Author: Charlie

Retired American nature-lover, living in Costa Rica, photographing birds and other jewels of nature. This site simply reports on my joys of being RETIRED IN COSTA RICA!
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Why I don’t ride a bicycle here!

Me 2014 in TN

It is ¡Muy pelagrosa!  That is “Very dangerous!” Just see the 30 second video in this Tico Times article (WARNING: It is graphic pain!) Scroll down to 2nd photo with video arrow to click:

http://www.ticotimes.net/2015/12/14/watch-taxi-crashes-first-day-tour-costa-rica-cycling-race

That was in nearby Alajuela to which I ride the big safe bus! Right here in Atenas one day I walked across the Central Park and watched a pickup plow into a motorcycle, which is even more dangerous. I get my exercise walking as long as my feet are working alright. I miss biking, but common sense safety on exceptionally narrow roads and streets make it not practical for me here. “Driver Education” is just now being introduced here, so most adults driving here have no training and that includes the taxi drivers! This guy in the video is in BIG TROUBLE! He will lose his taxista job, possibly his driver license, and possibly have to pay medical bills for the three that slammed into him.

Happier Photos of the Festival de Luz in San Jose  –   I reported earlier that I missed the one here in Atenas and haven’t seen any photos online of the Atenas parade, but here are a few pix from the same parade in San Jose.  Most towns have one as the beginning of Christmas celebrations. I won’t miss it next year!

 

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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!

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Too Many Christmas Activities! :-)

Last night I went to the Christmas Dinner with live music at El Balcon del Cafe for a great meal

featuring a Christmas Ham! And a huge assortment of Christmas Cookies! But the best part was joining a lady from my second Spanish class and her 84 year old friend Jean who will become my new next door neighbor tomorrow! She is moving in the house that my sculpture friend Anthony left for his adventures in Spain and Morocco. It is a contemporary with lots of glass to the right of my house as the casita (little house) of another property owner, different landlord.

After the party my taxista had trouble getting through the traffic and bands for the big parade as part of that evening’s Festival de la Luz or Festival of Lights which begins the Christmas celebrations here. I’m now sorry I did not stay downtown for it because I learned later that it is the biggest celebration of the year in Atenas with a stage featuring constant musical entertainment, many booths with crafts and other vendors, the parade, and fireworks. But I was tired and had projects I was working on and decided to go on home. I heard most of it and saw part of the fireworks from my terrace. Next year I will not miss this!

Today our Su Espacio Spanish Class had our Christmas Party Lunch at Fred & Susan’s house two hills over from mine with their swimming pool being the big attraction for most, but also a great lunch! 

I was the only one not in a swim suit – just not my thing!


Thursday after the last Spanish Class at Iglesia Biblica we all go to La Finca Pizza for our end of year celebration and Christmas Party. A new friend and I are having lunch next week and then on Christmas Day I am joining other friends at a nearby hotel restaurant for a big Christmas Dinner again! At Hotel Colinas del Sol. I’m having trouble finding my needed solitude!  🙂

AN EXTRA TIDBIT:

8 Great Holiday Songs in Spanish in case you think “Feliz Navidad” is the only one!  🙂







Peace on earth will come to stay, When we live Christmas every day. – Helen Steiner Rice


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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)

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More Birds from Rancho Naturalista

 NAME CORRECTION
Chestnut-headed Oropendola
The other day I mistakenly called it a “Crested Oropendola,” which does not
appear in this part of Costa Rica, only a few near Panama border in SW
I’ve not seen this in Atenas, only the Montezuma Oropendola, a favorite!
This one photographed at Rancho Naturalista, Tuis, Costa Rica

The following photos were made at CATIE campus near Turrialba, an agronomic program for research and education for all of Latin America farmers, headquartered in Costa Rica with a campus Trip Advisor reviews if planning to go. Cost is now $10 per visitor. It helped to have a good birding guide because he sees things I often miss! There were a lot of small forest birds I could not photograph because of light, distance and small size of birds. But some of the ones I got below are “first-timers” for me and that is good as my bird collection grows.
here and one in San Jose.  My guide at Rancho Naturalista, Harry, took 3 of us here for the morning of the 7th of Dec. It is a good birding place with a big pond or small lake and a Botanical Gardens with tropical plants from all over Latin America. This terrain is different than the lodge and has lots of possibilities. See the

Tropical Kingbird
Too big for gray-capped or boat-bill flycatchers I believe.
All three are colored the same and sometimes difficult to ID.
CATIE Campus, Turrialba, Costa Rica

Northern Jacana, second in number only to egrets at the pond.
CATIE Campus, Turrialba, Costa Rica

White-ringed Flycatcher, my first photo
Like the Social Flycatcher except white on head makes a circle (ring)
CATIE Campus, Turrialba, Costa Rica

Prothonotary Warbler, my first photo.
CATIE Campus, Turrialba, Costa Rica
Keel-billed Toucan, always from a distance,
Not easy for me to photograph.
CATIE Campus, Turrialba, Costa Rica

Chestnut-sided Warbler, which I photographed again at lodge better
This trip is my first time to photo this bird and twice at that!  🙂
CATIE Campus, Turrialba, Costa Rica

Chestnut-backed Antbird, not great photo but my first!
CATIE Campus, Turrialba, Costa Rica
Common Tody-flycatcher, another 1st photo – A good day!  🙂
CATIE Campus, Turrialba, Costa Rica

Muscovy Duck, who we later observed mating  🙂
CATIE Campus, Turrialba, Costa Rica
Great-tailed Grackle, female, common all over Costa Rica
CATIE Campus, Turrialba, Costa Rica

Baby Great Egrets, as this pond is a rookery for the Great Egret
Though fluffy & black-billed like Snowy Egret, they are not!
Note Mom’s black foot to left of baby head. Snowy’s have yellow feet.
CATIE Campus, Turrialba, Costa Rica
Hoffman’s Woodpecker
CATIE Campus, Turrialba, Costa Rica


I value my garden more for being full of blackbirds than of cherries, and very frankly give them fruit for their songs.  ~Joseph Addison, The Spectator, 1712

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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.

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A Little Costa Rica Culture Enroute

Our Lady of Angels Basilica in Cartago (I drove by on way to Turrialba)
The Basílica de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles (Our Lady of the Angels Basilica) is a Roman Catholic basilica in Costa Rica, located in the city of Cartago and dedicated to the Virgen de los Pardos, officially known as Virgen de los Ángeles (the Lady of the Angels). The basilica was built in 1639 and was partially destroyed by an earthquake. The basilica has since been restored and constitutes a unique mix of colonial architecture as well as 19th century Byzantine style, the current building dates back to 1939.[From Wikipedia] Once a year there is a pilgrimage of thousands from all over Central America to this Cathedral, all walking!

I stopped by around 11 Sunday morning & it was packed,
standing room only with a crowd standing and listening outside the door.

It is my personal observation that Ticos are not only mostly religious but what I would call “Christian in their behavior” or relationships toward each other and outsiders and a very moral people.

This horse with his rider and cart came to lodge to pick up trash today.
Talk about a juxtaposition of cultures!
In rural areas it is still common to see people riding horses for transportation.

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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.

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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!  🙂

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Angel Tree Party!

All we’ve been working towards was over in about 2 hours with a lot of happy kids!

Thanks to the many people who took one of the 300 angels or otherwise contributed to the project!