charliedoggett.net
When I watch an animal gazing like this I cannot help but wonder, “At what does he gaze?” Us humans tend to think he is looking for food, and maybe he is – but could he not also be gazing at some beauty unseen by me? A Rufous-naped Wren in my Guarumo Tree during my breakfast.
Gazing on beautiful things acts on my soul.
He’s revisiting my garden and thus I’m posting some new photos of a favorite bee here. See my Bees Gallery for some better photos made earlier or posted on earlier blog posts linked below. And if interested in reading about this Central American bee, there’s a good history on Wikipedia. (People in Florida are trying to introduce them there.)
¡Pura Vida!
This is one of several birds I saw at breakfast this morning including a Lineated Woodpecker, Blue-gray Tanager, Clay-colored Thrush, White-winged Dove and some unidentified flyers. But this is the only one I got a photo of and my second time to see this species here. One of my guide books says they come as breeding visitors Feb to Oct. It is a sparrow-sized bird very much like the Red-eyed Vireo which is less common here.
I saw the other one March 28 on Calle Nueva with not as good a photo, but you can see it in my Yellow-Green Vireo gallery. Or read about them on eBird with a map showing where they are found. Happy birding!
“Not humans, but birds often witness the most beautiful mornings in this world!”
―
¡Pura Vida!
P.S.
And oh yes, if I haven’t said yet, “Rainy Season” or “winter” (my favorite time of year) is well under way here with rain or showers every afternoon. I love it! Cooler, fresher air and so much greener! My garden loves it too! 🙂
Come join one of the guides at Selva Verde Lodge on a typical night hike in their Sarapiqui Private Reserve. Since people have not been able to visit them live, they put this”virtual night hike” on their YouTube Channel. One of the guides shows you the kinds of things I get to see live when I go on such night hikes at this and other lodges in Costa Rica. It is real and typical except for the short time of only 3 minutes! In real life there is more walking between the animals seen! 🙂
Featured image is from my Red-eyed Tree Frog Gallery and another night hike somewhere else (Danta Corcovado).
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And here’s the same guide on a DAYTIME TOUR of Selva Verde, Just be aware that in an hour or more tour you see a lot more wildlife than in these little 3 minute videos! But both are a taste of what I regularly see and photograph in my retirement in Costa Rica:
¡Pura Vida!
Today is “Global Big Day” of counting birds where you live to help science better see what is happening to the health of our planet. I was out from 5:30 AM to 7:15 AM along the border between our housing project, Roca Verde, and the adjacent farms on the border-line gravel road called Calle Nueva (literally “New Street”) that serves as one emergency evacuation road from Atenas along with being a great nature walk and road for bicycles.
I’ve had better days and worse days of birding on that road, so maybe “average” is what the scientists want! 🙂 I observed at least 60 birds of more than 12 species, which is the number of species I photographed. I only report on eBird what I get photos of, which is not the typical eBird user, but I feel more confident with my reports because of that and eBird has volunteer “checkers” to make sure I labeled a bird correctly. Of my 60 seen, 30 were one flock of parakeets! 🙂
It was overcast or cloudy almost the whole time I was out, meaning poor light and white skies as terrible backgrounds most of the time! Only one photo has even a semblance of a blue sky. That’s life! There were no “lifers” or first-time birds for me, though my first time in Roca Verde to see and photograph the Rufous-capped Warbler, and the photo included here is of him “warbling!” 🙂 The name link is to my gallery with shots of this bird from 4 other locations in Costa Rica and some are better shots. And then maybe a first for me at Roca Verde is the juvenile or “immature” Yellow-faced Grassquit which at that age does not have the bright yellow on his face.
Here’s my mostly weak photos against drab skies, but they show you what I saw today:
On March 29 I got 19 species of birds on this same walk on Calle Nueva.
See all of my BIRDS galleries or go for just Costa Rica Birds.
¡Pura Vida!
Thanks to my friend Larry for catching this fine AP News Article: Bird-watching soars amid COVID-19 as Americans head outdoors Read the article linked to see what people all over the U.S. are doing more of now, then head over to eBird or just use your phone to download the free app Merlin to identify birds and start your “bird collection” online or in a photo gallery. My world-wide (10 countries) ebird count is over 530 now! 🙂 Thank you Larry for this great way to relieve one’s boredom from quarantine! And feel free to peruse my BIRDS photo collection that include 76+ species I photographed in the States before moving to Costa Rica.
Now, this quote from the article:
“The birds don’t know that there’s a pandemic. They’re migrating, building nests and laying eggs, just like they always have,” ~Michael Kopack Jr.
¡Pura Vida!
All art is but imitation of nature.
And that Yigüirro is singing his heart out every day now “calling the rains in” which happens every April in anticipation of the May rains or the beginning of the rainy season, our winter here. That is why he is the national bird of Costa Rica.
See my FLORA & FOREST Gallery for more flowers or Birds Gallery or Butterfly Gallery.
¡Pura Vida!
🙂
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take,
but by the moments that take our breath away.
~ Unknown
And with the extra “down time” I’ve had, thanks to Coronavirus, and the inability to travel around Costa Rica, I’ve been able to organize more of my past photos which represent “the moments that have taken my breath away!” And I hope to start collecting more new “moments” by restarting my Costa Rica travels in July – I will have to wait and see if lodges are open and that can happen! 🙂 So for now it’s Tennessee & other travels! 🙂
When not busy with all the daily necessities of life, Spanish lessons, other reading, or writing one of these blog posts, I am usually working on organizing thousands of past photos, mostly made between 1999 & 2014. They will soon all be in one place, in my public photo gallery hosted by Smugmug.com and seamlessly looking like a part of my WordPress website/blog page, charliedoggett.net, where you are reading this right now. Just click “gallery” at top of the page to see the photo galleries. Or for the new ones . . .
All of my travel photos outside Tennessee have been organized into travel galleries collectively called Pre-Costa-Rica TRAVEL Gallery (trips before Dec. 2014) found below all my Costa Rica galleries in the Big Gallery with many breath-taking moments from the Amazon to Africa + Yellowstone to Grand Canyon! In addition I have started TRAVEL pages on my website where I will continue to add stories and other information beyond these photos, including travel-related pages from my journals over the years. As always, this site is a creative work in progress!
I’ve completed what may be the two biggest “Pre-Costa Rica TENNESSEE Photos” galleries with my Tennessee State Parks gallery (the feature photo) and Tennessee State Natural Areas gallery, but much more to do for Tennessee yet, not to mention thousands of Nashville photos for that separate gallery! But . . .
I call my big gallery “Charlie Doggett’s COSTA RICA” and it is pretty much up to date in every sub-galleries about Costa Rica, especially the Costa Rica TRIPS gallery which is mainly what this post is about.! 🙂 Or my biggest collections are my BIRDS galleries.
My life has been blessed with many “breath-taking moments” and I’ve recorded a whole lot of them in photos. Check ’em out! 🙂
“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.”
―
¡Pura Vida!
Hope is the thing with feathers
Hope is the thing with feathersThat perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.I’ve heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
~Emily Dickinson – 1830-1886
¡Pura Vida!
Featured photo is a Red-legged Honeycreeper I photographed at Maquenque Lodge in Boca Tapada, Costa Rica where I hope to be again in July if re-opened. 🙂 See more in my Red-legged Honeycreeper Gallery or also my bigger BIRDS Photo Gallery for many more birds. Pura vida!
Or almost no place better for birds than my home in the Roca Verde Neighborhood of Atenas, Costa Rica. My long-time intentions to do a photo book of birds photographed at home just got fulfilled!
Check out the free preview of this book of 80 photos of more than 40 species of birds found in my garden and neighborhood. Plus this book is bigger than my travel series books, a full 8 x 10 inches, making it acceptable as a “Coffee Table Book.” 🙂 The hardcover edition is printed on a higher quality of lustre photo paper, though the paperback edition is nice on standard paper. Enjoy! 🙂
https://www.blurb.com/b/10034408-roca-verde-birds
In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.
~John Muir
¡Pura Vida!