Category: Birds

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Collared Redstart

A tiny bird sometimes difficult to see in a thick Cloud Forest even with the bright colors, found only above 1,500 meters in the highlands of Costa Rica and across the border in Western Panama. I’ve seen and photographed only 2 other times, once in San Gerardo de Dota at the Trogon Lodge and later on a Monteverde trip in the Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve. You can see those photos (better) in my Collared Redstart Gallery to which I will eventually add these. CLICK an image below to enlarge:

  • Collared Redstart
  • Collared Redstart
  • Collared Redstart
Above photos made on the Robles Trail at Hotel Savegre, San Gerardo de Dota.

This trip’s Hotel Savegre BIRDS Gallery (22 species)

I’m home now with a lot of “catching up to do” as always after a trip and part of that will be sharing more photos from this trip! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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Bigfoot?

Large-footed Finch is the “official” English common name for this cloud forest bird that my excellent guide, Marino, found for me this morning. This “lifer” for me (1st time seen) is one of several we found near the top of our mountain on the Robles Trail this morning. The feature photo above is the only one to show his feet, which don’t seem that large to me, but maybe to a finch? 🙂

I will share more birds from today later. CLICK image to see larger . . .

  • Large-footed Finch
  • Flight Initiated!
  • Large-footed Finch
  • Large-footed Finch
  • Large-footed Finch
Large-footed Finch at Hotel Savegre, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica

It would be hard to praise Hotel Savegre too much with virtually everything perfect here from the food to the rooms, trails, birds and vistas! 🙂 Though the birds of this trip haven’t been added yet, you can see all my others in Costa Rica Birds Gallery, 350 species!

¡Pura Vida!

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Resplendent Quetzal

This morning at 5:15 I head out with my guide Marina in his pickup to where he knows that the Quetzal feeds for breakfast. We get there and sure enough, by the time the sun provides enough light, they’re having breakfast and perching in various trees. At our spot we saw 2 males and 2 females. You can frequently see them at Monteverde but almost always here in San Gerardo de Dota. I waited until this morning because the hotel was full over the weekend and thus I had the guide to myself, solo!

Male Resplendent Quetzal

Female Resplendent Quetzal

NOTE: This is the national bird of Guatemala, but if you want to see one, it easier find in Costa Rica! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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Long-tailed Silky-flycatcher

This morning I went to the nearby Batsù Gardens across the road and down a couple of hundred meters with so many bird photos it will be after the trip before I present them all. So for today, just one, the Long-tailed Silky-flycatcher, which I haven’t seen since the last time in San Gerardo de Dota. And funny thing is that after getting back to my room I saw an adult and two juveniles in the tree in front of my room but with bad light and no good photos, thus this one is from Batsù. Tomorrow morning is my Quetzal excursion, so hopefully several good Quetzal photos. 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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Tres Amigos Today

The hotel is nearly full for the weekend with Costa Ricans getting away from the city for the weekend, more common now with COVID and few tourists here. Thus I postponed my Quetzal hike until Monday morning when not many here. Thus today and tomorrow just hiking around on my own, avoiding people. And getting a relaxation massage this afternoon! 🙂

My morning hike in the forest and then the hotel gardens only gave me 3 birds (and a couple of butterflies for later). All 3 birds are common in this cloud forest and I’ve photographed before. My hike on the “Song Birds” trail gave me lots of singing but most high in trees and tiny, thus only 2 photos from the trail and then another in the garden. One of my knees is hurting, so I’m limiting my walking a little now, expecting special birds both Monday and Tuesday.

Click an image to see larger:

  • Flame Tanager, Immature Male
  • Ruddy-capped Nightingale-Thrush
  • Rufous-collared Sparrow
My Tres Amigos today! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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December 2020 Arenal Gallery

Just in time! The night before I leave on another trip I finished my photos from the Christmas 2020 trip to Arenal Observatory Lodge with more than 50 species of birds! And 5 are lifers for me! Plus a whole lot of other photos from this favorite lodge. For now the birds are presented alphabetically by their English Common Name. Later I will make time to arrange by species families according to my birding guide book. Overall I’m pleased with this collection of photos and moving on to the next collection! 🙂 To see gallery CLICK above link or the image below:

¡Pura Vida!

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Caño Negro BIRDS

Here’s about 20 species from my Christmas week side-trip from Arenal Observatory to the Caño Negro Reserva. We saw more than I photographed of course and about 5 I tried to photograph weren’t good enough to show. This is a bird-rich reserve in northern Costa Rica near the Nicaragua border. CLICK an image to enlarge it:

  • Southern Lapwing
  • American Kestral
  • Wood Stork
  • Nicaraguan Seed-Finch
  • Anhinga Female
  • Green Kingfisher Male
  • Anhinga Catching Fish
  • Anhinga Swallowing Fish
  • Amazon Kingfisher Female
  • Black-headed Trogon
  • Amazon Kingfisher Male
  • Olive-throated Parakeets
  • Gray-cowled Woodrail
  • Mangrove Swallow
  • Great Potoo (disguised as tree part)
  • Cattle Egret
  • Black-crowned Night-Heron
  • Great Blue Heron
  • Black-collared Hawks
  • Great Egret
26 December 2020 at Caño Negro Reserva, Costa Rica.

Two of these were “Lifers” or first-time seen birds for me and unfortunately neither with a very good photo: The Nicaraguan Seed-Finch and the Olive-throated Parakeets. I’ve seen the American Kestrel in Panama but this was the first time in Costa Rica, though not close enough for a decent photo.

And from my 2017 visit to Caño Negro Reserva, two blog posts: Caño Negro Birds Part 1 followed of course by Caño Negro Birds Part 2! Or easier to see them all together in my photo gallery Caño Negro Birds 2017.

See all of my BIRDS Galleries.

¡Pura Vida!

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Riverside Pig

On the Caño Negro river trip Saturday we passed this sow or mother pig with one or more babies between her and the tree and her unique Cattle Egret guard! 🙂

And yes, there was probably a farm somewhere nearby and she just wanted “to get away from it all!” – Down by the riverside! 🙂

Mama Pig with Cattle Egret Guard! 🙂

“I am fond of pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.”

~Winston Churchill

🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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Yesterday’s Birds

When on these National Park trips I always get behind in sharing my photos because I am so busy in these wonderful nature places and have so many photos to process it is difficult to keep up. But here’s photos of 18 of the 24 species photographed with the other 6 photos not worth sharing! 🙂 Actually the Long-billed Gnatwren photo is not worth sharing, but since it is one of 4 “Lifers” yesterday, I feel compelled to “prove” I saw it! 🙂

And I know that yesterday I said that the Bicolored Antbird was my only “Lifer” (first time seen bird) but I still had not gone through all the 700+ photos and discovered that I actually had 4 lifers on this hike (plus I had another Lifer Monday not a part of this count: the Emerald Tanager) plus a “first in Costa Rica,” meaning I have photos of it from some other country. Yesterday’s 4 Lifers are:

  1. Bicolored Antbird
  2. Spotted Antbird
  3. Long-billed Gnatwren
  4. Carmiol’s Tanager

My sighting/photo of the immature Cinnamon Becard was my “first time in Costa Rica,” though I made photos of an adult Cinnamon Becard on one of my Panama trips.

Remember that it was cloudy and raining all day yesterday, making photography very difficult, (interestingly it was sunny all day today and I saw fewer birds!) but here’s one photo of each species except the Rufous-winged Tanager where I include one of both the male and the female since they are so different. CLICK image to enlarge:

  • Bicolored Antbird
  • Spotted Antbird
  • Red-legged Honeycreeper
  • Black-stripped Sparrow
  • Great Curassow Male
  • Palm Tanager
  • Crested Guan
  • Yellow-throated Toucan
  • Carmiol’s Tanager
  • Summer Tanager
  • Crimson-collared Tanager
  • Cinnamon Becard Immature
  • Scarlet-rumped Tanager
  • Black Phoebe
  • Pale-billed Woodpecker
  • Long-billed Gnatwren
  • Bay-headed Tanager Male
  • Rufous-winged Tanager Female
  • Rufous-winged Tanager Male
And notice that there is an overlap of only 4 birds with my first day list. 🙂

And there is always my Costa Rica Birds Gallery!

“What I saw was just one eye
In the dawn as I was going:
A bird can carry all the sky
In that little button glowing.

Never in my life I went
So deep into the firmament.”

― Harold Monro

¡Pura Vida!

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Bicolored Antbird – Another “Lifer”

For most people it would be a horrible day with almost constant rain, but my all morning birding hike with breakfast break was good for me including this one “Lifer” or first-time seen bird.

I still don’t have a count of how many birds I photographed in the terrible light, but I will report on that tomorrow. Nestor says he saw or heard 82 species and I’m sure I didn’t see half that number, but will tell tomorrow. The selfie here is me with Nestor, my guide.

This Bicolored Antbird is my first to see or photograph and my second Lifer on this trip. Learn more about him at the eBird Description. CLICK below images to enlarge:

  • Bicolored Antbird
  • Bicolored Antbird
  • Bicolored Antbird
  • Bicolored Antbird
Today’s Lifer

See all my birds in my CR Birds Gallery.


“Adopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience.”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

¡Pura Vida!