Category: Trees

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Carara National Park Gallery ready

Because we went after the Rio Tarcoles trip, it was too late in day for many birds, I got only 2 species, but I did get 10 species of other wildlife including some interesting species like the Helmeted Iguana, stick moth caterpillar, etc. and one of my dark monkey shots is visible. Click the first page of gallery below to enter or if you prefer an address: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/Hiking-Carara-NP

CLICK ABOVE IMAGE to go to the gallery.

I earlier did a post on the Helmeted Iguana and one on the Stink Bug, two of the 10 “Other Wildlife” seen at Carara this time. See gallery.

And tomorrow I will hopefully have completed the gallery for our morning visit to Los Angeles Cloud Forest Reserve and Villa Blanca Cloud Forest Hotel.

¡Pura Vida!

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Streaked Flycatcher

Another species seen on Rio Tarcoles that I don’t see regularly across Costa Rica is the Streaked Flycatcher (my gallery link) and it is very similar to the Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher, which I thought the second of these two photos was (as did Merlin), but after more research, I decided that they are both Streaked and learned that many Streaked have some yellow on their belly. My final decision of putting both photos in Streaked was based also on other markings besides the yellow coloration. And, as always, I may be wrong! 🙂 If so, then this is two species and my total on the river was 41! 🙂

Streaked Flycatcher, Rio Tarcoles, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Streaked Flycatcher (or maybe a Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher), Rio Tarcoles, Puntarenas, Costa Rica

They were together in the same group of trees near the boat dock which is another reason I put them in the same species, but it is not unheard of for two species to hunt together and they would be related, like maybe cousins? 🙂 But also, I found many examples online of Streaked with more yellow like this second photo. You decide. And both eBird & iNaturalist have “checkers” and “identifiers” who also may correct my IDs when submitted to each. 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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Great Kiskadee

With forests lining much of the Rio Tarcoles, there are also a lot of “regular” birds like these Kiskadees (linked to my gallery). Just 2 shots in this post, one perched and one flying, with more in the gallery . . .

Great Kiskadee, Rio Tarcoles, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
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Common Black Hawk

This is the most seen hawk of all for me, almost everywhere I go. See more of my photos in the gallery Common Black Hawk. Not super good photos this trip, but this one of him flying right above me (close) is kind of interesting! 🙂

Common Black Hawk, Rio Tarcoles, Costa Rica
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Brown Jay

It’s been a couple of years since I’ve seen a Brown Jay (my gallery link), so I was glad to find these two near the dock for our boat tour.

Brown Jay, Rio Tarcoles, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Continue reading “Brown Jay”
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Blue-gray Tanager

There are more than water birds on Rio Tarcoles with both shores lined with forests. And this is one of the more common Central & South American birds that even comes to my garden. See more in my gallery: Blue-gray Tanager.

Blue-gray Tanager, Rio Tarcoles, Puntarenas, Costa Rica.

¡Pura Vida!

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Helmeted Iguana

One of the coolest things we saw at Carara National Park yesterday was a Perro Zompopo · Helmeted Iguana – Corytophanes cristatus also known as the Smooth Helmeted Iguana, Helmeted Basilisk, Helmeted Lizard and a few other common names. With that Perro Zompopo being the official Spanish common name on iNaturalist and of course that 3rd Latin name is the scientific name. He was in a lot of shade behind trees, limbs and vines in the thick transitional forest of Carara, thus difficult to photograph. The above shot with a greenish hue was on my Canon Camera while my cell phone shot through the spotting scope had a duller, brownish hue. 🙂 And my identification has not yet been approved by a specialist on iNaturalist, but I’m sort of confident of this.

Perro Zompopo -Helmeted Iguana – Corytophanes cristatus in Carara National Park, Puntarenas.

We got scads of bird photos on Rio Tarcoles but it may take awhile to work through all of them, while the complicated online way of now entering national parks meant we didn’t get on trail to after 11 which is too late for birds, but our excellent guide, Andrys, found lots of other nature to experience and photograph. Both experiences were really good, though too much for one day for our age group. 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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Yummy Cicada for Breakfast?

That is what this Tropical Kingbird (my gallery link) was eating one morning last week. 🙂

Tropical Kingbird eating a Cicada, My Garden, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

The most often seen bird in my garden with a lot of photos in the gallery: Rufous-tailed Hummingbird. 🙂

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!