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This little bird feeds in the grasses usually, though I caught him yesterday afternoon in my neighbor’s dead tree. He is the Yellow-faced Grassquit, Tiaris olivaceus (eBird link) which I have seen multiple times in my neighborhood along with a sighting at Curi-Cancha Reserve in Monteverde and at Rio Celeste Lodge near Tenorio NP. My other photos are in my gallery titled: Yellow-faced Grassquit.
¡Pura Vida!
Continue reading “Yellow-faced Grassquit”
The most frequent woodpecker in my garden is the Hoffman’s Woodpecker, Melanerpes hoffmannii (my gallery link). Red spot on top of head is the male while both male & female have a golden nape. Below this photo for the email version is a gallery of 5 shots recently in my garden.
I’m seeing more of these this year, maybe more than the Great Kiskadee, which has always been the dominant flycatcher around my house.
The differences in those two, to help your IDs, is that (1) the Kiskadee is much larger than the Social, which of course would be easier to tell if they were side by side! 🙂 (2) The bill or beak is much larger and longer on the Kiskadee and after seeing a lot of both, that helps with ID and (3) though both have a white ring around their heads with a black center, the Kiskadee also has a bright yellow spot in the center of the black circle which the other flycatchers don’t have. And lastly, (4) though both have a bright yellow belly, this Social’s back is a duller brown while the Kiskadee’s is a brighter red-brown or what birders call “rufous.”
Then this Social Flycatcher can also be confused with the Boat-billed Flycatcher of about the same size (a tad larger maybe), but the big difference there is the larger, boat-shaped bill. But they too have the dull brown back, bright yellow breast and B&W head. Confusing? 🙂
If you would like to compare these three similar flycatcher type birds, you can of course go to eBird or compare my photos of each in my galleries . . .
In my nearly 11 years here I’ve seen the Great Kiskadee the most, all over, with Social Flycatcher the second most seen and the Boat-billed the least seen. But that is not a scientific analysis of the populations! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Or if you prefer, use this address: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2025-July-1-6-Esquinas-Rainforest-Lodge
I consider these “Trip Galleries” the best of all my photo galleries where I put only the best photos from that experience. Then I link some of these photos to subject galleries such as a bird species gallery, etc. The trip galleries can also be of help if you plan a trip to one of these wonderful places I visit here in Costa Rica! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Though I’m slowing down and getting fewer photos of birds and everything else now, I also continue to be surprised with new species, like the Whitened Eyed-Metalmark butterfly in another post and that weird insect, Trychopeplus laciniatus, in still another blog post yesterday. All 4 were new species for me on my 3rd visit to this particular lodge and rainforest! 🙂 Just one reason I like Esquinas! 🙂
Now for the two new bird species this time . . .
That is one shot of the male. See more photos of both male & female in my Blue-black Grosbeak Gallery. The several types of Grosbeaks are all sort of like large Seedeaters.
And speaking of larger seedeater-type birds, the other first sighting for me was this Yellow-bellied Seedeater. (my gallery link) And sorry that I couldn’t get better photos! Two shots in the gallery.
And though not a lifer, I also got a couple of weak photos of a somewhat rare bird, indigenous to this Golfo Dulce area. “Indigenous” means it is found only in this Osa Peninsula/South Pacific area of Costa Rica and nowhere else in the world! 🙂 . . .
Continue reading “2 Lifer Birds at Esquinas”
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! 🙂
You can see more in my GALLERY: Leaves and Nature Things.
¡Pura Vida!
is one of my daily garden visitors whom I may not photograph enough. He’s colorful, active, and always on the move . . .
¡Pura Vida!
Sunday before last in the early morning before walking to El Fogon for breakfast, I was on my terrace with a cup of tea and my camera when the neighborhood motmots came to my garden with their offspring. It appears that they were teaching him/her (male and female look identical to humans) how to catch a Cicada (or find a dead one). 🙂 Check out the gallery below of 6 shots chronologically of the lesson in my Higuerón and Nance Trees and on the ground below . . .
The Red Cracker, Hamadryas amphinome (my gallery link) has an almost solid red underside of his lower wing, which I am yet to get a photo of. The only other place that I’ve seen this butterfly was on two different occasions at Xandari Resort, on a hill overlooking Alajuela (city) and the San Jose Airport. This shot was made in my garden on the trunk of the Cecropia Tree. I’ve only seen Crackers (all species) on trunks of trees, so maybe there is something in bark they eat? 🙂 And I’ve also only seen the topside of most.
¡Pura Vida!
And if Cracker butterflies interest you, check out my galleries on these 6 different species . . .
¡Pura Vida!
¡Pura Vida!