It’s been a couple of years since I’ve seen a Brown Jay (my gallery link), so I was glad to find these two near the dock for our boat tour.
Brown Jay
Blue-gray Tanager
There are more than water birds on Rio Tarcoles with both shores lined with forests. And this is one of the more common Central & South American birds that even comes to my garden. See more in my gallery: Blue-gray Tanager.
¡Pura Vida!
Black-necked Stilt
This unmistakable to identify, black & white shore bird, with unreal hot pink & very long legs, is found throughout the Americas and on both slopes of Costa Rica in both fresh & salt waters. See my photo collection of this unique bird in the linked gallery: Black-necked Stilt.
Black Vulture Juvenile
I’ve seen many black vultures over the years here but never before a juvenile. A family of at least 3 or maybe 4 children were on the ground in the grasses adjacent the river with no adult seen near them. I hesitate to call them babies, but still pretty young with some semi-downy feathers and unable to fly. I guess the nest is on the ground in those grasses, though it seems dangerous to me, even for the larger birds. So I asked Google and its AI said . . .
“Yes, black vultures commonly nest on the ground, usually in secluded areas like thickets, hollow logs, caves, or abandoned buildings. They do not build traditional nests, instead laying their eggs directly on the ground, soil, or debris.”
For a lot of photos of adult Black Vultures, see my gallery: Black Vulture
¡Pura Vida!
Bare-throated Tiger-Heron
Another common water bird on most all rivers in Costa Rica is this Bare-throated Tiger-Heron – Tigrisoma meicanum (my gallery link). Fairly common on both slopes from Mexico to Columbia.
¡Pura Vida!
Female Anhingas
We saw only females. The males are solid black and usually seen on the river. See my photo gallery: Anhinga – Anhinga anhinga. Every river and lake in Costa Rica has Anhinga’s on both slopes. Often called “Snake Bird” because after they dive into the water to catch a fish, they swim back to shore with only the long neck above water, appearing as a swimming snake. 🙂
Rare Reddish Egret
The Reddish Egret, Egretta rufescens (my gallery link) is seldom seen and usually in the mouth of a river as it was here in the mouth of Rio Tarcoles. Though I did see one upriver at Rancho Humo, Palo Verde NP, Rio Tempisque, a pale morph. This time it is a dark morph. It is rare and mainly seen on the Pacific Coast when seen. Only my second sighting and a different morph this time.
Amazon Kingfisher
Eating a tiny fish on Rio Tarcoles last week. See more of my photos of this species in the gallery: Amazon Kingfisher (linked).
The other Kingfisher we saw was a Green Kingfisher which I will share later as one of the many birds seen on the Tarcoles!
¡Pura Vida!
Collared Trogons
Here’s one shot each of a male & female Collared Trogon, Trogon collaris (my gallery link). They were the first two birds we saw in the Los Angeles Cloud Forest Reserve or Villa Blanca Cloud Forest Resort yesterday. Just waiting on us as we arrived! 🙂 This particular trogon is found only in Central America and the northern portions of South America. And as you can tell from my collection of photos (above linked gallery), is found only in the higher elevations like where we were yesterday, inside a cloud. 🙂
Yellow-headed Caracara
On all my past trips I’ve seen and photographed this Yellow-headed Caracara -Daptrius chimachima (my gallery link) but always in the past he was on a log, tree limb or the ground and once flying low near the ground. But this one of him flying high with that great wingspan showing is new for me. Not a good photo of a moving bird, 100 meter up, shot from a moving boat, but I at least I sort of captured that wide & colorful wingspan. Just one of many, many birds you can see on Rio Tarcoles! 🙂
And today is the day we leave early (5am) for a 6:30 birding hike at Villa Blanca Cloud Forest Hotel, north of San Ramon. Not as many birds but they will all be different than seen at Tarcoles and Carara Park and followed by a really good “Farm to Table” Breakfast and a visit to their gardens. I was there in 2017, my only time before today. On top of a mountain! This particular cloud forest reserve was the specific request of one of my Canadian birding friends. Walter is our transportation. And photos from there will be shared along with the Tuesday trip photos over the next few weeks. Every day is an adventure in Costa Rica! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!