charliedoggett.net
I became aware of the Rose-throated Becard (eBird description) when in 2017 I got this close-up of a female in my own garden! 🙂 See other shots in my Rose-throated Becard Gallery from only 2 different locations in Costa Rica, one other in my neighborhood and one at Punta Leona on the Pacific Coast.
The “Big Day” of Global Bird Counting was not extremely big for me. I chose the dirt country road alongside our development thinking it would have more birds as usual than around our houses, but . . . it was a little windy from 6 to 8 this morning and one of the bicycle clubs was out whizzing down our little country road which did not encourage the presence of birds. But I’m counting 12 species and a total of 50 birds, with three species not in photos below. Here’s my list for today with non-photo’d first and others alphabetically:
¡Pura Vida!
Today is “Global Big Day” of counting birds where you live to help science better see what is happening to the health of our planet. I was out from 5:30 AM to 7:15 AM along the border between our housing project, Roca Verde, and the adjacent farms on the border-line gravel road called Calle Nueva (literally “New Street”) that serves as one emergency evacuation road from Atenas along with being a great nature walk and road for bicycles.
I’ve had better days and worse days of birding on that road, so maybe “average” is what the scientists want! 🙂 I observed at least 60 birds of more than 12 species, which is the number of species I photographed. I only report on eBird what I get photos of, which is not the typical eBird user, but I feel more confident with my reports because of that and eBird has volunteer “checkers” to make sure I labeled a bird correctly. Of my 60 seen, 30 were one flock of parakeets! 🙂
It was overcast or cloudy almost the whole time I was out, meaning poor light and white skies as terrible backgrounds most of the time! Only one photo has even a semblance of a blue sky. That’s life! There were no “lifers” or first-time birds for me, though my first time in Roca Verde to see and photograph the Rufous-capped Warbler, and the photo included here is of him “warbling!” 🙂 The name link is to my gallery with shots of this bird from 4 other locations in Costa Rica and some are better shots. And then maybe a first for me at Roca Verde is the juvenile or “immature” Yellow-faced Grassquit which at that age does not have the bright yellow on his face.
Here’s my mostly weak photos against drab skies, but they show you what I saw today:
On March 29 I got 19 species of birds on this same walk on Calle Nueva.
See all of my BIRDS galleries or go for just Costa Rica Birds.
¡Pura Vida!
I got usable photos of 19 species of birds from my little one-hour walk yesterday morning, 6-7 AM, in the neighborhood on Calle Nueva, the little country gravel/dirt road that separates Roca Verde neighborhood from the adjacent farmland. Nineteen is not bad and as good as some longer walks I take when at expensive birding lodges! 🙂 PLUS, if my identifications are correct, I got 3 new species, “lifers,” for me, though I may get corrected by an eBird expert reviewer after I post them on eBird. 🙂 The new ones are Giant Cowbird, Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher and a Yellow-green Vireo.
This road and my own street uphill above my house always yield a lot of birds early in the morning. And I have another neighborhood further away that I intend to try for even different birds, a place my birding friend Margaret found to be good.
“Every bird, every tree, every flower reminds me what a blessing and privilege it is just to be alive.”
―
¡Pura Vida!
In an earlier post I introduced you to the little 5 km country lane behind our Roca Verde development and along the stream by that cow pasture in front of my house. It is called Calle Nueva which would be simply “New Street” in English and the 2018 blog post was titled Finishing the country road walk today . . . Then later I added a photo gallery: Walking Calle Nueva Atenas 2018. Same photos!
Yesterday I walked part of the road more slowly than I did with young man Jason Quesada back then. It was with another older person who is a birder from Canada! Totally different! We saw more than 15 species of birds just behind where I live and here are a few photos of some of them! Even got one lifer on this walk of about 2 hours, the Black-crowned Tityra, both male & female! CLICK A PHOTO TO ENLARGE.
And apologies for several washed out pictures with white sky. That was because I was not paying attention to details and accidentally turned the dial to “Manual” without setting the manual settings and wasn’t looking at the images on screen! Ugh! Sloppy old man!
Country roads, take me home, to the place I belong.
~John Denver
¡Pura Vida!
 |
| Soccer Fields are the most defining thing of a community in Costa Rica even along a dirt road among farms out in the country! Necessary! Calle Nueva Atenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Calle Nueva Atenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Calle Nueva Atenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Calle Nueva Atenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Mango Tree Grove Calle Nueva Atenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Lots of Purple and Yellow Flowers if you look close Calle Nueva Atenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Calle Nueva Atenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Calle Nueva Atenas, Costa Rica |
 |
| Calle Nueva Atenas, Costa Rica |
After the walk we had a late lunch in a little Soda in the village of Rio Grande on the river of same name and our expressway Ruta 27 where there is an Atenas exit just south of Atenas. In this same little village is a chicken processing plant (low-pay jobs) owned my Walmart and a small air conditioner plant, both on the expressway. We road the local bus back to Atenas Central which went by these two job sources locally. And back in town a political experience which I will share tomorrow. See the Photo Gallery Walking Calle nueva – PS: WARNING! I learned later that two days before this walk an expat man from Canada was walking this same road solo (as I often go) and he was robbed at knifepoint by two young men on motorcycles, supposedly Nicaraguans, which is who most Ticos blame crime on. This is highly unusual in little Atenas, but of course can happen anywhere. It is more common in parts of the big city of San Jose.
International Living magazine again ranks Costa Rica the #1 Place to Retire!
The USA Today article on Costa Rica, the Country Without an Army & the Happiest Country
“Blessed is the Costa Rican mother who knows her son at birth will never be a soldier.”
