Here’s one shot each of a male & female Collared Trogon, Trogon collaris (my gallery link). They were the first two birds we saw in the Los Angeles Cloud Forest Reserve or Villa Blanca Cloud Forest Resort yesterday. Just waiting on us as we arrived! 🙂 This particular trogon is found only in Central America and the northern portions of South America. And as you can tell from my collection of photos (above linked gallery), is found only in the higher elevations like where we were yesterday, inside a cloud. 🙂
FIRST OF 7 REPORTS FROM MY RECENT TRIP TO EL SILENCIO LODGE, BAJOS DEL TORO, ALAJUELA, COSTA RICA.
I use the word “handsome” because to me it better describes all Trogons, male and female, than “beautiful,” (though they are beautiful too, especially the Quetzal!) and here I have a photo of a male and a female Collared Trogon (link is to eBird info) which was earlier combined with one called “Orange-bellied Trogon,” another name change keeping us old men birders on our toes! 🙂
I’ve seen this one in six places in Costa Rica, all shown in my CR Collared Trogon GALLERY. And there are more photos of these 2 at El Silencio in my “trip gallery:” 2023 El Silencio Lodge. A tropical bird found only in Central America and northern South America. And this one is always in the mountains or cloud forests while different species of Trogons are seen in the lowland rainforests.
My latest book, Princeton Field Guide to Birds of Costa Rica, lists 9 species of Trogons in Costa Rica including the Resplendent Quetzal. I have photos of 7 of these in my Costa Rica Birds GALLERIES (just 2 more to go!). 🙂 Scroll down past the hummingbirds, water birds, hawks and owls to the Trogons. 🙂
I’m showing the female of the Collared Trogon here first because she is one of the very few distinctively brown birds and I like brown! 🙂
Female Collared Trogon, El Silencio Lodge, Bajos del Toro, Costa RicaMale Collared Trogon, El Silencio Lodge, Bajos del Toro, Costa Rica
¡Pura Vida!
Sorry for the delayed reports on El Silencio, but I got two weeks ahead on my blog posts during the last trip (Esquinas Rainforest Lodge) and didn’t want to start sending two posts a day! I hope you enjoy the variety of photos I will be sharing from El Silencio and see why it is another one of my “favorite places” here in Costa Rica! 🙂
And after 7 days of El Silencio photos I will be back to pix from my garden and neighborhood here in Atenas! 🙂 Next trip is September 18 to the Caribbean side of Costa Rica which is totally different from the mountains! 🙂 And I’m going to save those dates for “live” reports daily from the Caribe! 🙂
And if you want to learn more about El Silencio, see their website: El Silencio Lodge. It is an upscale lodge that costs more than most I visit, but the owner likes my photo books and gave me a free night this time! 🙂
Here’s the first five portraits with more coming, though all fifty-something birds I’ve photographed will not be good enough for what I’m calling a “portrait” or “a close-up” of just one bird. Plus other types of photos are coming from Maquenque over the next few days or week, even though I return home tomorrow.
At first I labeled it an “Orange-bellied Trogon,” but after checking my book I’m calling it a Collared Trogon Female because of the darker shade of orange on the belly, with Orange-bellied having a lighter shade of orange (the only difference) in the book. Then after checking online with eBird+, I see that they are longer calling it two species but all “Collared” with some as an “orange morph” of the Collared Trogon. These constantly changing names and identifications make birding a little complicated sometimes! 🙂 Also the book says it only appears in the highlands of Costa Rica and Western Panama while eBird says it is the same bird in some of the highlands of South America. 🙂
Collared Trogon Female
Collared Trogon Female
These were photographed on the Robles Trail, Hotel Savegre, San Gerardo de Dota.
Right now I have two photo galleries from previous trips around Costa Rica for both the Collared Trogon and the Orange-bellied Trogon. I’m waiting to see if I should combine those two galleries. 🙂 And in those galleries you can see the slight differences of the two.
U.S., Canada, or U.K. Visitors Now Need Negative Test To Return Home
If any readers are planning on visiting Costa Rica in January and beyond this year, it might be helpful to read this article: Preflight Testing For Departing Costa Rica – Logistics And Tips: on the blog called “Two Weeks in Costa Rica.” Like birding, traveling is getting more complicated too! 🙂
Adult Gray Hawk Tapanti National Park, Costa Rica First Sighting for Me in Costa Rica (1 in Nicaragua)
Juvenile Gray Hawk Tapanti National Park, Costa Rica
Female Collared Trogon Tapanti National Park, Costa Rica First Sighting for Me
Male Collared Trogon Tapanti National Park, Costa Rica First Sighting for Me
Chestnut-headed Oropendola in Poro Tree Tapanti National Park, Costa Rica
Slaty Spinetail
Tapanti National Park, Costa Rica First Sighting for Me
Red-faced Spinetail Tapanti National Park, Costa Rica First Sighting for Me
Common Chlorospingus Tapanti National Park, Costa Rica First Sighting for Me
Clay-colored Thrush or Yiqüirro The National Bird of Costa Rica Tapanti National Park, Costa Rica
Northern Rough-winged Swallow Tapanti National Park, Costa Rica First Sighting for Me (only Southern in the past)
Dusky-capped Flycatcher Tapanti National Park, Costa Rica
Brown Jay Tapanti National Park, Costa Rica
Passerini Tanagers, Male & 2 Females
Tapanti National Park, Costa Rica
“The sharp thrill of seeing them reminded me of childhood happiness, gifts under the Christmas tree, perhaps, a kind of euphoria we adults manage to shut out most of the time. This is why I bird-watch, to recapture what it’s like to live in this moment, right now.”
