A favorite of mine among the many birds found only in Central & South America, the Tropical Kingbird, Tyrannus melancholicus (my gallery link). One of the many wild birds that seem to like power lines for perching. And that can make it easy to photograph, depending on the sunlight of course! 🙂
Tropical Kingbird, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa RicaTropical Kingbird, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
This is the first time I’ve seen any Euphonia in quite a while, maybe more than a year and usually somewhere else other than my garden. And I got both the male and the female, though the male was in the shadows and thus not as good a photo.
Male Yellow-crowned EuphoniaFemale Yellow-crowned Euphonia
¡Pura Vida!
See more in my Yellow-crowned Euphonia Gallery where I have photos from 3 other locations, with this being the first of this species in my garden.
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” ~Proverbs 13:12
Cortez Amarillo Trees blooming, Arenal Observatory Lodge & Trails, Arenal Volcano National Park, Alajuela, Costa Rica
My blog/website administrative page has a bucket for “Drafts” and occasionally I put something in there that I think I might work into a blog post later (like yesterday’s). Back in 2022 I placed the above quote from Proverbs that I picked from one of my Daily Bible Readings to comment on later and here I am, about 3 years later, commenting on it (with photos!). 🙂
This large bird usually moves around my trees in groups or families and always “chattering.” 🙂 Here in a Nance Tree. See more photos in my gallery: Gray-headed Chachalaca.
This Red-crowned Woodpecker female (my gallery link) at Punta Leona is using whatever source of insects she can find in her environment. 🙂 And for what it is worth, this is my first sighting of this particular woodpecker and will be a “lifer” on eBird for me. It is not as common as the very similar Hoffman’s Woodpecker.
Red-crowned Woodpecker female, Punta Leona, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
One of the good things about Punta Leona is that there are many species of bird and I got only 11 this trip compared to 21 species on my 2019 visit there. Of course the big turkey-sized Crested Guan (my gallery link) is a favorite of many of the foreign tourists. Not good lighting for this shot, but you can see better photos in the above linked gallery from all over Costa Rica.
Crested Guan, Hotel Punta Leona, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
The usually slow internet was completely down yesterday, so late on this post. The Scarlet Macaw (my gallery link), or Lapas Roja en español, is kind of a signature bird for Punta Leona since they have nesting boxes with continuous video coverage online of several of the boxes where you can watch the babies grow up and leave their nest. But the birds are all over the property and this shot was made about one block from my hotel room.
My one photo today through the very slow internet here is probably my favorite from the 6:15 am birding hike today.
Yellow-throated Toucan and Banana Flowers, Punta Leona, Costa Rica
The bird was eating banana plant flowers and interestingly at breakfast this morning a monkey got in and stole a banana of a man’s plate. 🙂
Tomorrow I will share one butterfly shot from the 9:30 am butterfly hike, during which I was not feeling great and will definitely slow down the rest of my time here! By 10 it is almost unbearably hot & humid and I was exhausted, coming back to the room for a nap and then this afternoon another nap. 🙂 I guess I’m an older man than I want to admit. 🙂
Tonight will be the hotel’s “special” Christmas Dinner. Tomorrow I will focus on the beach on Christmas Day with shore birds early morning, maybe a tidepool effort at low tide, and maybe a sunset reflection on the ocean, since the sun sets here now behind the land with the coast at an angle. 🙂 The better sunset place here is at Villa Coleta up the hills from Punta Leona.