Maquenque Wetland Birds

Or you could call them “water birds” since they eat fish and other water creatures requiring water. 🙂 Because there are so many rainforests and bodies of water all over Costa Rica, most of these birds are fairly common here with the featured image being an exception: The Green Ibis is seen only in a few place, more rare than the White Ibis which was not seen here this year.

I’m still working on my bird photos of 60+ species and will continue to present them here in manageable groupings and then I will introduce a Maquenque 2020 Gallery where you can see all my photos from last week’s visit to my best birding lodge in Costa Rica! While still at Maquenque, I presented these 3 groups of birds on the blog (click titile to see):

  1. Parrots and Toucans (My “Rainforest Fireworks” for 4th of July)
  2. Honeycreepers (a favorite small bird category)
  3. Kingfishers (expert fishers who could be included here)

And today’s I call Wetland Birds: CLICK image to enlarge.

Tomorrow will be 6 Hummingbirds at Maquenque which were hard to photograph in the dark shade of the forest, but always interesting! 🙂

See also my Costa Rica Birds Gallery.

And for about the place, Maquenque Eco-Lodge & Reserve Website.

¡Pura Vida!

Maquenque Rainforest Flowers Part 2

Flowers in the wild here are for me kind of like birds and butterflies, I find new ones almost every time I go into the forest! Here’s 14 more added to yesterday’s photo. CLICK an image to enlarge and enjoy! I’m still working on the bird photos which may take a few more days or I may present them in little groups also. Keep reading!

See also my Flora & Forest Gallery for more flowers!

¡Pura Vida!

Maquenque Rainforest Flowers Part 1

Yes – these all grow wild in the rainforest even if they have moved some up near the lodge. And I really tried to get a name for each flower which I did for the 13 today and for all but 3 of the 14 for tomorrow. I make a big deal out of all the birds here and could just as easily for all the unique flowers. Enjoy and remember to CLICK an image to enlarge.

14 more rainforest flowers tomorrow in Part 2!

See also my Flora & Forest Gallery.

¡Pura Vida!

Maquenque Mammals

There were others of course that I don’t have photos of, like Howler Monkey I heard but did not see, squirrels, and the farm animals I did not photo like cows, horse, pigs, etc. So this is just a few with the Coati being the one seen the most! They are in the same family as the raccoon and can be bigger pests, especially for food! 🙂 CLICK an image to enlarge it.

See my CR Mammals Gallery.

Maquenque EcoLodge Website

¡Pura Vida!

Maquenque Butterflies

As common after trips, I’ve been overwhelmed with things to do since I returned from Maquenque Eco-Lodge and with so many bird photos to process (60+ species) it may be awhile before I share those, so here is a small collection of 7 species of butterflies. Every living thing loves Maquenque! 🙂 CLICK an image to enlarge.

It’s very tough for me to focus. I’m like: ‘Look, something shiny! No, focus. Oh, there goes a butterfly!’ ~Gabby Douglas

🙂

My Costa Rica Butterfly Gallery has more than 106 species now!

¡Pura Vida!

And a Birthday Dinner!

I got lots of attention all day yesterday but the biggie was dinner with a birthday cake and singing of Feliz Cumpleaños. Plus they decorated chair with flowers and gave me a bouquet of flowers to take back to my room in the tree tops! And I will eat more birthday cake today!

Bouquet taken back to my room.
Head Chef or Kitchen Manager posing with me.

¡Pura Vida!

Kingfishers

There are 4 kinds of Kingfishers here at Maquenque and so far I’ve photographed 3 of those species. I’ve seen Green Kingfisher here before but not this week so far. Here’s the three species I’ve got with two shots of the Amazon because he looks different in each shot. CLICK image to enlarge.

See my Costa Rica Birds Gallery.

¡Pura Vida!

Honeycreepers

There are 4 species of Honeycreepers in Costa Rica and these three are easily seen all over the Maquenque Lodge & Reserve. Note the big difference in male and female of all three! CLICK image to enlarge.

See my Costa Rica Birds Gallery.

¡Pura Vida!

Rainforest Fireworks

Instead of traditional 4th of July fireworks I am enjoying the colors of parrots and toucans this weekend. I’ve photographed over 65 species of birds so far, so still way behind on presenting them all and decided to show just the two categories most foreigners consider the most colorful here! Enjoy my tropical fireworks show as a slideshow of 10 photos.

Maquenque Parrots & Toucans

Happy 4th of July!

¡PuraVida!

Mother & Child Visit Tree House

Not only did the mother Spider Monkey decide to eat some plant parts near my tree house but she brought her “toddler” who was more interested in playing than eating, and if that was not enough for the monkey mother, she was also pregnant – quite obviously! Here’s a few shots – just click to enlarge an image.

Watching things like this is just one of the reasons I choose a tree house here and they now have 8 tree houses along with their regular cabins on the lake. See their website at:

Maquenque Eco-Lodge website

Or see My 2019 Visit gallery

Or my Spider Monkey gallery

¡Pura Vida!

🙂