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Usually more Grackles are seen on the Tarcoles than we did this time. I think this photo is of a male, always black and usually with a little blue or purple sheen, not seen in this photo. And the way the light hits this one, plus its shadows, it’s possibly a dark brown female. The females are just as handsome, with brown as their color and strutting less than the males. 🙂 Just this one photo. See more in my Great-tailed Grackle GALLERY.
¡Pura Vida!
Always one of my favorite on the water as you can see in my Great Egret GALLERY.
Just on shot here. Go to the gallery for some of the several others made.
¡Pura Vida!
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.
This unmistakable to identify, black & white shore bird, with unreal hot pink & very long legs, is found throughout the Americas and on both slopes of Costa Rica in both fresh & salt waters. See my photo collection of this unique bird in the linked gallery: Black-necked Stilt.
I’ve seen many black vultures over the years here but never before a juvenile. A family of at least 3 or maybe 4 children were on the ground in the grasses adjacent the river with no adult seen near them. I hesitate to call them babies, but still pretty young with some semi-downy feathers and unable to fly. I guess the nest is on the ground in those grasses, though it seems dangerous to me, even for the larger birds. So I asked Google and its AI said . . .
“Yes, black vultures commonly nest on the ground, usually in secluded areas like thickets, hollow logs, caves, or abandoned buildings. They do not build traditional nests, instead laying their eggs directly on the ground, soil, or debris.”
For a lot of photos of adult Black Vultures, see my gallery: Black Vulture
¡Pura Vida!
The Reddish Egret, Egretta rufescens (my gallery link) is seldom seen and usually in the mouth of a river as it was here in the mouth of Rio Tarcoles. Though I did see one upriver at Rancho Humo, Palo Verde NP, Rio Tempisque, a pale morph. This time it is a dark morph. It is rare and mainly seen on the Pacific Coast when seen. Only my second sighting and a different morph this time.
One of my plans for this second visit to Punta Leona was to photograph lots of interesting sea creatures in the Tidepools of Playa Mantas at low tide. Well, the low tide time I could go out for was cloudy and misty rain, but that is okay if there are sea creatures! 🙂 But I was disappointed with no starfish, seahorses, blowfish, crabs, etc! Only a couple of minnow-like fish, lots of broken up coral and shells and some fossils and lichen. But below this introductory photo are photos of what I did find and it was interesting, even if not what I was expecting. I will try tidepools again in September when I’m on the Caribbean Coast and see if my luck is any better there. 🙂
This is my second sighting of a Black Pondhawk, Erythemis atala (my gallery link) with the other one not far from Punta Leona at the old Hotel Villa Lapas in Tarcoles which today (January 1) reopens as a more expensive Marriott, Santa Lucia Jungle Hacienda (their website link). Hope they still have the abundance of wildlife on their property next door to Carara National Park! I may try it out one time, we’ll see. 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
More photos from outside Atenas in this category because I always see more wildlife at the parks, reserves and lodges than at home, which may be best. 🙂 And with less travel this year there were fewer exotic animals, but here’s a few that are pretty interesting 🙂 . . .
This water bird is familiar to most people in North America as he is found in all of the contiguous states and in southern Canada south through Central America and the Caribbean Islands and in the northern tier of South American countries, always on or near water. But I do see more of them down here than I did in Nashville! 🙂 You can see my collection of photos made here in Costa Rica at Green Heron Gallery (linked).
¡Pura Vida!
The Costa Rica Post Office (Correos de Costa Rica) informed me earlier that they could no longer accept mail addressed to anywhere in the USA because of the unpredictable tariffs on all mail, including letters, with no way to charge us. Some other shipping services have also stopped sending to the U.S. like Aeropost & ARCR, though I can still receive packages from the States through Aeropost. The local Correos is now suggesting that you use the more expensive EMS, DHL, UPS or FedEx. Every day brings another reason that I’m glad I live here and not there! 🙂 The United States is being destroyed quicker than I thought they could. Below is copied from an email I received yesterday from ARCR . . .
Mail Service to USA and Canada has been Discontinued  According to a September 2, 2025, article in La Nacion, due to the duties that the Trump administration has imposed on imports from Costa Rica, los Correos has temporarily stopped accepting mail and packages addressed to anywhere in the United States or Canada. This includes letter mail. It has been reported that Aeropost is following suit. The status of other mail forwarding services is unknown at this time. Check with your mail forwarding service provider. |