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The slow renovation of the Atenas Central Park is at least in progress again. Yesterday I noticed this BIG “A” perched on the concrete wall they just completed. I’m guessing that they will spell ATENAS across the top of that wall with big letters like parks in both Alajuela and Heredia have with their town names spelled in parks. 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
My photo gallery of Atenas Central Park Renovation
Like I think nearly all the kids of my generation my Father used to tell us about the long country miles he walked to school in all kinds of weather and indeed his generation were naturally walkers much more than mine, though I walked to school too! Just in a town! 🙂 But of course no photos of him walking. But these two photos of my Mom give a sense of the walking in their age . . .
All of us literally walked out of Africa at one time ancestrally and the paths taken greatly affect who each of us are. Because I participated in the National Geographic DNA Genographic Project I got a report on both my Maternal and Paternal paths out of Africa which are greatly different . . .
Continue reading “WALKING PATHS of My Ancestors”
Walking – the main physical activity of my life since around age 1 – purposefully made important in my adult years – and now that I no longer own a car and live surrounded by nature in Costa Rica – WALKING the PATHS of Nature is even more central in my life. The feature photo at top is a hiking trail at the Trogon Lodge, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica, one of many I experience here.
This begins a brief blog post series of just 5 more days on one of the most important things of my life, walking!
The motivation for the series came in part from the book, In Praise of Paths: Walking through Time and Nature, by Torbjørn Ekelund, a Norwegian young man diagnosed with Epilepsy who now walks everywhere and also does cross-country hikes in a bigger way than I’m able to at twice his age! 🙂
I will not copy or repeat the book, but discuss the influence of walking since before my birth through my now car-less retirement in Costa Rica! 🙂
My last bird in this series, Clay-colored Thrush (eBird description), is special in multiple ways. First, he is the National Bird of Costa Rica, not because of his colors but rather because he is the bird that the indigenous people say sings in the rainy season every April & May. And special for me because I’m including one of my latest images as the feature and one of my first bird shots here back in 2015 while still in the apartments, Hacienda La Jacaranda. Read more in The Backstory and see some of my many other shots of this bird in my Yigüirro or Clay-colored Thrush Gallery with shots from 16 locations across Costa Rica.
This White-fronted Parrot (eBird description) is found only in Central America and Mexico and is just one of the 13 different species of parrots/parakeets that I have photos of and I think the reason I chose him rather than one of the other colorful parrots is the way he looks back at me as if to ask “What are you doing?” 🙂 See other shots in my White-fronted Parrot Gallery from the only location I’ve seen him in Costa Rica, the Hacienda Guachipelin Lodge and read more in The Backstory below . . .
On September 25 I reported that work is being done on the northwest corner of the park that people from the city hall were out observing and discussing then, but I’ve not seen a lot since then with the gate closed on all of my walks by there since. with one taxista telling me it was the section devoted to the county or canton. Peeking through the fence crack or shooting over the fence I have only the below photos to show. Like always, slow progress.
Now they are constructing something for seating maybe?
Continue reading “Central Park Renovation”
Okay, I’m kind of “cheating” here by showing two different types of toucans that have perched in my Cecropia or Guarumo Tree: The Fiery-billed Aracari (eBird description) and the Keel-billed Toucan (eBird description). And with many more shots of both from all over Costa Rica, see my Fiery-billed Aracari Gallery and/or my Keel-billed Toucan Gallery. Since I have so many photos from so many different places, I will not try to feature the locations, though the location for both of these shots is my own garden in Roca Verde, Atenas, Alajuela Province, Costa Rica! 🙂 I am indeed fortunate!
I was really excited the first time I saw a Squirrel Cuckoo (eBird description) in my garden, thinking that all cuckoos were rare exotic birds. I’ve since learned that this particular one is fairly common all over Costa Rica and you will find 5 locations in Costa Rica in my Squirrel Cuckoo Gallery. Plus eBird says it is “widespread” throughout Central and South America. It is one of 6 different species of Cuckoos found in Costa Rica. Beyond this one, I have photos of just 2 other species in Costa Rica: The Mangrove Cuckoo (2) and the Lesser Ground-Cuckoo (1). See more information and links in The Backstory below . . .
The Spot-crowned Euphonia (eBird description) is a favorite for many reasons, including that this photo is so detailed of the female eating a little berry that even her tongue is showing. 🙂 Plus this bird is endemic to Costa Rica, meaning it is found only here and a few spots over the border in Panama. In my Spot-crowned Euphonia Gallery I have shots from only two places and will link to those places and TRIP GALLERIES in The Backstory below, plus I’m adding a photo of the male so you can see the difference. It was photographed at the same time and place as the female and thus they could be mates.