The Ever-present Kiskadee!

Everywhere I go in Costa Rica I see Clay-colored Thrush and Great Kiskadee, Pitangus sulphuratus (eBird link). And therefore I was not surprised to see many of the Great Kiskadee at Hotel Villa Lapas in Tarcoles. And this time I got a good shot of a Kiskadee Nest with a Kiskadee coming in and out of it, though sadly it had been built on an electrical power pole. Here’s four shots and you can see more in my Great Kiskadee Gallery.

Great Kiskadee, Hotel Villa Lapas, Tarcoles, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Continue reading “The Ever-present Kiskadee!”

Tuesday’s Birds

Well – the 6 that I didn’t erase from the camera disk! :-) I’m guessing that when I tried to erase one bad one from the disk, I hit something that selected all the remaining photos and erased them all. None of these are particularly good photos, but the 6 I managed to save, with the Inca Dove maybe my favorite photo after yesterday’s landscapes.

Tuesday’s hike was on Highway 707, southwest of Central Atenas. though not many here use highway numbers. 🙂 They say “the road going west of Cruz Roja to Pica Flora and Hacienda Atenas!” 🙂 Today we are going on Calle Balsilla, south of Atenas, or “a farming road near the Chucas Hydroelectric Dam and lake south of Ruta 27 on Rio Tarcoles.” And maybe I will get some more photos that I don’t erase! :-) Then tomorrow we go to a nature reserve north of here near Palmares. I’m staying behind on photos while still processing those from Hotel Savegre! But it is fun! :-)

Keel-billed Toucan, Atenas, Costa Rica. Many flew over and landed in distant trees. 🙂

Read on for the gallery of all 6 birds . . .

Continue reading “Tuesday’s Birds”

Morning Coffee & Wildlife

Friends up the hill invited me for coffee on their terrace yesterday where they have both a hummingbird feeder and a fruit feeder to attract more birds. And though they too have had fewer birds this year of El Niño weather, they get more than me because of their feeders and maybe their location adjacent the Calle Nueva Forest. Here’s what I was able to photograph while drinking coffee and talking a lot, though the one hummingbird never slowed down enough for a shot. 🙂

Lesson’s Motmot

4 birds, 2 insects and one iguana . . .

Continue reading “Morning Coffee & Wildlife”

Birds at Banana Azul

Here’s photos of 8 species of birds I photographed at Hotel Banana Azul which is fewer than usual like everywhere has been this year! And there are 10 photos because the male and female Scarlet-rumped Tanager look like 2 different species 🙂 and the juvenile Tropical Kingbird looks like a different species from the adult, so I included a photo of each. These 8 are all fairly common species all over Costa Rica except the Wood-Rail which is only in wetlands or coastal rainforests like the location of Banana Azul where there has always been a family of Wood-Rails living in their garden by their lily pond. Note that I saw 9 totally different species at Gandoca-Manzanillo (link to those bird photos) and a photo of only one bird at Cahuita but it was my Lifer this trip. 🙂 Thus in this trip gallery there will be a total of 18 species of birds this year, which is fewer than usual but not bad! 🙂 I always get a lot of photos in the Caribbean side of Costa Rica!

Gray-cowled Wood-Rail, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa Rica.
Continue reading “Birds at Banana Azul”

Last 4 Birds from Tortuguero

These fit with the larger ones already shared and though there are more that I saw and even tried to photograph, these are all I will try to share of the birds. Some other wildlife next!  🙂

Turkey Vulture, Tortuguero NP, Limón, Costa Rica

Great Green Macaw, Tortuguero NP, Limón, Costa Rica

Montezuma Oropendola, Tortuguero NP, Limón, Costa Rica

Great Kiskadee, Tortuguero NP, Limón, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

All this trip in: Tortuguero 2023 Trip Gallery

5 “Medium-sized” Birds at Arenal

Trying to group birds by size is not real accurate, but now it leaves me with 4 “smaller” birds for tomorrow and 4 others for the next day!  🙂  Then I will get on to other wildlife and the many butterflies photographed at Arenal Observatory!

Buff-throated Saltator, Arenal Observatory Lodge, Costa Rica

Continue reading “5 “Medium-sized” Birds at Arenal”

Juvenile Birds

It seems like maybe there have been more than a usual number of immature or juvenile birds this week, so I’m featuring 5 today. 🙂

Tomorrow morning, I go on a guided bird hike and expect to get a lot more above the 35 species I’ve photographed on my own so far. 🙂 Plus, I’m taking a tour of the farm where 85% of the restaurant food is raised and that will probably be tomorrow night’s post! ?

Here’s my 5 juvenile birds . . .

Clay-colored Thrush juvenile bathing in a rain puddle.
Continue reading “Juvenile Birds”

Great Kiskadee on Terrace

He/she (male & female identical) was unfortunately in the tree shadows, but this very common bird all over Costa Rica was in my Cecropia Tree the other morning for breakfast and I tried a photo capture. Read about the Great Kiskadee on eBird or see better photos in my Great Kiskadee Gallery from 18 different locations in Costa Rica!

Continue reading “Great Kiskadee on Terrace”

FAVE BIRDS – Great Kiskadee

Not exotic but one of the most often seen birds across Costa Rica is the Great Kiskadee (eBirds link) and I have a lot of photos of them in My Great Kiskadee Gallery, but I still can’t tell you what makes him “great.” 🙂 And be forewarned that I still get them confused with the Social Flycatcher (looks the same but is technically smaller) and some of the other flycatchers that are the same colors.

Great Kiskadee, Xandari Nature Resort, Alajuela, Costa Rica

I don’t really have a “Backstory” for this bird or this photo and since the locations where found are pretty much “everywhere in Costa Rica,” I will not link to trip galleries where I have photographed them. But you might want to see in my bird galleries some of the ones that are often confused with the Great Kiskadee and hey! Some of these photos might even be mis-labeled. 🙂 I really do get them confused!:

¡Pura Vida!