During breakfast this morning I got 7 species of birds from my terrace, but because I was eating, I photographed only one, just at the end of my time looking – The Yellow Warbler, both a migrant from the north and a resident sometimes, meaning I don’t know how to tell if this particular one is a migrant or a resident enjoying an insect for breakfast! 🙂
Yellow Warbler, Atenas, Costa Rica
And the other 6 birds I saw were Great Kiskadee, Turkey Vulture, one of the Swallow species (unidentified), Tropical Kingbird, and Clay-colored Thrush or Yiqüirro.
I hope you are counting birds in your backyard this weekend and reporting to eBird!
One of my new favorite lodges in Costa Rica is El Silencio Lodge at Bajos del Toro in my own province of Alajuela, north of San Ramon in the cloud forest mountains where there are many waterfalls. I was there last September and as I frequently do, I made a little 7X7 inch photo book about my experiences there, sending them a copy plus one each of my general birds and butterflies books for their other guests to enjoy. When the owner came down from San Jose and saw the books he was so impressed that he told the staff to offer me two free nights in this luxury lodge.
Well, of course I accepted the offer and will add-on two more nights at my cost for a great 5-day visit the middle of February! 🙂 If you want to see a free electronic preview of the book online, click the title here:El Silencio, Touching Souls, inspired by a quote from Mother Teresa:
We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature – trees, flowers, grass- grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence… We need silence to be able to touch souls.
Join thousands of others around the world on February 12-15, 2021, on any one of those days, and count how many birds you see in your backyard to help science with another statistic! 🙂 Read about it on the Great Backyard Bird Count Website and/or get motivated with their short little video below:
I’ve been watching, counting and photographing birds my whole adult life. See my BIRDS Gallery for some of the photos of more than 500 species from 10 different countries with the most in Costa Rica of course! 🙂
Though I still have posts coming through Tuesday, February 2, the photos have all been processed and collected in on of my “Trip Galleries” to see all of the photos in one place called 2021 San Gerardo de Dota Hotel Savegre. Click the linked title or the gallery image below to see.
Photo Galleries for January 2021 Visit to Hotel Savegre, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica.
Male Quetzal, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica — One of the many images in this gallery.
This mountains or foothills hummingbird is found in all of Central America and Mexico. But in Costa Rica & Western Panama there is another almost identical bird called the Black-bellied Hummingbird. Now, the belly is not fully shown in this photo, but doesn’t appear to be black even though there is black on the face, as both can have. Though only the stripe-tailed has the little white post-ocular spot, thus with all things considered, I’m claiming this as a Stripe-tailed Hummingbird (link to eBird article). 🙂
This mountain hummingbird has a “near-twin” looking almost identical, the Volcano Hummingbird at a higher altitude, but theoretically both are possible at San Gerardo de Dota, sort of on the border of both. But my guide and eBird Merlin software both called my photos the Scintillant Hummingbird (eBird article link). And again this bird is endemic to or found only in the mountains of Costa Rica and Western Panama. My only other time to see this one was this past September at El Silencio Lodge, Bajo del Toro Amarillo, Alajuela Province. Both sightings are shown in My Scintillant Gallery. Here’s the ones from Hotel Savegre last week – CLICK to enlarge:
Scintillant Hummingbird, Batsú Gardens, Hotel Savegre, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica
This third of my mountain hummingbirds found only in Costa Rica and Western Panama was a “Lifer” (1st time seen) observation this trip. Learn more on the eBird article for White-throated Mountain-gem. My gallery has only these two photos since it is new to me. As always, CLICK an image to see larger:
White-throated Mountain-gem
White-throated Mountain-gem
Photographed at Batsú Gardens near Hotel Savegre, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica
The second in my featured mountain hummingbirds is the Talamanca Hummingbird (eBird article) as one I’ve seen in 2 other locations and of course have a Talamanca Hummingbird Gallery! 🙂 The name “Talamanca” is the name of the major mountain range through the center of Costa Rica where this bird lives only in Costa Rica and the western edge of Panama.
Talamanca Hummingbird at Batsú Gardens near Hotel Savegre, San Gerardo de Dota.
I am down to the hummingbirds in my photos from San Gerardo de Dota, the most difficult to identify for me. But I am sure of this first one, Lesser Violetear (eBird Description) and like many of our mountain birds, found only in the mountains of Costa Rica and Western Panama with a former name of “Green Violetear.” (“They” are always changing names which is frustrating for us birders!) There is a larger version of this bird called the “Mexican Violetear” found only in the countries north of us. There is also a Brown Violetear found all across Central America, but less seen by me.
Unlike most hummingbirds, this one’s “ears” actually stick out a little and are very purple or violet. Here’s a few shots from the Batsú Gardens across the road from Hotel Savegre. The hotel no longer uses any feeders of any kinds with only natural plants to attract birds in the forest and gardens, thus some birds are easier to see across the road. 🙂 Though I did get two other hummingbirds in the hotel gardens.
Lesser Violetear
Lesser Violetear
Lesser Violetear
Lesser Violetear
Photos made at the Batsú Gardens near Hotel Savegre, San Gerardo de Dota.
This turkey-sized wild bird is found only in the highlands of Costa Rica and Western Panama. My Black Guan Gallery has other photos from the highlands of Monteverde, Costa Rica. This guan is also a relative of the more widely spread Crested Guan and Great Curassow (links to my galleries also) found in the foothills and lowlands of all Central America and northern South America. And in the same general family of the almost pest bird in my neighborhood, the Gray-headed Chachalaca, a smaller, chicken-sized bird.
There is also a Highland Guan which I saw only once in Nicaragua. They all live north of Costa Rica. All guans are arboreal as well as feeding on the ground. I have heard Ticos call guans “turkeys” more as an English slang name or loose translation of the Spanish name “Pava.” In Spanish, the first three guans I listed above with galleries are Pava Negra, Pava Crestada and Pavón Grande with my neighborhood Chachalaca in Spanish called Chachalaca Cabecigris . Birding in Costa Rica – Pura vida!
In San Gerardo de Dota I saw Black Guans only from a distance while waiting for the Quetzales. 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
See my big BIRDS Gallery including other countries or . . .
