Category: Trees

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My Magical Tree’s Gone

One of the most recognized trees in the tropics of Central and South America is the Cecropia Tree or Guarumo in Central American vernacular. During my first year in this house (2015) I planted one not a lot taller than me. (Photo at right.) As one of the fastest growing trees it is now about twice the height of my house. I called it “magical” because in the early years it attracted so many different kinds of birds including toucans along with the resident squirrels and symbiotic ants.

The Cecropia is the Center tree or left of the big palm. Most limbs now above the house.

But now the tree has grown so much that I’ve lost my magic! 🙁 Most of the limbs, leaves and flowers are now above the house! (Above photo.) That means the birds now land in the tree above my sight-line and I would have to climb up the steep hill above my house to see any birds that perch in it. 🙁 See photos below for the Terrace Views, then and now:

  • First years from Terrace.
  • Now from Terrace.
What was my “Bird Gallery” has grown above the house! 🙂

So with this post I’m saying goodbye to the easy magic of my Guarumo or Cecropia tree by sharing photos of birds photographed in it over the past years. Apologies if you remember a similar post back in 2019 on the birds in this tree, but this one is bigger and a sort of finale! 🙂

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Mid-Morning Flutters

After breakfast, Spanish Class, and some reading I decided to walk through my garden with the camera at a little after 9 AM. For a long time the birds have been scarce and the butterflies up and down, but in about 20 minutes this morning I photographed 2 birds and 7 different butterflies all fluttering through my gardens and trying to avoid me and my camera. All nine photos are in a slide show at the bottom of the post with the featured photo at top being a Southern Broken-Dash Skipper and the photo below a Yellow-rimmed Skipper. The garden was alive this morning! 🙂

Yellow-rimmed Skipper
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REVISED BOOK: Bosque del Cabo

When I saw what the photos looked like printed on plain paper, I decided that I could not let my photos go out looking that bad. The other book is no longer available in my Bookstore, replaced by this more expensive book printed on Premium Lustre Gloss Photo Paper for a totally different visual experience! Generally the public does not buy any of my photo books, but rather I order them to give to the lodges or to individuals as gifts. But just in case someone orders one, I want my simple photos to look their best! 🙂 And yes, you pay for it! 🙂

You may see a Free Preview of every page at this address or by clicking the cover image below: https://www.blurb.com/b/10815951-bosque-del-cabo

Click book cover above for Free Preview.

¡Pura Vida!

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Resilience

From my “Merriam-Webster Word of the Day” email today:

resilience – noun | rih-ZIL-yunss

  • the capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress

  • an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change

    • And this is the effort or goal of my body right now, much longer after the radiation treatment than I expected, as my trip the last week of July showed.

    For the rest of the year I have only 2 trips, both very relaxing places that I have already explored, so I plan to truly “take it easy” in September on the Caribbean or Atlantic Coast of Costa Rica in maybe my most relaxed hotel here, Banana Azul. I have reserved “The Howler Suite,” like a tree house on the second floor with a large private deck overlooking the forest and the beach where I plan to hangout more this time, with my “hikes” limited to beach walks and I may even use room service for some meals in my room and use the in-room Jacuzzi this time! 🙂 I was “too busy” the last time there! 🙂 Maybe read two books this time!

    Christmas week I’m back on the Pacific side at another favorite hotel, Cristal Ballena in Uvita, overlooking the bay of whales and the “Whale’s Tail Beach” (feature photo at top) along with a lot of birds right outside my room and with even better food! As much as I love where I live, I function better with a change of scenery every couple of months or so. And I believe both these places will help me immensely with my continued efforts of “Resilience” after cancer! 🙂

    Two Trees beachside at Banana Azul Caribe say “resilience” to me.
    And “Feature Photo” at top is a Pacific View at Cristal Ballena, Uvita.

    “The oak fought the wind and was broken, the willow bent when it must and survived.”

    ― Robert Jordan

    🙂

    ¡Pura Vida!

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    A Variety of Birds in the Osa Rainforest

    Though I was not fully recovered from my cancer treatment, was low on energy & strength, and simply an 81 years old man with weak knees, I still got shots of 18 species of birds while at Bosque del Cabo Rainforest Lodge, Matapolo, Costa Rica last week. With better health and strength for more hiking, I’m sure I would have gotten more species photographed. Notice that about half of these were photographed off the lodge property and that is because my guide knew that birds are easier to photograph from an open road than in the dense rainforest. But even then, half of these were photographed on lodge property! 🙂

    Spectacled Owl on Manakin Trail, Bosque del Cabo Rainforest Lodge.

    That’s one sample photo, now go below to the full post and gallery of 18 bird species, two of which I include both male & female because they are so different . . .

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    “King on the Mountain?”

    If you are anywhere near my age you may remember a childhood game where, usually boys, would claim a high-spot in the land or an object as “The Mountain” and one boy stand on it, declaring himself “King of the Mountain.” And though there may have been rules, it was usually brute strength that made you ‘king.”

    Yellow-headed Caracara on top of tree being attacked by a Fiery-billed Aracari.

    That is exactly what was going on between this Yellow-headed Caracara and Fiery-billed Aracari. In this photo (overcast day & bad light) the Aracari is diving at the Caracara with his much bigger bill. And though the Aracari took over the top perch of the tree at one point, the Yellow-headed Caracara came back with his much stronger claws or talons (much like a Hawk’s) and remained the dominant “King on the Mountain!” 🙂

    Though not one of my highest bird count locations, even on the Osa, I did get photos of 18 species of birds and will do a post later today or tomorrow featuring them with just one shot of each. And if I go there again, I’ll make sure I’m healthier and able to actively search for more birds! 🙂

    ¡Pura Vida!

    See my Yellow-headed Caracara Gallery.

    See my Fiery-billed Aracari Gallery.

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    Overdoing it? Exhaustion?

    Feeling tired is a common experience. It can be caused by disrupted sleep habits, a change in routine, or the appearance of stressors in your life. No matter the reason, tiredness can push us to our limits emotionally and mentally. In some cases, extreme tiredness sets in. This is called exhaustion.

    ~https://www.webmd.com/

    Or in my case, I think I was just doing more physically than my healing body was ready for. When I finally got home Wednesday night, after a delayed flight and 7 days of hiking up and down hills through the rainforest, I collapsed in my bed and slept for 11 hours! Of course I had errands to run yesterday and then today I’ve just chilled, not leaving the house, with laundry my most strenuous activity. 🙂

    Tree on the Creek Trail, Bosque del Cabo Rainforest Lodge

    I still recommend Bosque del Cabo Rainforest Lodge, but now add the disclaimer that it is an “active place for healthy people” that requires a lot of walking just to and from your cabin, not to mention all the trails and other activities, etc. My cellphone said I walked more than 14,500 steps one day – which normally is very good! But I was not healthy enough for that, not fully recovered from cancer treatment. But I will be soon! And by the September trip to the Caribe, I expect to be my normal active self, enjoying more walks wherever I am. 🙂 Pura vida!

    “If you would know strength and patience, welcome the company of trees.”

    ― Hal Borland

    And oh yes, more photos yet to come from this trip!

    ¡Pura Vida!

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    The Other 3 Monkey Species

    There are four species of monkeys in Costa Rica and the Osa Peninsula is one of the few places you can find all four species. Monday in my “People Watching?” Post I included a photo of a Central American Spider Monkey along with an owl photo, both seemed to be watching me as much I was them! 🙂 Click either link above to see that Spider Monkey. And below are my photos from here of the other 3 species found in Costa Rica: Mantled Howler Monkey, White-faced Capuchin Monkey and the small Squirrel Monkey (featured photo) . . .

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    People Watching?

    That’s what this Spectacled Owl and Spider Monkey seemed to be doing on my solo hike on the Manikin Trail this morning! And I consider myself fortunate to have gotten this shot of an elusive owl! Monkeys are everywhere, but not the owls. I probably would not have seen him except that when I walked under his tree, he flew to another tree about 30 meters away and I then had him in focus! 🙂 In contrast, the monkey swung around right above me as if trying to get my attention! 🙂

    Spectacled Owl
    Central American Spider Monkey

    Some links and some shots of the trail both of these guys were on . . .

    Continue reading “People Watching?”
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    Great Tinamou Nest

    This morning I hiked up on the Titi Trail to try and find the Great Tinamou eggs another guest had photographed yesterday. FYI, the male Tinamou sits on the eggs, and when I got close he fluttered his wings loudly and flew towards me then up into a nearby tree, scaring me to death. 🙂 I suspect he was trying to scare me away from the nest, but rather he just showed me where it was. 🙂

    They are about turkey-sized birds (fewer feathers) and semi-flightless. The nest was only about 6 feet off the trail at the base of a Traveling Palm. The sad thing was that there were only 3 eggs for me to photograph today and yesterday my fellow-traveler had photographed 5 in the same spot. Some animal probably had 2 Tinamou eggs for breakfast this morning. I did not get a photo of the adult that scared me, but I have some poor photos of one I made in the near-dark at Maquenque Lodge earlier in my Great Tinamou Gallery. To which I will add these two photos.

    Tinamou Nest at base of a Traveling Palm, Titi Trail, Bosque del Cabo Rainforest Lodge.
    A little more than twice the size of a chicken egg – Tinamou Nest

    ¡Pura Vida!