Every morning at Tortuga Lodge & Gardens there were two little flocks of two species of toucans directly behind my room eating berries from different trees; Keel-billed Toucans and Yellow-throated Toucans. Here’s just one photo of each species with more in my species galleries linked below the photos.
Yellow-throated Toucan, Tortuga Lodge & Gardens, Tortuguero National Park, Limón, Costa RicaKeel-billed Toucan, Tortuga Lodge & Gardens, Tortuguero National Park, Limón, Costa Rica
See more photos from this trip and from many other places in Costa Rica, including my gardens at home, with a gallery for each species:
Keel-billed Toucan – On Caribbean Slope & in Central Valley (much of which is Pacific Slope like where I live)
This is one of the “resident” herons that do not migrate north during the rainy season. Same with the Black-crowned Night Heron, Boat-billed Heron (I shared a few days ago), Green Heron and other similar herons. While we did not see on our boat tour any Little Blue Herons, Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets or Snowy Egrets because they have all migrated north until around October when they begin returning to avoid the winter up north. See more of my photos of Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Nyctanassa violacea in that gallery.
Yellow-crowned Night Heron, Tortuguero National Park, Limón, Costa Rica
¡Pura Vida!
Yesterday was Independence Day in Costa Rica
And in the past I would have shared photos of the parade in Atenas, but the hot sun and often long time sitting on a little plastic stool or if early enough, a concrete bench is beginning to be too much for me, so no report on yesterday’s patriotic parade in Atenas. Here is Google’s AI summary of what goes on every September 15:
“Yesterday’s Independence Day celebrations in Costa Rica included the traditional “Foles” or lantern parade the night before, followed by patriotic school parades, flag ceremonies, and student performances on the actual holiday, September 15th, emphasizing unity, hope, and freedom. The day honors Costa Rica’s 1821 independence from Spain with national pride and cultural traditions.”
Jaco was the only town with a parade amateur video posted online last night when I did this. Jaco is a beach town west of Atenas and their parade seems more hectic than ours! 🙂
One of the several birds we saw on the Jaguar Trail in Tortuguero National Park was the Laughing Falcon, Herpetotheres cachinnans (linked to my gallery) or you can read more about him on ebird. Just 2 shots shared here (more in gallery) . . .
It is a type of Strawberry Poison Dart Frog, Oophaga pumilio (my gallery link) which is very popular with tourists and found in warm moist tropical forests on the Caribbean Slope and Coast of Costa Rica with a few overlapping into Nicaragua and similarly Panama, thus uniquely Costa Rican! 🙂 These two shots were made this past week in Tortuguero National Park, Limón; one on the grounds of Tortuga Lodge and one on the Jaguar Trail in the National Park.
Photographed on my last morning in Tortuguero (yesterday) and these are probably my favorite bird photos bird photos from this trip. 🙂 Chestnut-colored Woodpecker, Celeus castaneus (linked to my gallery. I’ve seen this unusual woodpecker only one other time and that was in the South Caribbean, at Manzanillo. Tortuguero is in the North Caribbean. It is found from Mexico to Panama. And this is my first time to see a woodpecker eating a flower! 🙂
All the birds in Tortuguero aren’t water birds, and on the Jaguar Trail in the park, running parallel to the beach, I had a park guide (Manuel) who like guides everywhere in Costa Rica, was more skilled at finding birds than butterflies (my target for that trail) and thus I got several good bird shots along with some butterflies. We were looking at a long line of Soldier Ants when this Antshrike showed up! 🙂 See my gallery with more photos from Cahuita NP and Maquenque Eco Lodge, along with these, all on the Caribbean Slope: Black-crowned Antshrike, Thamnophilus atrinucha. Here’s two shots from yesterday’s hike on the Jaguar Trail in Tortuguero National Park. We also saw a Laughing Falcon and I may share one of those photos tomorrow. 🙂
They are almost always hiding behind tree limbs, leaves and/or adjacent shrubs along water, meaning that I seldom get a clear shot of their whole body and face. These two shots were my top clearest views yesterday morning as our guide and boat captain stopped by a known nesting place for Boat-billed Herons (one of many reasons to always use a guide). See some more shots from yesterday and photos from earlier years in my Boat-billed Heron, Cochlearius cochlearius GALLERY. This bizarre bird is called Pico Cuchara in Spanish and is found only in tropical Central & South America in mangroves and lowland rivers.
Boat-billed Heron, Tortuguero National Park, Limón, Costa RicaBoat-billed Heron, Tortuguero National Park, Limón, Costa Rica
¡Pura Vida!
This was one of about a dozen birds I photographed yesterday morning on a morning boat trip in Tortuguero National Park, along with monkeys, caimans, basilisks, butterflies and and cool waterscapes. More photos to be shared later. I’m having a fun and relaxed time in the park with only one project a day. Today I hike the Jaguar Trail in the park looking for butterflies which my research said was the best place in this park. Tomorrow night, if conditions are right, I will get to go on the beach and watch sea turtles lay their eggs. But no photos because flash is not allowed on this park ranger led event.
. . . are a part of the often unseen beauty in nature and have become a regular category of photos for me when I trek in the forest. Here’s 2 photos plus the feature at top, but you can see several more in my Lichens, Leaves & Nature Things GALLERY from the Caribe Sur this month.
Withered Cecropia Leaf One of many lichens on rainforest trees.
¡Pura Vida!
And beyond this recent trip to Hotel Banana Azul, I have a bigger gallery of collected Leaves & Nature Things pulled from many trips and my garden that just might interest you and another of Just Fungi (lichens, mushrooms, etc.). Both are from all over Costa Rica. 🙂
Since I first wrote this I have completed the entire Trip Gallery for Hotel Banana Azul, Playa Negra, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón Province! 🙂
And though I could continue sharing photos from Banana Azul, I think I will stop for now and come back to photo shares from my garden in Atenas, Alajuela Province, starting tomorrow. But you can see more in the above-linked Trip Gallery. ¡Pura Vida!
This is probably one you have seen, found in most of the Eastern and Southern U.S. all the way south to Argentina, the Fiery Skipper, Hylephila phyleus (my gallery link). Like many butterflies, the top and folded wings views are different and distinct. Here’s a shot from the Caribe of both views, and of course the one with a bee in it made me smile! 🙂
Fiery Skipper, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa RicaFiery Skipper, Hotel Banana Azul, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limón, Costa Rica
This swallowtail is the species of swallowtails that I see most often in my garden – and I still like it! 🙂 You can see the many that I’ve photographed in my Polydamas SwallowtailGallery (linked). The scientific name is Battus polydamas and even though most of the other swallowtails are more colorful, he/she is striking! (Male & female are basically identical). Here’s a front view and a side view and you can see several top views in the above-linked gallery which is all black with a yellow dot row. This is my first one to photograph outside my garden. He is found from South Texas and Florida south to Argentina.
Polydamas Swallowtail, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limó, Costa RicaPolydamas Swallowtail, Puerto Viejo de Talamanca, Limó, Costa Rica
