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| Scarlet Macaw flying over the mouth of the Tarcoles River at Pacific Ocean. All Photos by Charlie Doggett, Tarcoles, Costa Rica |
Scarlet Macaws were the main reason I spent a couple of nights at Carara National Park, where one of the two breeding colonies of Scarlet Macaws live, the other being at Corcovado NP and the surrounding Osa Peninsula which I visited in 2009 and got a few distant photos there. I also photographed a couple of the macaws on my 2010 and first Tarcoles River Crocodile & Birds cruise. But there were more macaws this time as June and July is the breeding season. My guide for two days here was Victor Mora Shaves of VicToursCostaRica. He is not a serious birder, but knows most of them and many of their songs or calls. And he did know we could get closer to macaws in Tarcoles Village than in the national park, thus we went there first thing Friday morning where all but one of these photos were made. We returned to Tarcoles Saturday morning for a mangrove boat tour with just me and him for a lot of other birds but no Macaws except flying way overhead. A separate post on that is coming with other bird photos. I’ll also do a post of our hike in the park for tomorrow, though it was a little disappointing compared to other parks I have visited (for the quantity of birds). Well here are some of the decent shots of Scarlet Macaws, not a single great one here, but okay and typical of shots birders get. You just can’t get close like in the zoo. But no zoo shots here!
Names used in Costa Rica are Guacamayo Rojo o Lapa Note that I stayed in Hotel Villa Lapas which in English would be The House of Macaws. This artwork of Lapas is between the rest rooms off the lobby area helping define their location and name:
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| The blue is Guacamayo Azul and the red Guacamayo Rojo and both are Lapas. Hotel Villa Lapas is the closest to Parque Nacional Carara. Problem with painting is that there are not blue & yellow macaws here! They’re in South America and more rare than scarlet. Blue or Hyacinth Macaws are even more rare, but did live in Central America once. |
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| Scarlet Macaw, a typical shot in the trees. Tarcoles, Costa Rica. The one on right is upside down, also common. |
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| Scarlet Macaw “loving couple” – they mate for life! Tarcoles, Costa Rica. |
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| “Double-Dating” with one upside down! 🙂 Tarcoles, Costa Rica |
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| Scarlet Macaws in different light – Tarcoles, Costa Rica |
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| Scarlet Macaws above the Tarcoles River Mouth, Tarcoles, Costa Rica Colorful birds! And beautiful flying! |
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| Scarlet Macaws inside Carara National Park, Costa Rica. Photo made across pond with cell phone through spotting scope. Better photo ops with the fishermen in Tarcoles! |