With several tourists here from around the world, it seems that one of the first things they want to see is a toucan, and the boldest one here is this Yellow-throated Toucan (my gallery link). Here’s two slightly different views with neither showing his patch of red, but still a handsome bird! We are on the Caribbean Slope here, where this Yellow-throated is more common than the Keel-billed which is more common on the Pacific Slope. Tomorrow I will share another variety of toucans which also has a different “cousin” on the Pacific Slope.
Yellow Throated Toucan, Maquenque Lodge, Costa RicaYellow Throated Toucan, Maquenque Lodge, Costa Rica
Today I will travel for about 4 hours to one of my favorite lodges and best birding place, Maquenque Eco Lodge (their link) near the Nicaragua border in Boca Tapada, San Carlos Canton, Alajuela Province, almost directly north of where I live in the center of the country. It will be my 6th trip there and 3rd time to celebrate my birthday there, which is July 4 and this year number 86! 🙂
3 years ago I planted an Avocado Tree there to help the endangered Green Macaws at Maquenque.
I may or may not do a post tonight from there, but otherwise a daily post from Maquenque reporting on my nature finds there for the next 5 days and as always a few more days after a trip. This will be my 6th time at Maquenque with, of course, lots of photos and a “Trip Gallery” from every visit there . . .
And that is a “Most Likely” identification from iNaturalist and eBird with a definite from Google Lens. 🙂 I photographed it outside the gate of Roca Verde in Barrio Boquerón and we do have a lot of adult Yellow-faced Grassquits here, especially around the cow pasture, so it is a pretty safe ID. 🙂 See photos of adults in my gallery Yellow-faced Grassquit(linked).
Fledgling Yellow-faced Grassquit, Barrio Boquerón, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
“A Lifer” means “first time seen species” and this is my first new bird in quite a while! (# 189 in my CR bird gallery) 🙂 He was on the ground in my garden (or front yard) and I first thought it was a young Yigüirro – Clay-colored Thrush (and it is possible that he actually is), but it is instead the iNat AI says it is a juvenile or immature Pale-vented Thrush, and I’m going with that. As they get older they lose those two rows of little orange spots and the belly turns whitish. In Costa Rica they are seen only in the low foothills of the Central Valley (like where I live), so not your every day bird all over Costa Rica! 🙂 And I got only one useable photo the first sighting (read on for the better 2nd sighting) . . .
Pale-vented Thrush Juvenile, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Then, the next day, I saw this same juvenile in a tree waiting for Mom to come feed him as you can see that she did in these two shots the day after the above photo . . .
This is becoming my new favorite bird in my garden, mainly because of that deep blue tail! See more of my photos in the gallery: Blue-vented Hummingbird.
Blue-vented Hummingbird, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa RicaBlue-vented Hummingbird, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa RicaBlue-vented Hummingbird, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Visiting places like this here in Costa Rica and making photos is my greatest joy! I hope you enjoy some of the photos! And I may still share a few more on the blog, but they are starting to happen now where I live! And in 2 1/2 weeks I will be at Maquenque Eco Lodge, one of my other favorite places from which to share my love of nature! And there I will celebrate my 86th birthday! 🙂
The Clay-colored Thrush (my gallery link) is called a Yigüirro in Costa Rica and is the National Bird, yet such a simple, Robin-sized brown bird. Not only does his singing in April attract the rain (and me), but his simple, plain look is also appealing. Another favorite bird seen at Xandari this week.
Clay-colored Thrush or Yigüirro, Xandari Costa Rica.
Xandari has more of my photo books in their lobby than maybe any other hotel/lodge in Costa Rica. And they were on a bookshelf in a back corner of the lobby for quite a while, but when that corner was made into an office, they moved my books to just inside the front door, nicely displayed on top of a miniature oxcart, one of the historical symbols of Costa Rica. And my friends in Reception tell me that a lot more people are using the books now! 🙂
All of the lodges that I regularly visit have some of my books in their lobbies and I know that people use them as I have received letters of thanks from tourists by way of my website Contact Page. 🙂 It is kind of fun to gift people I don’t know from around the world with a tiny expression of my Costa Rica Pura Vida in my nature photos here! 🙂
Charlie Doggett Photo Books displayed on a small Ox Cart in the lobby of Xandari Resort.Charlie Doggett Photo Books displayed on a small Ox Cart in the lobby of Xandari Resort.
One of my favorite Costa Rica Birds, the Lessson’s Motmot (my gallery link), previously called “Blue-crowned Motmot,” is usually one of the first birds I see at Xandari and that was the case this morning on my circle walk through the gardens just after seeing two toucans fly over (no photo). I saw several other small birds in the shrubs without good photos, including a White-eared Ground-Sparrow and the National Bird, Yigüirro or Clay-colored Thrush. The pre-breakfast walk is always the best time for birds, but with overcast skies and the threat of rain, there were not as many today. And that is usually too early for butterflies that seek the sun, but I did get one which I will share in a separate post later today.
Here’s photos of the two Motmots, male & female, with couples like this usually seen together . . .
Lesson’s Motmot, (I think the female), Xandari Nature Resort, Alajuela, Alajuela, Costa RicaLesson’s Motmot, (I think the male), Xandari Nature Resort, Alajuela, Alajuela, Costa RicaLesson’s Motmot, (I think the male), front view, Xandari Nature Resort, Alajuela, Alajuela, Costa Rica
This little visit to a favorite nature place nearby was scheduled for May 25 and had to be postponed at the last minute because of a sick stomach. I re-introduced Xandari in that May 25 blog post Two Nights at Xandari (linked) within which are links to my 7 other trips there including for one birthday and one Christmas celebration. It is my 3rd best butterfly location (for the number of species) after my Garden and Hotel Banana Azul in Caribe Sur.
It was started and first operated by a Frank Lloyd Wright Style Architect and his Art Teacher wife who continued to teach in a special artist pavilion there. The contemporary rooms are decorated with art and sculptures from her and her students as are the gardens with sculptures. A large forest on a mountain north of the city of Alajuela (my provincial capital) with two major waterfalls, a farm, garden and forest trails and of course their Spa and a great restaurant! In their lobby is the only public library of Charlie Doggett photo books! 🙂 They are one of several nature-centered tourist locations in Costa Rica that I have bonded with and I’m always welcomed as a VIP guest with chocolate-covered strawberries and a room upgrade if I want it. Though their “small” rooms are much larger than most other hotel rooms and I’m sure some people retreat there just for their great rooms not to mention 3 pools or the trails for me! 🙂 Whoever bought it from them made it a part of the Xandari chain of exotic hotels out of India. Thus lots of international visitors here! 🙂
Looking out from one of several different rooms I’ve had at Xandari.
Like with most trips, I will probably do posts at night for the next two or three nights, then get back to my usual morning posts. Being able to visit special nature places like this is just one part of my Pura Vida retirement experience in Costa Rica and this is my first overnight trip this year! With 3 more planned for the rest of this year, to 3 of my other favorite places here! So it will be a very good year as I turn 86 next month at Maquenque Eco Lodge! 🙂 Stay tuned for more nature adventures!
