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Another common and fairly large bird here at Esquinas Rainforest Lodge is the Gray-cowled Wood-Rail, Rascón Cuelligris, Aramides cajaneus (eBird link) is a wetlands & marsh bird found throughout Central & South America. There are many here at Esquinas around the several ponds or lagoons and I’ve seen in the lowlands of both the Pacific and Caribbean slope and coastal areas of Costa Rica. See my Gray-cowled Wood-Rail GALLERY for more pix. Here’s three shots at Esquinas . . .
The Great Curassow, Crax Rubra (eBird link) was the first bird to greet me here at Esquinas Rainforest Lodge. It is a large “turkey-like” game bird found throughout Central America that was hunted to near extinction and today is seen only in reserves and national parks where they are protected. Here’s four of my photos from here, two each of the male and female.
There was surprisingly no rain my arrival afternoon yesterday (Saturday) but I did not get to a blog post because they have internet connection only in the restaurant and reception areas, not in the cabins. This afternoon (Sunday) it started raining about 12:30 and looks like an off & on rain will continue, but this morning was clear for my birding hike. 🙂
“Nothing has ever been said about God that hasn’t already been said better by the wind in the trees.”
~Thomas Merton
It was in October of 2018, the peak of the rainy season, that I first visited Esquinas Rainforest Lodge at La Gamba Research Station, Piedras Blancas National Park, north of Golfito, Puntarenas. It rained pretty hard every afternoon with the mornings and short spaces between rain full of wonderful birds to photograph! And the planned boat trip to Rio Coto Mangroves turned impossible with high winds and heavy rain on Golfo Dulce, but the ingenious boat captain took me back into the smaller Gulf of Golfito (shielded from heavy wind by trees) for some of my better bird shots in between downpours – an unplanned but excellent substitute for an always good mangrove tour! Making Lemonade from Lemons! 🙂 And how could you not in this incredible rainforest? See more photos from my first trip there & a video link below . . .
Continue reading ““The Wind in the Trees””
One week from today! Anyone in Costa Rica is invited to my casita to view all of my many photo-art items that are available here now. I spent about $5,000 getting ready for a new art gallery that was to open June 15 in Atenas that did not open for various reasons. Now I’m stuck with piles of art work in my tiny casita with no storage space. So almost everything must go! And all is PRICED BELOW MY COST!
9-12 am, Saturday, June 24
Come & Go as you please
105 Roca Verde #2
See photos at: ATENAS ART GALLERY AT MY HOUSE
INCLUDING:
¡Pura Vida!
Finally I have all my photos for the 5 nights in April 2023 at Maquenque Eco Lodge and Reserve including the sub-galleries I’ve already shared. This was another great photo trip to one of my favorite places in Costa Rica with photos of 62 bird species (6 lifers!), 10 butterflies and more than 30 species of other animals! Plus my usual “Nature as Art” photos of everything from flowers to weird leaves and beautiful landscapes. Just this one trip gallery will show you why I am so excited about being “Retired in Costa Rica!” the name of my blog and website. Enjoy the photos! Just click this image:
Or use this address: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2023-April-9-14-Maquenque-Ecolodge
¡Pura Vida!
Although birds are the biggest category of wildlife for me at Maquenque Ecolodge, there are a lot of other wildlife and on this April trip I photographed 10 species of butterflies with one being a Lifer or first time seen (the Glassy-winged Skipper). Below is 1 photo of each of the 10 species for those who don’t go to separate galleries. Or here’s links to the online gallery with all my butterfly photos from this trip. https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2023-April-9-14-Maquenque-Ecolodge/OTHER-ANIMALS/BUTTERFLIES
Or below see just one photo of each of the 10 species . . .
I have finally finished sorting and processing all my bird photos from the April 9-14 trip to Maquenque Ecolodge on San Carlos River at Boca Tapada. You can see the 62 species of birds I photographed this trip including 6 Lifers! (That’s 6 birds seen for the first time in my life!) Go to this address or just click the gallery image below and that link will take you there:
https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2023-April-9-14-Maquenque-Ecolodge/BIRDS
Note that only the birds gallery and one other is done in what will eventually be a larger “Trip Gallery” with other sub-galleries not completed yet. As usual, it was another “photo-rich” trip! 🙂
Because I found 2 more “lifers” since the earlier lifers post, I will include photos of all 6 lifers below. None are spectacular but they represent 6 more in my Costa Rica Birds GALLERY of 365 total species of birds photographed here so far!
Here’s 3 different species of dragonflies I got at Maquenque Ecolodge, Boca Tapada, San Carlos Canton, Alajuela, Costa Rica. IDs are based on the book Dragonflies and Damselflies of Costa Rica by Paulson & Haber.
Here’s either 4 or 5 species of Tanagers I photographed at Maquenque Ecolodge and the reason for the uncertainty is that one photo is of a baby or young juvenile and one can’t be certain of the species unless with its mom. 🙂 Many different baby Tanagers will look like this . . .
A break in my sharing of the many birds at Maquenque to share two photos of two different Agoutis I photographed there. Officially they are the Central American Agouti (Dasyprocta punctata) or in Costa Rica either Guatusa or Agutí centroamericana. There are different subspecies in Mexico and in the northern half of South America but all in the Dasyprocta family which is a rodent related to Guinea Pigs.
Read about them on Wikipedia or see my photos from all over Costa Rica in my Central American Agouti GALLERY.
Notice the color difference of the above two. They can be various shades of brown to reddish-orange to grayish or yellow & gray to blackish. They are more difficult to photograph than Coatis because they are more shy of humans and stay in the grasses and shrubs of the forest.
¡Pura Vida!