charliedoggett.net
Wow! Not easy and not quick! I always have a lot of photos to process from Maquenque Lodge and here are the ones that I chose to keep in the appropriate sub-galleries. Click the image of gallery below to go there or use this address: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2026-07-2-7-Maquenque-Lodge-Boca-Tapada
¡Pura Vida!
Maybe the Satyr species I see most here, the Hermes Satyr (my gallery link) was of course seen at Maquenque . . .
¡Pura Vida!
This time at Maquenque I saw only one hawk and it is one of the more common in Costa Rica, the Roadside Hawk (my gallery link).
¡Pura Vida!
These are my first turtles to be labeled Nicaraguan, but that is what iNaturalist’s AI said for every one of these photos (less the nose shot) and we’ll see if the experts agree after I post them there. It is very similar to the Central American Slider and thus could be either. But Maquenque is almost on the Nicaragua border, plus this species is supposedly all over Costa Rica.
This striking bird is seen occasionally in my garden, but Maquenque Ecolodge is still my #1 place to see and photograph the Groove-billed Ani (my gallery link) and in more interesting situations including a photo of a family of 8 Groove-billed Anis lined up together on a fence! 🙂
And yes, there is a Smooth-billed Ani (my gallery link) that books say is seen only along the South Pacific Coast where the Groove-billed is not usually seen but I have a shot from the South Caribbean from where others have posted photos on iNaturalist, plus iNat shows some reported in the Northern Central Valley hills. They are still more rare than the Groove-billed which is literally seen all over Costa Rica up to 1,500 feet altitude. 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Another bird nearly as big as the Crested Guan and Curassow at Maquenque is the Gray-headed Chachalaca (my gallery link) and this chattering big bird is also common at my house while the other two are not. These three shots are representative of the many different looks that Chachalacas seem to have. I particularly like the second photo below of a very wet Chachalaca in a rain. 🙂 And note that both male and female have the red dewlap on their neck during mating season (unlike Crested Guans which is only the males.) In fact, male & female Chachalacas are almost identical, though males tend to be a little larger.
While I was waiting on the arrival of Walter for my return trip the boat driver took me across the river to a tree with several of these Mantled Howler Monkeys (my gallery link). They are almost constantly looking for something to eat and here it is leaves. See more shots in the above linked gallery from my many trips all over Costa Rica..
¡Pura Vida!
The other big forest bird (like the guans shown earlier) is the Great Curassow (my gallery link) and the first photo is of two females and a second photo of one male. Note that the male is mostly black like the guans, but has a bright yellow bump on his beak while the male Crested Guan has a red waddle. And interestingly to me is that the Curassows have bigger crests than the Crested Guans with crest in their name. 🙂 The above linked gallery has better photos than these two. I guess I’m getting “rusty” or “slow on the draw” as an action photographer! The birds wait for no one and never pose! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
At first I wondered what these pudgy little brown birds were in a tree behind my cabin. Then on eBird’s Merlin I discovered that they are little White-collared Manakins with no white collar yet if male and if female that brown will turn green with a yellowish breast and the females don’t have white collars like the males. See more photos of these juveniles and my photos of mature males in the gallery White-collared Manakin (linked). I’ve seen them twice now at Maquenque and once at Selva Verde Lodge (across the river in their private forest reserve).
¡Pura Vida!