Tag: Fork-tailed Emerald Hummingbird

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Garden Regulars

Fork-tailed Emerald Hummingbird, one of my regulars, every day!
Click image for larger or closer view.
Banded Peacock Butterfly, another regular and about the only
butterfly still around much with a few Julia left and brown Skippers
June-July was the big butterfly time but hoping for another season

NOT WRITING AS MUCH
I could blame it on being busy with Angel Tree and two Spanish classes, and all the regular housekeeping, shopping and I’m working on the continuation of my photo biographies and have started photographing scrapbooks so I can get rid of these boxes! But I also am slowing down and just not in to writing on blog every night like I did for months. We’ll see what happens, but I think I am in a period of writing just every few days for awhile. 

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Fork-tailed Emerald Hummingbird

Back to my garden . . .

Fork-tailed Emerald Hummingbird
In my garden, Roca Verde house, Atenas, Costa Rica

This is my second time to photograph this species in my garden. Both times the light is not good for a clear and colorful photo. He/she is an iridescent green all over except for the dark, forked tail. The first time was no better.  What I need is sunlight shining directly on the bird!  🙂

SPANISH LANGUAGE UPDATE
My progress has been so very slow. ¡Aprendo poco a poco español! (I learn Spanish little by little.) Is what I say to some people. So I have joined a second class that meets only once a week at the little evangelical church I have attended some, Iglesia Biblical. It provides a text book and workbook for homework and it is too early to see if it will help me learn faster, though every effort is of some value! What I need most is to just talk more in Spanish, ignoring the embarrassment of doing it wrong. That is what David Castillo at Su Espacio is trying to get me to do. We are down to just two in his class right now, so it is almost like tutoring. I also try to do one little activity each day on duolingo.com which is a great free language learning site! And I just ordered another CD-based course. So I’m trying! ¡Pero es difícil! (But it is difficult!) Or slow! David suggested I do this blog in Spanish, but that would leave too many of you out, so I won’t. Maybe a separate blog in Spanish?
DROUGHT
This has been one of the driest “Rainy Seasons” on record for the Central Valley and I have to water my garden and new trees every other day. Everyone says the rain should really come in September and October. We’ll see! It is cloudy and thundering right now, but that often means little or nothing!

The only exception to the drought has been the Caribbean side of the country and a few places in the north. It rained every day we were at Yorkin. The northwest or Guanacaste  area is always the driest part of the country and it is even drier this year. It is really hard on farmers!

 Time flies, but not backwards, like a hummingbird can.
(-:


Good night from Atenas, Costa Rica! The little bit of rain passed fast and gave us fog. Pura Vida!
View from my balcony of course!


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Fork-tailed Emerald Hummingbird

Wow! It is very difficult to get good photos of fast-moving birds! I have no special equipment, just hand-held SLR with 300 mm lens. These have been cropped to about 1/4 the original size to see bird or zoom in on it more. A closer zoom is grainy.

Fork-tailed Emerald Hummingbird in my garden, Atenas, Costa Rica

Fork-tailed Emerald Hummingbird
Atenas, Costa Rica


Fork-tailed Emerald Hummingbird, Atenas, Costa Rica

Note that I see hummingbirds every day in my garden but the moment I walk out the door they usually fly away. I don’t need feeders. They love the flowers! But they don’t stay still for photos!