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The national bird of Costa Rica was thought by the indigenous people to sing in the rainy season at the end of the dry season, late April or May. It is the Clay-colored Thrush, Turdus grayi (my gallery link) and is found from South Texas throughout Central America and in Columbia. There are always Yigüirros in my garden. Read about on eBird.
¡Pura Vida!
Another regular visitor in my garden is the Great Kiskadee, Pitangus sulphuratus (my gallery link) is another common bird throughout Central and South America. Read more about him on eBird.
¡Pura Vida!
One of the most common birds in my garden is this Rufous-backed Wren, Campylorhynchus capistratus (my gallery link) and this one used to be called the Rufous-naped Wren, but just like with butterflies, “they” are always changing names of birds, making it hard to keep up with the latest names sometimes. Here’s a shot of one on my neighbor’s roof. And you can read about them on eBird. Found only from Southern Mexico south through Costa Rica.
¡Pura Vida!
I do still see birds in my garden even though the butterflies greatly outnumber them! 🙂 And of the four I am sharing these next four days, this is the least-seen of them: Tropical Kingbird, Tyrannus melancholicus (linked to my gallery) and as always, you can read more about them on eBird. They are seen throughout Central America and most of South America and are sometimes known as one of the “telephone wire birds: or “fence birds,” as they like open areas and catch flying insects, including my beloved butterflies. 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
I’m still planning on some more posts from this first week of October trip, but you can see all of my acceptable photos in the trip gallery by clicking this linked title or the image of first page below. 2024 October 1-6, Hotel Banana Azul, Caribe Sur
¡Pura Vida!
And to learn more about Hotel Banana Azul, click that name link! Note that the header photo on their web page was made from “my room,” the one I get on each visit, called “The Howler Suite.” 🙂
There are no big chain hotels or resorts on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica (like the Pacific side). All are small, locally-owned, very friendly and helpful people (muy amable), with simplicity and tranquility. The Caribbean side is not for everyone, but I like it; both the laid back Jamaican atmosphere of the south or the Amazon Jungle atmosphere of the north Caribbean at Tortuguero National Park. The south has Cahuita National Park and Gandoca-Manzanillo Wildlife Refuge, making the south also a great place for nature photographers in a different way than Tortuguero where you are mostly on the water. I encourage my fellow expats living in Costa Rica to give this side a try as something different from the Pacific Coast or the mountains. I love every area of Costa Rica because each is different! That is just the way I am! 🙂
Throughout Central America and the northern half of South America you can find this beautiful tropical bird: Blue-gray Tanager, Thraupis episcopus (linked to my gallery) where there are 84 of my photos from 18 different locations in Costa Rica. You can also read about on eBird. This was a favorite shot at Banana Azul this year . . .
I now have the Banana Azul BIRDS 2024 Gallery completed with 19 species this year without going to any of the parks or reserves! 🙂 Just click that linked title above to see them all!
¡Pura Vida!
These were not a particular goal for me and of course there were many others, had I spent more time at water’s edge of the beach or on any nearby stream, but here are 5 very common ones I did see, with the Cormorant being the most frequently seen this time, though not always the case. And note that all of these can be seen inland on fresh water except the pelican, though all are more frequent near the ocean or nearby mangroves and estuaries . . .
This Black-cheeked Woodpecker, Melanerpes pucherani (my gallery link) is possibly the woodpecker I’ve seen the most of in my 10 years in Costa Rica, out of 13 species found here, and in the above-linked gallery I have photos of this one from 9 different locations (all on the Caribbean Slope). And none from my garden, where the Hoffmann’s Woodpecker is the most common. That may be because they are more common on the Caribbean Slope and I live on the Pacific Slope. 🙂 But they are found on both slopes from Southern Mexico to Ecuador.
In my CR Birds big gallery you will find galleries for 9 of those 13 species (I’m missing 4!) and one Olivaceous Piculet, which is really a tiny woodpecker without the name! 🙂
If interested in more info, see the Black-cheeked Woodpecker eBird Page.
¡Pura Vida!
. . . for reasons unknown to me. Normally I see a lot of these Brown Pelicans, Pelecanus occidentalis (my gallery link) on both coasts and usually every day there, but these were the only ones I saw this time and I was a good distance from them, walking on the beach road, so not great photos or close-up like you can see in my gallery linked above. Here’s two shots and I cropped in on the second one just to make them seem bigger, but certainly not my best images. 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Yesterday morning, just before leaving the Caribe, I was excited to have photographed two different hawks, one, I knew for sure, was a Common Black Hawk, Buteogallus anthracinus (my gallery link), but I had to wait until later to identify the brown one. Well, I should have known! But just haven’t been photographing many birds for a long time and didn’t remember that the juvenile Black Hawk is brown & speckled like this.
They were about 50+ meters apart, but both along the beach road, and I’m guessing that the adult was his Mom or Dad (probably Mom) and she seems to be holding something in her claw, like some food in case Junior doesn’t catch his breakfast in the marshy woods. 🙂 That is just like some of these Costa Rican moms who spoil their sons! 🙂 Here’s pix of Mom (or Dad) first and then the son (or daughter) . . .
¡Pura Vida!
Back in 2014 when I took the “Live in costa Rica Tour,” one of the other participants, John, was the only other one of us from Tennessee and on top of that, from Williamson County, a suburb of Nashville where I had lived more than 30 years, but we never knew each other back then (different circles of friends). He earns his income from rental property in Tennessee and the Dominican Republic and wanted some here too, before retiring and moving here. The time has come!
He later came here and stayed at my house while looking at income-producing rental properties to buy and I even went to one beach area with him to check out getting one there too, but he decided no (too expensive!), though he did buy a condo here in Atenas very near Roca Verde where I live. It stayed rented until he recently sold it and bought a house up the hill from me here in Roca Verde that he is going to “fix up” and move here with his wife and two kids. Soon, he hopes!
They all arrived yesterday from Nashville and are staying in Hotel Colinas del Sol, just 3 blocks from me! So I’m going down there to have breakfast with them this morning, answering a lot of questions, talking to their kids about nature spots here, etc. 🙂
They will of course visit their future home, but also must meet with a lawyer in San Jose on their residency paperwork and work with someone on the remodeling of the house, plus many other nitty-gritty things for such a life change! 🙂
A busy week for them and it happens to be a busy day today for me with breakfast at 7, my spanish class at 9, grocery shopping, then work on tomorrow’s blog post! Plus continue to process hundreds of photos from the Caribe Sur trip! So I can share with you! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!