14 More Birds from the 5th

Snowcap Hummingbird
Rancho Naturalista, near Turrialba, Costa Rica

Black-striped Sparrow
Rancho Naturalista, near Turrialba, Costa Rica

Red-throated Ant-tanager
Rancho Naturalista, near Turrialba, Costa Rica

Cocoa Woodcreeper
Rancho Naturalista, near Turrialba, Costa Rica

Northern Barred Woodcreeper
Rancho Naturalista, near Turrialba, Costa Rica

Immature Female Red-throated Ant-tanager
Rancho Naturalista, near Turrialba, Costa Rica

 Adult Female Red-throated Ant-tanager
Rancho Naturalista, near Turrialba, Costa Rica

Black Phoebe
La Mina, near Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica

Torrent Tyrannulet
La Mina, near Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica

Tropical Kingbird
Rancho Naturalista, near Turrialba, Costa Rica
Blue-crowned Motmot
Rancho Naturalista, Turrialba, Costa Rica

Montezuma Oropendola
Rancho Naturalista, Turrialba, Costa Rica

Blue-gray Tanager
Rancho Naturalista, Turrialba, Costa Rica
Plain Antvireo female
Rancho Naturalista, near Turrialba, Costa Rica

Passerini’s Tanager
La Mina, near Rancho Naturalista, Turrialba, Costa Rica

These were all photographed yesterday, July 5, along with the Sunbittern shown yesterday. Several were made before breakfast at Wayne’s house including the two different Woodcreepers. He too is a retiree from church-related work (Adventist) who loves birds and his house here in the forest near Rancho Naturalista might have more birds than the lodge with even more feeders. A really nice guy.

I also made photos of several bird nests which I will show in another post, plus flowers, scenery, and other animals for future posts. So like most trips it will keep on giving blog posts.  🙂

And the new species will soon be added to my Costa Rica Birds Photo Gallery where there are already photos of 223 species of birds in Costa Rica, and soon to be about 235 or more!

¡Pura Vida!

Sunbittern!

Sunbittern
La Mina, near Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica
Sunbittern
La Mina, near Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica

Sunbittern
La Mina, near Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica

Sunbittern
La Mina, near Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica

Sunbittern
La Mina, near Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica

This is a first sighting bird for me and the primary bird I wanted to see on this trip, so I am very happy to have seen it today and add it to my Costa Rica collection. I have added twelve new species  to my Costa Rica list this trip which is really good. I got others today but will show them tomorrow, since I wanted to show several shots of the sunbittern today.

Also I am very sore, having fallen in my room this morning. I made the mistake of spraying myself and my shoes with insect repellant at the front door, leaving an oily residue on the tile floor which I then slipped on and fell. I managed to walk 3 or 4 km today at La Mina and saw the Sunbittern after a pre-breakfast walk 2 km down the road here, just sore in my right leg and hip. I rest tomorrow and they are taking good care of me at the lodge! I may do some birding here tomorrow and work on more blog posts. 
Read about Sunbittern on Wikipedia   a bird found only in neotropical Americas on mountain streams at a certain altitude (and in a few zoos).

And my photo gallery of other Costa Rica Birds  before this trip. These will be added next week.

Retired in Costa Rica!

Bus to Turrialba & Afternoon of Nature

An hour to San Jose & 2 hours on this to Turrialba, deboarding here
Transtusa Bus Station, Turrialba, Costa Rica

The nicests bus station I’ve been in yet
Turrialba, Costa Rica
My Cabin  #6 at Rancho Naturalista
Near Turrialba, Costa Rica
A pair of Blue-crowned Mot Mots behind the dining room
Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica
A juvenile Snow-capped Hummingbird
Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica

White-necked Jacobin
Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica
Rufous-capped Warbler bathing
Rancho Naturalista, Costa Rica

I have a beautiful Tico young lady named Mercedes as my guide this week and we start with my checklist of wanted birds at 5:30 tomorrow morning. I expect to grow my collection of CR bird species photos this week from my current 223.  Two of the above from this afternoon are new for me, the Snowcap Hummingbird and the Rufous-capped Warbler.

A great day again in beautiful Costa Rica! Enjoying retirement!

Hooded Mantis in the Dark!

A Hooded Mantis appeared in the dark
at my last dinner at Rancho Naturalista
No good photos possible

But what was more entertaining was the group from Denmark on their first night at the lodge. They scrambled all over the dining terrace trying to get photos of this little guy! IN THE DARK! It was funny and of course none of my photos are good, but here’s the experience anyway! 

They tried so hard they kept scaring the little bug around the terrace.
Hope some of them got good photos! 

For about two minutes dinner was controlled
by a Hooded Mantis

4% of World’s Species Live in Costa Rica!

Costa Rica supports an enormous variety of wildlife, due in large part to its geographic position between the North and South American continents, its neotropical climate, and its wide variety of habitats. Costa Rica is home to more than 500,000 species, which represents nearly 4% of the total species estimated worldwide, making Costa Rica one of the 20 countries with the highest biodiversity in the world. Of these 500,000 species, a little more than 300,000 are insects.”      ~WIKIPEDIA

Photo of one of the many Anthurium flowers growing at Rancho Naturalista, one of my fave get-a-ways now!
I was so excited about all the new birds there that I failed to say much about the flowers which were beautiful!

Feliz Navidad!

Montezuma Oropendola photographed last week at Rancho Naturalista near Turrialba, Costa Rica. A favorite bird!

And if you like the Lineated Woodpecker better, I did a different photo card on my website:

www.charliedoggett.net   Scroll down past the slide show for it. Have a Happy!

The Last Birds from Rancho Naturalista (Maybe)

Green Thorntail Hummingbird
Rancho Naturalista, Tuis, Costa Rica
Yellow-bellied Elaenia
Rancho Naturalista, Tuis, Costa Rica
Black-cheeked Woodpecker
Rancho Naturalista, Tuis, Costa Rica
3rd species of woodpeckers at this one place.
Lots of bugs to eat!  🙂

Brown Jay
Rancho Naturalista, Tuis, Costa Rica
Yellow-crowned Euphonia Female or Yellow Warbler Female
Rancho Naturalista, Tuis, Costa Rica
Gray-headed Chachalaca
Better shot than one posted the first day.

Green Thorntail Hummingbird
Rancho Naturalista, Tuis, Costa Rica
Different day, different bird and look than top of this post

Black-headed Saltator
Rancho Naturalista, Tuis, Costa Rica
Black-headed Saltator
Rancho Naturalista, Tuis, Costa Rica
A totally different look than the photo before this, but same bird!

Social Flycatcher
Rancho Naturalista, Tuis, Costa Rica
Bumble Bee (I think – no ID source)
Rancho Naturalista, Tuis, Costa Rica
I’m still going through my photos and may find some more good ones, but this is the last official post from Rancho Naturalista. It is amazing how just 3 nights at a lodge almost anywhere in Costa Rica can give me such joy and so many photos! And so many new species each time. This is my main reason for moving to Costa Rica and why you can expect me to stay here!  🙂

If interested, I reviewed both Rancho Naturalista and CATIE on TripAdvisor with a few of the photos, though they are “pending” as I write this, possibly for screening of some kind.

I heard the sweet voice of a robin,      High up in the maple tree,      Joyously, singing his happy song      To his feathered mate, in glee!… 

If we could be like this tiny bird,      Just living from day to day,      Holding no bitterness in our hearts      For those we meet on our way… 

~Gertrude Tooley Buckingham, “Heaven on Earth” (1940s)

Today’s Birds

Just 7 of about 300 photos today.
Above is Green-breasted Mango Hummingbird.

Chestnut-sided Warbler
(My favorite shot of the day)

Crested Oropendola  Note head is different from Montezuma Oropendola
My first time to photograph this one!
Red-throated Ant-tanager
with a moth it just caught.

Mottled Owl
Olive-backed Euphonia

Crowned Wood-nymph Hummingbird

Crowned Woodnymph Hummingbird
My guide here says it looks so different from the other one
above because of the different light. Other one in deep forest.

Birds Galore!

This is just a sample of the birds I photographed at the lodge this morning before going out to a park! It will take a while to share all the birds I’m photographing here!

Montezuma Oropendola from the breakfast terrace

Lineated Woodpecker in front of lodge
White-necked Jacobin Hummingbird male at breakfast terrace

Gray-headed Chachalaca joining us for breakfast

Keel-billed Toucan seen from breakfast terrace

All of this and much, much more at Rancho Naturalista near Turrialba, Costa Rica.

Daylight & Nightlight Birds

The same two species of hummingbirds in night with flash & in daylight – interesting differences:

Daylight – White-necked Jacobin

Night with flash – Crowned Woodnymph
Daylight  –  Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

Night with flash  –  Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

A four hour drive with lunch break got me up the final dirt road into a semi-mountainous rainforest and the Rancho Naturalista lodge and private forest which I started exploring this afternoon and evening. Tomorrow morning is 5:30 birding on deck and a trip to a park after breakfast with our birding guide Harry who is from the U.K. and lived here 6 years. He is good! The other two clients are men from Canada. This is going to be good!  🙂