Category: Trees

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The Gratifying Guarumo!

It is definitely one of my favorite trees in Costa Rica, if for no other reason, an opportunity to photograph their beautiful leaves, both dead and alive as in this photo. They attract many birds from the tiny Euphonias to the Toucans and their openness makes them great “galleries” for photographing birds and sloths! Some of my best bird photos were made in the Guarumo or Cecropia Tree that I planted in my yard the first year here, 2015.

I have them pictured in several popular photo galleries:

Here’s one shot I made the other day from my terrace . . .

Guarumo or Cecropia Tree Leaves in My Garden, Atenas, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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“Half in shadows & halfway in light…”

“There’s something magical about rooftops. You feel like you’re in ‘Mary Poppins.'”

~George Clarke

ROOFTOPS through my Higueron (Strangler Fig) Tree . . .

“Half in shadows and halfway in light” – Rooftops of Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica
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Glimpses of Poró Flowers through a Tree

From my terrace the Oró Tree across the street is hidden by my big Higueron Tree (Strangler Fig or Ficus) but when the light is right, I can see glimpses of the orange flowers through the foliage. There is another one up the hill above me that I’ve shown here before, seen more from a distance. Historically, these trees were planted on coffee farms to provide partial shade to grow better coffee beans. They flower between December and April all over Costa Rica, sprinkling the hills and forests with their bright red-orange flowers. See Google Search Photos. :-)

Poró Tree, Atenas, Costa Rica. Flowers come out before the green leaves.
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Chachalacas Stop By!

The full name of this one is Gray-headed Chachalaca (Ortalis cinereiceps) with the only other one named “Plain Chachalaca” and it’s found only in Guanacaste (dryer NW Costa Rica). This one is a regular “chicken-sized” bird living in my neighborhood, though like other birds, I’ve been seeing fewer for a while. They always come in groups or families and “chatter” a lot, thus Ticos sometimes jokingly call a person who talks a lot “a Chachalaca!” :-)

Here’s three shots of them moving between my trees and you can see more photos in my Gray-headed Chachalaca GALLERY. I see them in many parts of Costa Rica and they are indigenous to Central America.

Gray-headed Chachalaca, Atenas, Costa Rica.
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New Higueron Leaves Budding

Higueron Tree (Strangler Fig) Leave Budding – Atenas, Costa Rica.

NOTE: This is an old “Draft” blog post from December 2022 that I just found and since I like it and I’m cleaning up old files, I’m posting it quite late with more current reports coming! :-)

¡Pura Vida!

See my Flora & Forest Costa Rica GALLERY

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Muscovy Duck Flying

This duck was one of several flying into the trees and roosting on tree limbs which I was not aware that they did. I’m still processing photos from the Chucás Hydroelectric Dam trip the other day – so this is just a sample of what I will share later! :-)

Muscovy Duck flying at Chucás Hydroelectric Dam, Atenas, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Madre Verde Butterflies!

Yesterday was the last morning birding hike with my friend from British Columbia and Walter took us to a new nature reserve for me, Reserva Madre Verde near Palmares which is north of Atenas, a 30 minute drive through beautiful mountains (or maybe hills). :-)

Our two hour hike up & down a hill had a 300 meter rise in altitude was good for us 80-somethings! We heard lots of birds but in a fairly thick forest we did not see as many as the other two birding hikes. I got photos of only 3 birds – BUT – I’m still happy because I got photos of 9 different species of butterflies, which took me all afternoon to identify and process the photos AND I got 3 new species for me! :-) So a very good 2-hour hike! Below is a gallery with one shot of each of the 9 butterflies after this one shot for the email version of post . . .

Tiger Mimic-White, Reserva Madre Verde, Palmares, Costa Rica
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Birding at Our Dam Yesterday

Taking someone else birding gets me into new locations sometimes and yesterday was my first visit to the very nearby dam on Tarcoles River named officially “Hidroeléctrico Chucás” which was under construction when I moved here. In addition to the expected water birds, the trees around the dam were just full of many small birds and a few larger ones. I got photos of more than 20 species and we heard a Scarlet Macaw, though we did not see him. Well, we heard a lot we did not see. :-) But I’ve always said we are too far from the coast for Macaws, but evidently not! It was a good birding walk before breakfast at Crema y Nata! It may be awhile before I get all those photos processed, but at least I did not erase or lose any this time! :-) Today is the last birding walk which will be at Reserva Madre Verde in Palmares, another new location for me which my neighbors Neal & Judy told me about. A report sometime in the future.

“Hidroeléctrico Chucás,” the dam on Rio Tarcoles in Atenas Canton.

¡Pura Vida!

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Tuesday’s Birds

Well – the 6 that I didn’t erase from the camera disk! :-) I’m guessing that when I tried to erase one bad one from the disk, I hit something that selected all the remaining photos and erased them all. None of these are particularly good photos, but the 6 I managed to save, with the Inca Dove maybe my favorite photo after yesterday’s landscapes.

Tuesday’s hike was on Highway 707, southwest of Central Atenas. though not many here use highway numbers. 🙂 They say “the road going west of Cruz Roja to Pica Flora and Hacienda Atenas!” 🙂 Today we are going on Calle Balsilla, south of Atenas, or “a farming road near the Chucas Hydroelectric Dam and lake south of Ruta 27 on Rio Tarcoles.” And maybe I will get some more photos that I don’t erase! :-) Then tomorrow we go to a nature reserve north of here near Palmares. I’m staying behind on photos while still processing those from Hotel Savegre! But it is fun! :-)

Keel-billed Toucan, Atenas, Costa Rica. Many flew over and landed in distant trees. 🙂

Read on for the gallery of all 6 birds . . .

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The Other Side of Atenas Yesterday

My birding friend from British Columbia, Canada, is here this week and we went birding on a former rural road on the west side of Atenas with lots of houses going up of course! Here’s 3 shots of the area and most of my bird shots were not real good because of light and distance plus I lost about 1/3 of them when somehow my computer deleted a bunch from the camera disk. Aghhhh! (I know! It was me hitting a wrong key or something! Grrrr!) Technology will be the death of me yet! :-) But the cows are cute! And that bright yellow tree is a Cortez Amarillo (Tabebuia Ochracea) tree that is blooming all over Costa Rica this time of year and in the landscape shot you can see yellow spots of them blooming. Thursday morning we will try a real country road south of Atenas and then Friday morning we are visiting a nearby nature reserve that I hope will be birdful! 🙂

Vista from a road on the west side of Atenas with my house on the side of that mountain across the valley.

And read on for a photo of a cow & calf nursing and a close up of the Cortez Tree! :-)

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