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Usually more Grackles are seen on the Tarcoles than we did this time. I think this photo is of a male, always black and usually with a little blue or purple sheen, not seen in this photo. And the way the light hits this one, plus its shadows, it’s possibly a dark brown female. The females are just as handsome, with brown as their color and strutting less than the males. 🙂 Just this one photo. See more in my Great-tailed Grackle GALLERY.
¡Pura Vida!
With forests lining much of the Rio Tarcoles, there are also a lot of “regular” birds like these Kiskadees (linked to my gallery). Just 2 shots in this post, one perched and one flying, with more in the gallery . . .
From the front view, the Great Kiskadee, Social Flycatcher and Boat-billed Flycatcher look almost alike (with differences in overall size & the bills), but one key characteristic of a Great Kiskadee that you can see from behind (or a side view) are the “rufous” (red-brown) feathers while the others have only dull brown feathers. And that is sometimes easier to see than overall size or the size and shape of the bill. Thus I’m sharing this backside photo today to emphasize one of the characteristics of the Great Kiskadee (my gallery link). That yellow spot on his head is true of him and the Social Flycatcher, so another identifier. 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
One of the old regulars in my garden seems to always make a good picture, the Great Kiskadee, Pitangus sulphuratus (my gallery link) and is almost always here! Found from Mexico to South America. Here’s one on the powerline.
¡Pura Vida!
One of the birds that is almost always somewhere around the garden! See more of my photos in the Gallery: Great Kiskadee, Pitangus sulphuratus. Just one photo today . . .
¡Pura Vida!
And now I will try to focus on nature in June, right here in my garden! 🙂 I started May still processing photos from April and I finished May with blog posts scheduled through this one today, June 10. Yes, I’ve been staying ahead about a week and a half or 10 days on writing the blog posts while coordinating the useable photos for not only the blog, but I post the useable ones in . . .
And though it may seem like I shared a lot of butterfly photos in May, there were a lot more photographed! I got 45 species of butterflies in my garden in May! At least two species were new ones for me. And I’m having trouble keeping up with them all! 🙂 It is like I don’t need to travel to get photos, but I look forward to some different animals in my July rainforest trip when I celebrate my 85th birthday.
Now, here’s those last two birds in May . . .
His size, that yellow patch on the top of his head and the rust-colored wings are three things to assure you that he is a Great Kiskadee, Pitangus sulphuratus and not a Social Flycatcher, Boat-billed or one of the other similar flycatchers. He is one of the more common birds all over Costa Rica, almost as much as the Clay-colored Thrush and known for singing his name: “kis-ka-dee.” You can read about him on eBird or see some of my many photos in my Great Kiskadee Gallery. Here’s two shots from my garden the other day . . .
Another regular visitor in my garden is the Great Kiskadee, Pitangus sulphuratus (my gallery link) is another common bird throughout Central and South America. Read more about him on eBird.
¡Pura Vida!
These berries on one of the very tall palms in my garden are shown here feeding a Great Kiskadee, Pitangus sulphuratus (my gallery link) while other Kiskadees and Yigüirros wait their turn on a limb of my nearby Cecropia tree (though occasionally there were 2 or 3 birds on this cluster at the same time). 🙂 Those two species and a few flycatchers have now just about stripped all the berries off this tree. And though butterflies have caught my interest more lately, and there are more of them, I still watch and photograph the few birds that come to my garden, mostly Doves, Kiskadees and Yigüirros (Clay-colored Thrush). Here’s just the one photo of this species found in Central & South America . . .
¡Pura Vida!
The rain seemed to arrive about the same time I did at Xandari this mid-day, but I managed to photograph 2 birds & 2 butterflies in either rain or mist. Those four photos are below and I continue to be amazed with Xandari and they upgraded me to a huge villa that is really nice! Hoping for clear skies the next two mornings and then my photo collection will grow! 🙂
