I got several shots roadside along the cow pasture in Roca Verde. Here is just one shot with more in my GALLERY Inca Dove, Columbina inca.
¡Pura Vida!
Inca Dove
Western Cattle-Egret
A small flock of these egrets flying up and away from the Cow Pasture across the street on January 31. They are regulars at the pasture but I seldom try to photograph. A small group of houses are at the south end of the pasture and the birds are flying up from the pasture and over those houses. I’m able to get closer and better photos on some of my river trips as you can see in my Cattle-Egrets Gallery. Just the one photo here.
¡Pura Vida!
2 Lizards, 1 Genus
Two days in a row I photographed lizards on my terrace that I cannot identify as species, though on iNaturalist both are accepted as the same Genus, Anolis, but obviously different species, though none of the “experts” have yet to identify the species of either one. Hopefully they will both eventually get identified! 🙂
If this one has a dewlap, he did not display it for me. I think the eye markings will be the identifier.
I have 21 species identified in my LIZARDS GALLERY and another 15+ unidentified. The genus identifications of the above two are not confirmed yet and hopefully I will get even the species name later from identifiers on iNaturalist. Books sometimes give me identities, but not always.
¡Pura Vida!
Tropical Kingbird
A favorite of mine among the many birds found only in Central & South America, the Tropical Kingbird, Tyrannus melancholicus (my gallery link). One of the many wild birds that seem to like power lines for perching. And that can make it easy to photograph, depending on the sunlight of course! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Cow Pasture Nature Photography
I don’t go to the cow pasture enough for birds, butterflies and a lot of other nature to photograph, so on a recent morning I walked down the road along the pasture fence to that only big tree on right side of pasture by the road and back to my gate from where the feature photo was made. In about 15 to 20 minutes I photographed 6 species of butterflies and the other nature items in a gallery below this one mimosa plant photo . . .
Yellow-crowned Euphonia
This is the first time I’ve seen any Euphonia in quite a while, maybe more than a year and usually somewhere else other than my garden. And I got both the male and the female, though the male was in the shadows and thus not as good a photo.
¡Pura Vida!
See more in my Yellow-crowned Euphonia Gallery where I have photos from 3 other locations, with this being the first of this species in my garden.
Idiarthron Genus
I know, it looks like a grasshopper and it may be, but the AI on iNaturalist would only go so for as the genus in identification, so I will wait for a bug expert to identify which grasshopper this is! 🙂 Here’s two shots, the top view with my cell phone and the side view with my telephoto lens on a Canon camera. And I do expect it to be identified eventually.
Squirrel Cuckoo
Not your every day bird but definitely one of my favorites, the Squirrel Cuckoo, Piaya cayana (my gallery link) is one I’ve seen in multiple locations across Costa Rica, just not frequently. See all those in the above-linked gallery or for my all-time favorite, a portrait of one who posed for me in the Cecropia tree back in 2017: Cuckoo Portrait. A metal print of it hangs in my living room here. 🙂 This one last Sunday was in a tree behind my house only about 40 seconds, so I had to act quick to get these shots before he flew off to a neighbor’s tree and out of sight.
There are 7 species of cuckoos in Costa Rica and I’ve seen and photographed only three, the other two being the Mangrove Cuckoo (in two locations) and the Lesser Ground Cuckoo in one location, (both names are linked to my galleries).
Lesson’s Motmot
In some ways I’m glad the visits aren’t every day, so I can get excited and enjoy the occasional visits of a neighborhood Lessons Motmot, Momotus lessonii (my gallery link). It lives solely in Central American lowland forests and in Costa Rica more on the Pacific Slope than the Caribbean Slope, though it is seen in the some inland forests on the Caribbean side, while the similar but less-seen Turquoise-browed Motmot (my gallery link) lives only on the Pacific Slope. I have had both in my garden, but many more of the Lesson’s. The species name of “Motmot” comes from an early morning hooting like an owl that the motmots make. 🙂 In both photos he is in a Nance Tree in my garden.
Marigold Pepper Leaf
In November this attractive leaf just popped up in my garden as what I figured was a “weed,” and thus I pulled it up, after photographing with my cell phone, and threw it away. Then I ran this leaf photo through iNaturalist and discovered that it is (was) a Marigold Pepper, Piper marginatum (iNaturallist link). Just another one of the many nature surprises I keep finding in my garden and all over Costa Rica! 🙂 What I read about this is that there are no “peppers” or fruit, but rather people use the leaves for seasoning and extracting a flavorful oil. Hmmmm, maybe I should have kept this “weed!” 🙂
See more such beauties in my Leaves & Nature Things GALLERY.
¡Pura Vida!