seen and photographed more birds on that trip, but this was a better and more relaxed trip with more variety. And though Luna Lodge is very nice with gourmet food, Aguila might have even better food and my room was better. But glad I’ve seen both ends of this great rainforest park! Next time I may try one of those lodges on the east side of park.

Though not made yet, I will soon have a “Trip Gallery” on this trip in a new area of my Costa Rica galleries simply called TRIPS.  And of course as always I use every trip to increase my collection of bird photos and other categories of photos in my big gallery called Charlie Doggett’s COSTA RICA.  If interested in Costa Rica you might enjoy exploring my galleries.

And this concludes the Blog reports on my recent Corcovado-Drake Bay trip, though more photos may pop up here in the future. A 6-day trip is the longest I have made since my move here and I like longer visits in the same location! A friend has scheduled a week-long trip here soon for birding and will be in a different hotel every night. He may see more birds but will be physically exhausted by the end of the week! I’m too old for that now!  🙂   Pura Vida!

My TRIPS Photo Gallery on this Drake Bay Trip

And  my Lodges & Hotels of Costa Rica photo gallery

Costa Rica to soon unveil its first hydrogen-powered bus!