2 Different Hawks! But . . .

Yesterday morning, just before leaving the Caribe, I was excited to have photographed two different hawks, one, I knew for sure, was a Common Black Hawk, Buteogallus anthracinus (my gallery link), but I had to wait until later to identify the brown one. Well, I should have known! But just haven’t been photographing many birds for a long time and didn’t remember that the juvenile Black Hawk is brown & speckled like this.

They were about 50+ meters apart, but both along the beach road, and I’m guessing that the adult was his Mom or Dad (probably Mom) and she seems to be holding something in her claw, like some food in case Junior doesn’t catch his breakfast in the marshy woods. 🙂 That is just like some of these Costa Rican moms who spoil their sons! 🙂 Here’s pix of Mom (or Dad) first and then the son (or daughter) . . .

Common Black Hawk Adult, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón, Costa Rica
Common Black Hawk Juvenile, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Breakfast with a TN Friend Today

Back in 2014 when I took the “Live in costa Rica Tour,” one of the other participants, John, was the only other one of us from Tennessee and on top of that, from Williamson County, a suburb of Nashville where I had lived more than 30 years, but we never knew each other back then (different circles of friends). He earns his income from rental property in Tennessee and the Dominican Republic and wanted some here too, before retiring and moving here. The time has come!

He later came here and stayed at my house while looking at income-producing rental properties to buy and I even went to one beach area with him to check out getting one there too, but he decided no (too expensive!), though he did buy a condo here in Atenas very near Roca Verde where I live. It stayed rented until he recently sold it and bought a house up the hill from me here in Roca Verde that he is going to “fix up” and move here with his wife and two kids. Soon, he hopes!

They all arrived yesterday from Nashville and are staying in Hotel Colinas del Sol, just 3 blocks from me! So I’m going down there to have breakfast with them this morning, answering a lot of questions, talking to their kids about nature spots here, etc. 🙂

They will of course visit their future home, but also must meet with a lawyer in San Jose on their residency paperwork and work with someone on the remodeling of the house, plus many other nitty-gritty things for such a life change! 🙂

A busy week for them and it happens to be a busy day today for me with breakfast at 7, my spanish class at 9, grocery shopping, then work on tomorrow’s blog post! Plus continue to process hundreds of photos from the Caribe Sur trip! So I can share with you! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

New Bird & Butterfly on Final Day

I still haven’t processed all my photos from today and will get a few more in the morning before I leave, but I’m pleased to get a different bird and butterfly from all the other days here . . .

Cocoa Woodcreeper, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón, Costa Rica
Zebra-striped Hairstreak, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón, Costa Rica

And one of many shots of sunrise this morning that I haven’t all processed, but will eventually share more, including the throng of local people out at sunrise on Saturday morning! 🙂

Continue reading “New Bird & Butterfly on Final Day”

Wild Hummingbirds on Wild Flowers

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird feeding on a Red Button Ginger Flower (Costus woodsonii) that grows wild only in Costa Rica, Panama & Colombia! 🙂

Because of some pains that make walking difficult, I’m limiting myself to short walks down the beach road (one lane, dirt) and of course the hotel gardens instead of longer hikes in the nearby national park and separate wildlife refuge. I’m up to 15 species of birds now, just right here! And I don’t know how many butterflies because I haven’t processed those photos from today, but know that I got some new ones again! One of the beach road joys is watching wild hummingbirds – they are all wild, including those in my garden at home! 🙂 And like at home, the Rufous-tailed seems to be the dominant hummingbird here too! 🙂 Here’s just two shots for now and more will be in the trip gallery later.

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird feeding on a Red Button Ginger Flower (Costus woodsonii) that grows wild only in Costa Rica, Panama & Colombia! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

3 New Species Today!

And another lovely sunrise! The two new birds are called “lifers” by birders, while the one new butterfly species is just generally called a new species! 🙂 And it is my favorite! The two new birds were identified by Merlin for the sake of any birders reading. 🙂 After I submit them to eBird, they will be reviewed and someone will notify me if they think misidentified. 🙂 The markings on both of these two birds are similar though their body builds are different and a tan color with white wing stripes is common to many species as is the white eye ring, but I’m trusting Merlin on these. 🙂 I’m now up to 10 bird species on this trip and 6 butterfly species, with there simply not being as many butterflies here this year or in October compared to my usual September trip. But I’m happy with what I’m getting and the sunrises alone are worth the trip, though I do miss hiking in Gandoca-Manzanillo & Cahuita! “Being old is not for sissies!” 🙂

Gold-bordered Hairstreak – Rekoa palegon, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo, Limón, Costa Rica
Continue reading “3 New Species Today!”

2 Charlie Photos in Auction Tomorrow!

for the Democrats Abroad Fundraiser & Voter Help . . .

Keel-billed Toucan photo by Charlie Doggett, 16×20 printed on metal.
Pura Vida Butterflies, 2nd Edition by Charlie Doggett –
Photos of 250 species of butterflies with index of common names in English and scientific names in Latin.

Both of these have a minimum bid well below the retail price, but of course the fundraisers hope you will bid much higher! 🙂 The silent auction is from 1-4 tomorrow, 30 September 2024, at Huaraches Atenas Mexican Restaurant, with auction winners announced promptly at 4 pm. If you are a U.S. citizen and don’t know how to vote from abroad, people will help you. And if you have prepared your overseas ballot for mailing but don’t trust the post office, then people can take your mail-ready ballot and deliver it to the U.S. Embassy for their mail pouch to the states. And while you are there, bid on some of the many wonderful things in the auction including one of my wall art photos and one of my photo books! 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

Doves “Tree-Hide”

A couple of White-winged Doves were hiding in the Strangler Fig Tree the other day – meaning that any shot I made would show part of them behind leaves or limbs. But still they are an active part of my home environment! 🙂 See some much better photos in my White-winged Dove Gallery. They are the most frequent doves/pigeons in my garden with maybe Inca Doves second.

White-winged Doves, in my Higueron Ficus Tree, Atenas, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Palm Berries Feast

These berries on one of the very tall palms in my garden are shown here feeding a Great Kiskadee, Pitangus sulphuratus (my gallery link) while other Kiskadees and Yigüirros wait their turn on a limb of my nearby Cecropia tree (though occasionally there were 2 or 3 birds on this cluster at the same time). 🙂 Those two species and a few flycatchers have now just about stripped all the berries off this tree. And though butterflies have caught my interest more lately, and there are more of them, I still watch and photograph the few birds that come to my garden, mostly Doves, Kiskadees and Yigüirros (Clay-colored Thrush). Here’s just the one photo of this species found in Central & South America . . .

Great Kiskadee, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more,
From these our interviews, in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the Universe, and feel
What I can ne’er express, yet cannot all conceal.

– Lord George Gordon Byron, 1813

9 more photos below . . .

Continue reading “There is a pleasure in the pathless woods”