Just Two Toucans This Trip

And the reason I say that is because I almost always get photos of all three of the toucans in that particular reserve, but the Keel-billed Toucan never showed up during my 6 days there this time. One of the family there said that it was because many fruit trees are fruiting right now throughout the rainforest and they have preferences elsewhere. 🙂

Here’s one shot of each of the other two and links to my galleries with earlier photos of each from all over Costa Rica.

Collared Aracari, Maquenque Eco Lodge & Reserve, Boca Tapada, Costa Rica

And my Gallery of CR Collared Aracari. You will see from the locations of those photos that this aracari is only on the Caribbean Slope or Atlantic side while the Pacific Slope has the Fiery-billed Aracari, which I’ve had in my garden a couple of times.

Yellow-throated Toucan, Maquenque Eco Lodge & Reserve, Boca Tapada, Costa Rica

See more of this bird in my Yellow-throated Toucan Gallery. And this guy and the similar Keel-billed Toucan can be seen on both slopes of Costa Rica.

¡Pura Vida!

Lost Photos: Collared Aracari

I shoot my animal shots with a fast shutter speed in the Canon automatic “Sports-Action Mode” to freeze the action of always moving birds and butterflies! That is the fast click,click,click you hear sometimes from a camera, and it means I get lots of photos (thousands) that I have to go through to delete bad ones and sort according to subject, thus very time consuming! And with so many file folders on my computer I sometimes misplace images as I did with these Collared Aracari eating red berries in a tree behind my cabin one day. They are much better shots than the ones I used on that earlier 3 Toucan Species post, so I just have to give them their own post!  🙂  Occasionally you do luck into good sunlight from the right direction to make an okay image as with these (unlike the Aracaris in the other post):

Collared Aracari eating berries, Tortuga Lodge & Gardens, Tortuguero NP, Costa Rica

Collared Aracari eating red berries, Tortuga Lodge & Gardens, Tortuguero NP, Costa Rica

And for more of this bird, my CR Collared Aracari GALLERY.

¡Pura Vida!

 

3 Toucan Species

There are 3 species of toucans on each side of Costa Rica with the Keel-billed and Yellow-throated on both sides and a different Aracari (smaller toucan) on each side, Collared Aracari on the Caribbean (Atlantic) side and Fiery-billed Aracari on the Pacific slopes. And of course this past week I was in the Caribbean. Here’s two shots of each species with a link to my gallery for that species if you want to see more and different photos. One photo for the email notice and then the three galleries online . . .

Keel-billed Toucan, Tortuguero National Park, Costa Rica

Continue reading “3 Toucan Species”

The 5 BIG BIRDS this trip

Yes, you can sometimes see a hawk at Arenal Observatory, but I did not this time nor the two larger toucans, Keel-billed and Yellow-throated, which I have every other visit. But these 5 are still impressive birds and there’s six photos because the male and female of the Great Curassow are so different. I debated about putting the Collared Aracari here, since he’s the smaller toucan, but he seemed too big for the “medium birds” post that’s next.  🙂  And despite their bad reputations, both vultures are beautiful (when flying) and so important to the ecology of our lands!

As usual, one photo for the emailed notice with the others in the online post . . .

Crested Guan, Arenal Observatory Lodge, Costa Rica

Continue reading “The 5 BIG BIRDS this trip”

Maquenque Toucans

I just decided to share the birds from Maquenque in smaller doses and this is the three kinds of toucans we had at breakfast every morning: (1) Keel-billed Toucan, (2) Yellow-throated Toucan, and (3) Collared Aracari Toucan. I have hundreds of photos but only sharing 2 of each type!  🙂   Though I should note that the featured photo for this post is of three juvenile Collared Aracari, possibly siblings. Lots of baby birds around now. Click an image to enlarge:

¡Pura vida!

You may also enjoy my Costa Rica Birds Gallery 

and my 2019 Maquenque Lodge Trip Gallery   

See the lodge website:  Maquenque Ecolodge

Merry Christmas!

One of my photos of a Collared Aracari in Sarapiqui, Costa Rica — eating of course!  🙂

Or for a more traditional message and a different bird photo, see my Christmas card on Facebook.

And for more Costa Rica Birds see the photo gallery.

It is Christmas Time here! The children and teens are out of school and out of uniforms as the seniors graduated yesterday and summer vacation has started. Happy sounds! Schools begin a new year in February.

The rains have stopped and the wind is blowing; dry season is here. Soon some businesses will close for two weeks or more and when I get to the beach 22 December it will be crowded with more Ticos than foreign tourists.

My gardener team said goodbye today, “Hasta proxima anos!” They will see me next year. Mid December until January is vacation time for many people and even more so a family time. The week between Christmas and New Years Atenas will look like a ghost town with little going on beyond the always open super mercados and farmacias. Peaceful too! I will be gone on my trip to Tambor Bay December 22-27 and reporting in daily right here on this blog! (If internet connection!)

And hoping you have the joy and tranquility of Costa Rica during your Christmas celebration!

Merry Christmas!

3 Species of Toucans Every Day!

Yellow-throated Toucan
Dave & Dave’s Nature Pavilion, La Virgen, Costa Rica
Former known as Chestnut-Mandibled and then Black-Mandibled Toucan
A very common bird in Sarapiquí area including at Selva Verde Lodge.

Keel-billed Toucan
Selva Verde Lodge Sarapiquí, Chilamate, Costa Rica

Collared Aracari
Selva Verde Lodge Sarapiquí, Chilamate, Costa Rica

Keel-billed Toucan Flying
Selva Verde Lodge Sarapiquí, Chilamate, Costa Rica

15+ Bird Species Photographed in Manzanillo!

Great Green Macaw, Manzanillo, Costa Rica

 

 

There were more seen but just 15 with decent photographs and I will share more photos of the Great Green Macaw later with info on the Ara Project. Some of these birds like the above are only found on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica.

 

Pale-billed Woodpecker
Manzanillo, Costa Rica

 

Cinnamon Woodpecker
Manzanillo, Costa Rica

 

Chestnut-colored Woodpecker
Manzanillo, Costa Rica
Keel-billed Toucan
Kekoldi Bribri Indigenous Reserve, Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica

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Collared Aracari
Manzanillo, Costa Rica

 

Common Black Hawk
Manzanillo, Costa Rica
Photographed in tree next to my tent at Almonds & Corals.
Roadside Hawk
Kekoldi Bribri Indigenous Reserve, Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica

 

 

One of the “New World Warblers” maybe Yellow
Manzanillo, Costa Rica

 

 

Shining Honeycreeper
Kekoldi Bribri Indigenous Reserve, Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica

 

Squirrel Cuckoo
Manzanillo, Costa Rica

 

Variable Seedeater
Manzanillo, Costa Rica
Turkey Vulture
Kekoldi Bribri Indigenous Reserve, Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica
We also saw Kites, Hawks and Falcons flying high above, but no good photos.

 

Chestnut-backed Antbird
Manzanillo, Costa Rica
By the entrance to my tent at Almonds & Corals
Note that he is eating an insect, worm or whatever?

 

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird
Manzanillo, Costa Rica

 

Black-mandibled Toucan
Photographed at the Ara Project and added after original post.
Manzanillo, Costa Rica

All of these birds were wild in the forests of Manzanillo or Kekoldi. I saw a few more in captivity at the Jaguar Rescue Center in Puerto Viejo but not included here. See that post.

And I have a BIRDS PHOTO GALLERY with many more species! And the new ones here will be added very soon!

 

New Photo Gallery Under Construction

For many reasons I decided to move all my Costa Rica photos into a new photo gallery outside my old PBase gallery which for now I will keep for “history” or pre-Costa Rica photos as is. After checking out several possibilities, I chose SmugMug.com as the host and I am working on a new gallery there that will be formatted more like a website I am calling:

Screen Print of Home Page  –  GO THERE NOW!

Please be patient. It is a long way from finished since I have to upload and label each individual photo one at a time. But I think you will like it when finished! You can simply BROWSE as on any website, but also with a powerful search engine you can SEARCH for and bring up all photos for say one place name or one bird, etc. In the case of birds, they are listed alphabetically by the English name, but with SEARCH you can get a lot of other combinations.

The GALLERIES of photos are organized first in FOLDERS by subject or theme such as “Birds” or “Vistas.”  In each gallery you can click the button SLIDESHOW for the best full screen viewing of those photos. Or PASS YOUR CURSOR OVER PHOTO FOR TITLE & LOCATION. Then at the bottom of each photo and top of each gallery is a button labeled BUY that takes you to a multitude of sizes and mediums to order a copy of the photo, from a regular 4×6 print or large wall hanger to a greeting card. Fun!
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Changing the subject:

Interesting Article: Expats Moving to Costa Rica Discover Healthier Lifestyles!

Tortuguero Toucans

Collared Aracari Toucan
Eating Papaya in the village of Tortuguero, Costa Rica
Black-mandibled Toucan
Tortuguero National Park, Costa Rica
Keel-billed Toucan
At Park Headquarters
Tortuguero National Park, Costa Rica
All photos by Charlie Doggett and copyrighted
It is late and I am tired as we got back home from Tortuguero at nearly dinner time and I had to water the gardens. I will add more photos from Tortuguero tomorrow and the following days. And I hope you are beginning to see why I like Tortuguero so much!  🙂    Pura Vida!


The Toucan by Shel Silverstein

Tell me who can
Catch a toucan?
Lou can.

Just how few can
Ride the toucan?
Two can.

What kind of goo can
Stick you to the toucan?
Glue can.

Who can write some
More about the toucan?
You can!