For maybe an hour this morning, two Yellow-throated Toucans called out to each other from two different trees behind my cabin. Finally, they got together in one tree, though my last pix indicates that one is shy, hiding behind an air plant with her back to the other. Always fun to observe nature in action! 🙂 This was one of 11 bird species I photographed today, here at Esquinas Rainforest Lodge. A nice day! And though cloudy most of the day, no rain. Below this photo for the email is a photo of the two together or almost together! 🙂
Good evening from the rainforest! We had a good hour & a half rain this afternoon that was cooling, though of course it is quite humid here all the time. Reminds me of growing up in South Arkansas just a few miles from the Louisiana line and it was quite humid there too, at least in the summer! 🙂
My cabin is surround by maybe up to 10 or more species of Heliconia flowers and I started out to do a post on the Heliconia, but just too many photos to process in a limited time! Maybe for another night this week!
Thus, because of time, I chose to share just one photo of a favorite tropical animal for tourist down here, the Central American Agouti. This one was foraging for fallen nuts streamside behind my cabin. I’m sure I’ll see more of him this week!
Central American Agouti, Esquinas Rainforest Lodge, Piedras Blancas National Park, Costa Rica.
I usually stick with the English language in the blog, but somehow I thought this Spanish title fit better – with “suave” having many meanings in Spanish from smooth & soft to tender and mild. I use “suave” to order tender meat (carne suave) or mild salsa (la salsa suave) and to tell the doctor where my skin is tender or sensitive (piel suave). So I thought of the Spanish word when I started photographing flowers in my garden that seemed smooth, soft or tender and below this one photo is a gallery of 6 such flowers . . .
For my birthday in July, I’m going back to Esquinas Rainforest Lodge to celebrate my 85th birthday at the same place I celebrated my 83rd! But I did not do a photo book for that trip, so this is a delayed report as a gift to the lodge this July. It is paperback and only 22 pages, but shows the variety of nature you can experience there. For a free preview of all pages, go to this book in my bookstore at https://www.blurb.com/b/12361792-a-walk-in-the-rainforest
CLICK cover image to see a free preview.
¡Pura Vida!
Note that in my bookstore there is a separate edition of this book listed with a different cover. That is because I like to offer both the softcover and the hardcover image wrap editions, but now the crazy programmers at Blurb are requiring each edition to be created and uploaded separately. I don’t like technology that makes things more complicated like this! 🙂
As my age, health and increased cost of living here begin to require, I simply need to reduce the big activities, so only 3 trips this year of 4 nights or more, and I may sneak in some day trips or even a 2-nighter at a nearby lodge – we’ll see! 🙂 But I’m still focused on nature and have plans for a few changes in my garden this year. And the three “big” trips are going to be very good, as always! 🙂
Rufous-tailed Hummingbird in a Heliconia Flower, Esquinas Rainforest Lodge, Golfito, Costa Rica.
It will be a coastal rainforest jungle in July as I return to Esquinas Rainforest Lodge for my 3rd visit and second time on my birthday! 🙂 Both photos with this post were made at Esquinas Lodge.
Then in September I’m exploring the “Amazon of Costa Rica” again at Tortuguero National Park on the Caribbean Coast instead of my usual Hotel Banana Azul beach trip. I like all the lodges in Tortuguero, but Tortuga Lodge & Gardens gets my vote for the most comfortable with the best food! And I don’t care if it is more expensive! 🙂
Then I finish the year with Christmas at Ballena National Park, Uvita in another favorite lodge, Hotel Cristal Ballena with a room overlooking the Pacific and nightly sunsets! Plus their 30 acre rainforest refuge! 🙂 And “Ballena” = “Whale” in English.
One fun thing about going to the coast is seeing some of the many types of wading shorebirds. Below the email version pix is a slide show of 6 different shorebirds from the recent trip to the mouth of the Tarcoles River. And the mouth of a river is one of the best places to see birds because of the larger variety of food possibilities there plus the usual mangroves!
As a nickname, that might be considered sacrilegious by some people, but the nickname has a long history of this lizard walking on water and most everyone knows the story of Jesus walking on water and Peter not having the faith to follow him without sinking. In Costa Rica there are three species of basilisks and they all “walk on water” (actually run very fast) as we saw this one pictured here do 🙂 . . .
Common Basilisk, Rio Tarcoles, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
THIS ONE: Common Basilisk, Basiliscus basiliscus (my gallery link) is found only on the Pacific Slope of Costa Rica and here some people also use the common name of “Brown Basilisk” instead of the preferred “Common” and thus in Spanish you can see both common names of “Basiliscus Café” and “Basiliscus Común” or “Lagarto Jesús Común.” Yeah, learning nature in two languages and both sides of the country can be confusing! 🙂 Especially when different people and different books use different and overlapping names! 🙂 Scientific names are the clearest!
THE OTHER BROWN ONE: Brown or Striped Basilisk, Basiliscus vittatus (my gallery link) is found only on the Caribbean Slope. And the Spanish names used in Costa Rica are variously “Basiliscus Café” and the preferred “Basiliscus Rayado.” In addition to the unique locations, these two brownish basilisks have different markings or stripes and different crests with this Basiliscus vittatus having smaller crests and mostly on the head only. And I think this one is browner, and thus deserves the Brown name more. But if you see a brown or brownish one, you can know the name by knowing which slope you are on! (The Continental Divide) Location, location, location! 🙂
THE EASY ONE IS GREEN: Emerald or Green Basilisk, Basiliscus plumifrons (my gallery link & 1 pix below). This one is found on both slopes of Costa Rica! 🙂 The Spanish common names are like the two English names: “Basilisco Esmeralda” or “Basilisco Verde.” And it is never confused with either of the other two! 🙂
That’s our fun biology lesson for today! And I apologize for not remembering that I did a similar post back in October. Just blame it on my dementia! 🙂
is a common bird on both coasts and way up some of the rivers. And is the case most of the time for me, this one has no spots. You can look at my Spotted Sandpiper Gallery to see some with spots which is seasonal. Just one photo here that I liked from last week’s visit to Rio Tarcoles . . .
Spotted Sandpiper, Rio Tarcoles, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
