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This morning’s rain not only interfered with a beautiful sunrise but also dampened my birding expedition with a great guide this morning. I try not to give up too quickly on such efforts, but did cut our hike a little shorter after my camera fogged up on the inside. All 12 of the following birds were photographed in the rain even if not obvious! 🙂 And we saw more birds and other animals, even in the rain! 🙂 Just imagine what it would have been like with a clear morning!
First a Turkey Vulture soared overhead like a messenger from God, then 3 simple birds landed in 3 different trees and I felt close to God during breakfast today – even without colorful, rare or gorgeous birds – just plain birds smiling at me as I smiled back!
My heart is like a singing bird.
~Christina Rossetti
And tomorrow morning, Saturday, I leave for Palo Verde National Park. See yesterday’s post for more information.
¡Pura Vida!
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| Roseate Spoonbill Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
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| Roseate Spoonbill Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
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| Rufous-naped Wren Tarcoles River, Costa Rica (This is the most common bird in my garden/yard. They’re in the wild too!) |
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| Great Blue Heron with Fish Just Caught Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
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| Great Blue Heron Flying with Black-necked Stilt Flying Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
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| Black-necked Stilt Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
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| Solitary Sandpiper Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
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| Green Heron Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
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| Great-tailed Grackle male Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
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| Snowy Egret Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
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| Whimbrel Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
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| Cattle Egret Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
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| Yellow-crowned Night Heron Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
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| Osprey with Fish! Tarcoles River, Costa Rica |
These photos were all made by me on a 16 December 2016 float trip on the Tarcoles River, Costa Rica, this time with the Jungle Crocodile Safari which specializes in bird watching as opposed to a focus on crocodiles on most of the other companies. I also like Jose and the Jose’s Crocodile Tour, but his one finds more birds for you, about 35 species this trip, and provides a flyer for photo-identification of the birds. Plus if you take the 8:30 AM tour you will see more birds early AND you miss the tour bus crowds. There were just 4 of us plus our guide on our boat this time at 8:30 and when we returned we noticed that the next boat was packed full!
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| Black-headed Saltator El Jaguar Nature Reserve, Nicaragua |
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| Bushy-crested Jay El Jaguar Nature Reserve, Nicaragua |
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| Baltimore Oriole El Jaguar Nature Reserve, Nicaragua |
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| Clay-colored Thrush El Jaguar Nature Reserve, Nicaragua |
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| Great-tailed Grackle El Jaguar Nature Reserve, Nicaragua |
El Jaguar Nature Reserve was a great place for birding, maybe the best yet!
We have had large flocks of these guys and gals on our grounds for several days now.
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| Great-tailed Grackle MALE: iridescent blue back, large black tail, yellow eye. |
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| Great-tailed Grackle FEMALE: brownish, same big tail and yellow eyes. |
As most of the bird photos in this blog the were photographed from my apartment balcony. How fortunate I am! And you enlarge by clicking the image.