A common bird everywhere it seems, yet sometimes the silhouettes of them flying are impressive. See all kind of photos of this bird in my gallery Turkey Vulture (linked).
¡Pura Vida!
Turkey Vulture Silhouettes
Hoffman’s Woodpecker
One of the two most common woodpeckers in my garden (Black-cheeked is the other one) and one of 10 total woodpecker species I’ve photographed in Costa Rica! You will find all 10 in my online gallery, with this observation included in the gallery Hoffman’s Woodpecker (linked). This one looking for insects on a dead limb in neighbor’s yard is a male, known by the red spot on the top of his head, while the female has only that golden nape with no red. Otherwise they are identical. They are found only in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Read more about them on eBird. So many fascinating birds here! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Canivet’s Emerald
I almost had this one labeled as a Garden Emerald that can be found only in a few limited areas of Costa Rica and Panama, because the iNat AI said it was a Garden Emerald (very similar to Canivet’s), but the same day I posted it on iNaturalistCR, two serious birders corrected me because of both location and the length and shape of the tail. 🙂 So I corrected it there and in my gallery, not getting the “Lifer” that I thought I had! 🙂 Note that this is a male, all green, while the female has a white front and white eyebrow. You can see both in my gallery, Canivet’s Emerald.
¡Pura Vida!
Scrub Euphonia
My only other time to see this bird was in January of this year, also in my garden. eBird says they live from Mexico to Costa Rica but only in Northwest Costa Rica and I am in more of West Central Costa Rica. Maybe their habitat is expanding south! 🙂 Notice the big difference in the male and female, fairly typical of all Euphonias. See all my photos in the gallery Scrub Euphonia – Euphonia affinis (linked).
¡Pura Vida!
Southern House Wren
This Southern House Wren (my gallery link) looks pretty much like the Northern House Wren found in the United State to me, but they say there are many subspecies of both, as the scientists get into genetic details! 🙂 This one is found from Mexico south through all of Central America and most of South America. You can of course read about it on eBird or on iNaturalistCR.
¡Pura Vida!
Jetpack still hasn’t fixed whatever is keeping my posts from being emailed when scheduled ahead, so I have to publish them manually to get the emailed version and my mornings are usually pretty busy, thus, as today, it is noon before I got around to it.
Blue-black Grassquit
This is one of two or three different ” seed eater type” birds that I see around my house, especially in the cow pasture across the street where this one is. See more of my photos of this species in my gallery Blue-black Grassquit (linked) where the last two images were made on my first trip to Costa Rica in 2009. Or read about them on eBird or on iNaturalist.
Shot was made from my terrace zooming in on the fence across the street. 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Maquenque Trip Gallery Done!
Wow! Not easy and not quick! I always have a lot of photos to process from Maquenque Lodge and here are the ones that I chose to keep in the appropriate sub-galleries. Click the image of gallery below to go there or use this address: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2026-07-2-7-Maquenque-Lodge-Boca-Tapada
¡Pura Vida!
Roadside Hawk
This time at Maquenque I saw only one hawk and it is one of the more common in Costa Rica, the Roadside Hawk (my gallery link).
¡Pura Vida!
Yellow Tyrannulet
This pretty little bird was photographed from the back porch of my cabin and when I put three shots from this sighting in my gallery Yellow Tyrannulet (linked), I found that the only two shots already in that gallery were made in the same tree two years earlier from the back porch of that same cabin of a more mature bird. 🙂 So Maquenque is the only place I’ve ever seen it.
¡Pura Vida!
I finally processed all the bird photos from my 2026 Maquenque Trip linked at: BIRDS (43 species alphabetically) with one “Lifer” (1st time seen), the Yellow-olive Flatbill.
“Like water off a duck’s back . . .”
That familiar idiom was seen literally during the several rains of my visit to Maquenque Lodge in early July, shown here in photos of a Muscovy Duck in the rain (link to my gallery). But I guess I could also use the phrase as the idiom it is known for when I read about the idiotic president and Republican politicians of the United States while living a more relaxed life in the nature and beauty of a tropical paradise country with no army, no wars, no enemies and no national hatred or fears . Pura vida! Trump affects me like water off a duck’s back! 🙂 (Though I do sometimes mourn for what is happening to my country of birth and shake my head in disbelief.)
¡Pura Vida!
Trip BIRDS Gallery Finished
I finally processed all the bird photos from my 2026 Maquenque Trip linked at:
BIRDS (43 species alphabetically) with one “Lifer” (1st time seen), the Yellow-olive Flatbill.
And yes, on previous trips I had 61 and 62 species, but I’m an old man now plus it rained every day this trip, so considering that, 43 was not a bad number. 🙂
¡Pura Vida!