Five at Dusk

Last week (Feb. 2) I tried to see what birds would come around my terrace as the sun starts setting around 5 pm, with camera in hand of course! 🙂 There were several other birds, but I managed to capture only five, and of those only the Clay-colored Thrush (feature photo) was in good light, but regardless, here’s five common birds often around my house with the Oropendola staying near the tops of tall trees and not photographed as often. The Doves and Chachalacas are seen more in the mornings. Others are “special” or more rarely seen.

Clay-colored Thrush or Yigüirro
Continue reading “Five at Dusk”

Breakfast Visitors

My favorite time in my house is during breakfast on my terrace when I usually have many visitors and sometimes try to photograph them, whether bird, butterfly or other creature. This morning I managed to grab shots of 4 after trying and failing to get shots of two tiny orange & black butterflies that flew as a pair and never lighted on a flower for me. Shooting them in flight is very difficult and I failed. Both these butterflies and birds are regular repeats for me, but each one is a unique individual!   🙂

IMG_7072-A-WEB
Blue-gray Tanager

IMG_7086-A-WEB
Rufous-naped Wren

IMG_7092-A-WEB
Dione Juno

IMG_7131-A-WEB
Polydamas Swallowtail

 

See my Costa Rica Butterfly Gallery  and  Bird Gallery  for more images.

 

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.”   ~Rachel Carson

 

¡Pura Vida!

Gazing?

When I watch an animal gazing like this I cannot help but wonder, “At what does he gaze?” Us humans tend to think he is looking for food, and maybe he is – but could he not also be gazing at some beauty unseen by me? A Rufous-naped Wren in my Guarumo Tree during my breakfast.

Gazing on beautiful things acts on my soul.

~Michelangelo
My BIRDS Galleries
or All of my GAZINGS in Costa Rica
¡Pura Vida!

Less Wind – More Birds!

But that was only the case for an hour or so Sunday morning for my early breakfast around 6 AM. By 7:30 or 8:00 the wind was blowing like normal this time of year, It is windy mid-December to Mid-March or later and I’m guessing later this year because the wind has been stronger. Since the “Windy Season” overlaps the “Dry Season” it creates a recipe for brush or grass fires, especially later in the season like right now. We had our annual grass fires in Roca Verde a week or so ago, so not as much dry grass left to burn. (I water my grass!) And as usual, we were fortunate to have no house on fire. Our local Atenas Bomberos (Firemen) are super good at stopping the fires quickly.

And my four morning birds are just ones that are very common in my yard, but it was nice to see them in my Cecropia tree at breakfast for a change! Maybe I should eat earlier every morning since it is less windy early.   🙂     They were . . .

Clay-colored Thrush called Yigüirro here, the national bird; Blue-gray TanagerTropical Kingbird; and the featured photo, Rufous-naped Wren. Links are to eBird pages on those birds.

4 Breakfast Birds

 

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?     ~JESUS, Matthew 6:26

¡Pura Vida!

Rufous-naped Wren

Rufous-naped Wren
Hogar de Vida Campus, Atenas, Costa Rica

Rufous-naped Wren
Hogar de Vida Campus, Atenas, Costa Rica
This noisy and aggressive little bird is the most numerous at my house and seemed to be likewise at Hogar de Vida during our week of living there. I shared a different shot than these in the photo book for the participants. To read more about this Central American bird, see:   
Neotropical Birds  where you can learn the most, see a locations map & hear them sing  
Wikipedia  where you can read about them in 10 languages and learn that the bird’s name in Spanish is Ratona de nuca rufa
And a search for my photos of this wren at my house, if interested. The only bird that flies inside my house. Click an image to see it larger.

Though wildlife was not the emphasis of the mission trip last week, I have a few animal shots that I will share the next few days from both the campus and the tourist day trip. 

¡Pura Vida!

Nesting Material

Rufous-naped Wren
Resting in a Cecropia (Guarumo) Tree
With nesting material from a Nance Tree
For the nest being built in my tallest palm tree.
Atenas, Costa Rica

And more birds in photo gallery:  Costa Rica Birds (238 Species)  

This particular wren is one of the most visible around my house and the most common one to fly inside my house as two did yesterday until I waved a towel for their exit.

¡Pura Vida!

Maybe My 2 Most Frequent Visitors

These two I see from my terrace every day and possibly more often than any other birds.

Rufous-naped Wren
Seen at breakfast from my terrace, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica
White-ringed Flycatcher
Seen at breakfast from my terrace, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica
Similar to the very common
Social Flycatcher, Great Kiskadee & Boat-billed Flycatcher.
But white on head makes a complete ring around his head
and Kiskadee & Boat-billed are noticeably larger with larger bills.

See also my BIRDS Photo Gallery

Last of the Birds from Montibelli Nicaragua

Smooth-billed Ani
Montibelli Nature Reserve, Nicaragua

White-winged Dove
Montibelli Nature Reserve, Nicaragua

White-tipped Dove
Montibelli Nature Reserve, Nicaragua
The difference from White-winged is the tail is tipped white

Inca Dove
Montibelli Nature Reserve, Nicaragua

Bronzed Cowbird
Montibelli Nature Reserve, Nicaragua

Clay-colored Thrush
Montibelli Nature Reserve, Nicaragua

Rufous-naped Wren
Montibelli Nature Reserve, Nicaragua

Melodius Blackbird
Montibelli Nature Reserve, Nicaragua

Streak-headed Woodcreeper
Montibelli Nature Reserve, Nicaragua

Whew! It was a lot of birds! A wonderful trip!

Rufous-naped Wren, God’s Creation!

Rufous-naped Wren in Yellow Bell Tree off my Terrace

Rufous-naped Wren

Rufous-naped Wren with his feathers ruffled – possibly a juvenile

Rufous-naped Wren posing by one of the few lingering flowers

You probably don’t remember that last July 2015 I reported here about one of these inside my house.



My Costa Rica Birds PHOTO GALLERY  or All My Costa Rica Galleries

RAIN IN THE DRY SEASON?
A surprise light shower or sprinkle on this Sunday afternoon, March 6, 2016. It is dry season in the central valley with no rain since October, and this one lasted maybe 10 minutes, getting everything wet, but not soaking my flowers and trees – a reminder that it will start raining again for real in May. And tomorrow night I will continue my every two day watering routine.

If you follow all my adventures you may remember that we had rain stop us from seeing Poas Volcano two weeks ago, but it is at a high altitude, “The Cloud Forest,” that has rain year around as does the coastal lowland rainforest such as Tortuguero where we had a little bit of rain on each of our two nights/3 days there. But the rest of Costa Rica is in the Dry Season until May. Read about the WEATHER in Costa Rica.

Genesis 1:20-23The Message (MSG)

20-23 God spoke: “Swarm, Ocean, with fish and all sea life!
        Birds, fly through the sky over Earth!
    God created the huge whales,
        all the swarm of life in the waters,
    And every kind and species of flying birds.
        God saw that it was good.
    God blessed them: “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Ocean!
        Birds, reproduce on Earth!
    It was evening, it was morning—
    Day Five.


Emphasis is mine. ~C.D.

House Wren?

Well, actually it is a Rufous-naped Wren who happened to come inside my house!

Rufous-naped Wren, Atenas, Costa Rica
(On the back of the couch in my living room! Looking out the screen window.)
Rufous-naped Wren, Atenas, Costa Rica
Making himself at home on a drink coaster. This is what happens with doors left open.

Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; they sing among the branches.

~Psalm 104:12 ESV 

Rufous-naped Wren, Atenas, Costa Rica
Singing outside my window in the Strangler Fig Tree

See also my Costa Rica Birds Photo Gallery.