Category: Birds

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Rufous-collared Sparrow

To me, every bird is a work of art and thus I try to make each photo of one a work of art, though I do have some ugly photos just to document seeing a species! :-) This common Rufous-collared Sparrow was seen a lot at Hotel Savegre this trip and I have a trip gallery of Rufous-collared Sparrows that will soon become a part of the Trip Gallery for this 2023 time at Savegre. And of course in my big birds gallery there’s a larger Rufous-collared Sparrow GALLERY with birds from this and other mountain lodges and even one at a hotel in San Jose and it includes my very first photo of this species from my 2009 trip to this same hotel (then a smaller mountain lodge) which is interesting, of a mother feeding her chick a worm, if you don’t consider that gross! :-) And you can read about this tropical bird on eBird. It is found only in Central and South America. The scientific name is Zonotrichia capensis.

A mature or older adult Rufous-collared Sparrow while the feature photo is of a younger bird,
Hotel Savegre, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica.

¡Pura Vida!

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Flame-colored Tanager

Indigenous to Central America, this colorful Tanager is found only in the mountains of Mexico to Panama, from 1000m up to the timberline, on both slopes, Pacific & Caribbean. Read about him (red-orange) and her (yellow) on eBird. And you can see all my photos of this species in my Flame-colored Tanager GALLERY. I’ve seen them only in San Gerardo de Dota (3 locations) on the Pacific Slope and at El Silencio Lodge in Bajos del Toro on the Caribbean Slope. Here’s one male and one female photo . . .

Adult Female Flame-colored Tanager, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica
Immature or Juvenile Male Flame-colored Tanager, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica — A Mature Adult is in the Feature Photo at top of online Post.

¡Pura Vida!

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The Acorn Woodpecker

This distinctive little woodpecker is one I have seen only one other time, in 2015, and it too was in San Gerardo de Dota, that time at Mariam’s Cabinas, now called Quetzals Cabinas. You can see that shot and all my decent ones this year from Savegre in my Acorn Woodpecker GALLERY. It is found only in the mountains above 1500m, from California south through Central America to Columbia.

Acorn Woodpecker, Hotel Savegre, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Savegre Mirador

The Spanish word “Mirador” is translated to English as a lookout point, vantage point or viewpoint to see a “vista” which in several languages is a view or sight. With a 2.5 km hike up the hill or a 4×4 jeep ride from the Hotel Savegre you can see the hills on the other side of the Savegre River that runs through the hotel property. After our hike through the cloud forest, we saw the views and then like sissies, rode back down the mountain in the jeep! :-) I did walk it the last time I was there! :-) Here’s five photos below or see them in the gallery: Savegre Mirador.

Savegre Mirador, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica
Continue reading “Savegre Mirador”
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Thank You for 2023!

I am immensely grateful for each and every one of you who read my blog regularly, occasionally or just look at the photos! My site host reports more that 2,000+ “hits” online at my website/blog every month! 🙂 And that doesn’t count many of the 500+ subscribers who only look at the email version nor most of the 650 Facebook Friends who look at the one feature photo without clicking the the link to the post! 

I also appreciate the hundreds of comments left on the posts monthly and many “contacts” or messages through my contact page or by email. Just yesterday I responded to a man in England with questions about photographing wildlife at Esquinas Rainforest Lodge and a friend in the States commented with a meaningful Bible verse about my post yesterday on hugging the 800 year old tree. Nature is fun! :-) And you who read or just look at the pictures are the ones who make it fun for me! :-) THANKS! Keep reading or looking at the pix! And click the gallery links for more pix!

As usual, I’m ending the year with 12 photos from this year, equaling one per month but not literally from each month, since some months have weaker or fewer photos. Nor are these necessarily my top 12 favorite photos from this year, but are representative 2023 photos from “Retired in Costa Rica” this year, with birds and butterflies obviously being two favorite subjects again! :-) One shot here for the email version and eleven more online with a quick click below of “Read More”!

Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Maquenque Eco Lodge, Boca Tapada, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Continue reading “Thank You for 2023!”
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Stately Female Quetzal

While the male is more “showy” with his very long two green feathers that really impress when he is flying (that I can never capture in the camera), the female is just as colorful and maybe more “stately” in my opinion. Only one shot here, but you can see my other photos in this trips “Trip Gallery Sub-gallery”: Resplendent Quetzal Female.

Resplendent Quetzal Female, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica

And you who have visited the tropics might look at her tail and say that she looks like a Trogon – and you would be basically correct, in that the Quetzal is in the Trogon family, just a little more colorful and showy than most Trogons, though some of them are pretty colorful too! Just no long green feathers like the Quetzal Male.  :-)

Today is the day I leave San Gerardo de Dota to return to my home in Atenas, Alajuela Province, but I will continue sharing images from these beautiful mountains over the next week or so and be developing a new trip gallery, so keep reading! :-)

¡Pura Vida!

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A “Parade” of Quetzals

Well, I call it a “parade” because I’ve never seen so many Resplendent Quetzals in one place before. I got a different guide yesterday after getting no good Quetzal photos on Christmas day and told him that my goal was to get some good photos of Quetzals! He asked “Are you willing to pay $5 to go on someone’s private property?” I said “Yes!” and he said “We will go to the best place to get photos of Quetzals.” And it was! But I didn’t even get the name of it, if it has a name! It is behind a farmer’s house where he has a bunch of Wild Avocado trees planted and built several perches near them because they like to perch before and after grabbing a Wild Avocado. Note that these are much smaller or about 1/4 the size of our human Avocados. It is interesting to see them eat one. They put the whole thing in their mouth and eat all the Avocado meat off the seed, then spit the seed out. :-)

Here is only one photo because of slow internet here, but you can go to the only sub-gallery I’ve created yet in my trip galleries and see all 17 shots and most are different individuals with 2 or 3 photographed twice. It is simply called Resplendent Quetzal Male gallery and will ultimately be a part of this trip’s gallery. Tomorrow I’ll do the same thing with the female Quetzal which were there in almost equal number with the males who would fly acrobatically over the females to impress them. And if you are interested in seeing some very different photos of Quetzals from my earlier trips to San Gerardo de Dota and Monteverde, check out my Resplendent Quetzal GALLERY going back to my first trip here in 2009! :-) Quetzals are just one of the special treats in Costa Rica!

Resplendent Quetzal Male, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica.

¡Pura Vida!

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Tennessee Warbler in Costa Rica

Yeh! He’s a regular “Snow Bird” who migrates down here from my former state and others every winter. I hiked down the road to Batsu Gardens yesterday for Christmas Eve and my 9th Anniversary in Costa Rica. This Tennessee Warbler was just one of many birds I photographed, meaning I have lots of photos to process. But today’s focus is on the “Christmas Quetzal” as I was scheduled for the 5:15 am “Quetzal Tour” on Christmas Morning with one of the hotel guides. Maybe a report on that tomorrow morning! :-)

Tennessee Warbler, Batsu Gardens, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

&

Merry Christmas!

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Smallest Hummingbird

in Costa Rica and 2nd smallest in the world! (Smallest is Bee Hummingbird not found here.) Plus this one it is endemic to Costa Rica and Panama. At higher elevations it is replaced by its slightly larger “cousin” the Volcano Hummingbird. Here’s one shot made here at Hotel Savegre in San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica. Read about the Scintillant Hummingbird, Selasphorus scintilla, on eBird and see more photos from San Gerardo de Dota, both at Savegre and Batsu Gardens, AND from El Silencio Lodge, my only places to see this species, in my Scintillant Hummingbird GALLERY. Because of slow internet here, only one photo.

Scintillant Hummingbird, Hotel Savegre, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica.

This one is either a female or immature male, both of which have spotted throats. Mature males have a solid orange throat.

Have a wonderful Christmas Eve and I plan on one more post today, my 9th year anniversary of living in Costa Rica. :-)

¡Pura Vida!

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A “Lifer” Bird First Morning!

Right after breakfast in a garden behind the restaurant I got several shots of this male and a few weaker shots of the female Yellow-bellied Siskin – Spinus xanthogastrus (eBird link). Because the wifi or internet is weaker or slower here I will be trying to use only one photo per post but to include both male & female, two photos today! :-)

Yellow-bellied Siskin, Male, Hotel Savegre, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica.
Yellow-bellied Siskin, Female, Hotel Savegre, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica.

See my gallery of Yellow-bellied Siskin with more shots from this morning. This morning I went to a new garden on the hotel campus and have a lot of photos of a lot of birds that I will slowly share, one bird at a time and then tomorrow morning I plan to go to Batsu Gardens across the road for even more birds. I did get a couple of butterflies this morning and a caterpillar, but this trip will be mostly birds it appears! :-)

¡Pura Vida!