Clay-colored Thrush or Yigüirro

Clay-colored Thrush or Yigüirro
The National Bird of Costa Rica 
Joined me for breakfast this morning.
Atenas, Costa Rica
“With its unmistakable tune and people-friendly character, the clay-colored thrush is the national bird of Costa Rica. The melodious thrush, known locally as the Yigüirro, is one of the country’s most common birds. While the species ranges from South Texas to northern Colombia, it holds a special place in the heart of Ticos.

“In January 1977 the clay-colored thrush was designated as Costa Rica’s bird, under the government of Mr. Daniel Oduber Quiros. It was chosen in large part for its gorgeous song, which represents the arrival of the green seasons.”   Copied from the Go Visit Costa Rica website

This bird is the same size and a relative of the American Robin with similar behavior, though the song is more distinctive. He is here and singing year around but some say his song in May is what brings the Green Season rains which we are thirsty for after 6 months of dryness. 🙂 This simple bird as a national bird says a lot about Costa Rica and its practical people when we have so many showy birds like toucans and macaws and more resplendent quetzals than Guatemala who call it their national bird. Thankfulness for the life-giving rain that this bird supposedly brings notes the priorities of the happy Costa Rica people! ¡Pura Vida!  ~Charlie


Some of my other shots of this bird   (“Search” on my gallery)

Or the Costa Rica Birds section of my BIRDS photo gallery

More Balcony Birds

The balcony of my new house is providing a lot of birds, I just haven’t had time to sit still and wait on them for photos. Here’s 5 made in about a week, plus the hummingbird and toucan shown earlier. 7!

White-winged Dove
He ties with Yigüirro as the most heard birds. His is a coo-coo coo cooooooo
Yigüirro or Clay-colored Thrush
Day and night I hear him with his Tch, Tch, Tch, Tch or Toc, Toc, Toc, Toc
The National Bird of Costa Rica
Melodious Blackbird
My bird sounds app doesn’t have this one, but “melodious” must be happy!
The only all-black bird in Costa Rica with dark eye, shaking rainwater off here.
Gray-capped Flycatcher
He kind of squeaks in the morning among all the other bird sounds
then more of a chirp during the day
White-tipped Dove
His sound is not as noticed, a low-pitched uuuuuuu
His tail tip is white while above dove’s wing’s white

And if you’re wondering about the sounds, I got a new app for my phone, “The Bird Sounds of Costa Rica.”  Cool! Maybe I will begin to recognize more of them now. For more information, check your app source (I got it from GooglePlays) or direct from the birdsounds website in the Netherlands:  http://www.birdsounds.nl/   They have a bunch for all around the world.

Clay-colored Thrush

Clay-colored Thrush
Hacienda La Jacaranda, Atenas, Costa Rica

There was one of these down by the river with the howler monkeys yesterday afternoon, but this little guy landed on my balcony rail at sunset tonight. In earlier years he was called Clay-colored Robin. Yes, I posted a photo of this bird earlier, but just not as good as this one. Won’t do repeats often! Promise!

Drove the rent car to Alajuela today to pick up a letter, eat lunch at Jalapeno Central and do a test drive through the airport twice; once through the departure lane where I will deliver Berdelle and Michael Wednesday morning, then through the arrival lane for Kevin on Friday and found how to park for arrivals, so now I feel prepared and not nervous about driving there. But I still plan to avoid driving in downtown San Jose!