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I remember seeing this bird on my first trip to Costa Rica back in 2009, down on the southern end of Osa Peninsula near Corcovado NP at Lookout Inn, Carata. He’s a handsome bird without the extravagant colors of many tropical birds. And now he’s a regular in my garden! 🙂 See more photos in my gallery for the Tropical Kingbird, Tyrannus melancholicus from literally all over Costa Rica and that first I saw is at the bottom of the gallery. 🙂
This species is becoming more frequently seen for me, with the last one shared November 1 this year. He is very similar to a more rarely seen Pale-billed Woodpecker with not only the pale bill being different but also his black and white coloring is different, but both have the big bright red pointed head like Woody Woodpecker. 🙂
See more photos of this species in my Lineated Woodpecker Gallery or you can read about them on eBird where you will see that they are found only in the tropical forests of Central and South America.
¡Pura Vida!
Whether a bird, butterfly or other animal or plant, photographing a new species is always special for me! And living in the country with the most species per square kilometers makes that a continuous possibility, even after 10 years of living here! 🙂 During the week of a visit from Nashville friends, Gary & Kenna Eaton, I got photos of two: a butterfly and a moth caterpillar, with still some uncertainty on the ID of the caterpillar, while hoping for a confirmation of my ID by a scientist or naturalist on iNaturalist or on butterfliesandmoths.org. Here’s the two photos . . .
Read more about this butterfly on iNaturalist Costa Rica which calls it a “Brightwing” butterfly (in Spanish of course) where you can see many other photos of this “uncommon” butterfly in Costa Rica. There are also two more photos on butterfliesandmoths.org, one other from Costa Rica and one from Cuba, where incidentally it appears on a postage stamp! 🙂
Now the humble little caterpillar . . .
See all of my 313 identified Butterflies & Moths of Costa Rica GALLERY.
¡Pura Vida!
It takes me a while to process the many photos I usually take and then label and get into galleries – but it is done! for the November 10 & 17-22 Visit by the Gary Eaton’s. Linked to the gallery or click on the image of first page below . . .
I placed it in my “CR TRIP GALLERIES” because it was their trip and much like a trip for me with a variety of photos, many of which are okay even if not my best! 🙂 After all, I had cancer surgery on my nose in the middle that week and was dealing with feet & leg inflammation from the new blood pressure medicine, but in spite of all that, I had great time Gary & Kenna! And I hope you are able to return to Costa Rica in the future to see other areas and different National Parks! I love it all! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
The featured photo above is a Masked Tree Frog and just two more photos below from my visit with Gary & Kenna Eaton to the transitional forest Parque Nacional Carara (linked to official website in English.) I have many more photos in my gallery: Nov 22 Carara National Park. 🙂
Carara is just an hour from my house and one of my better close birding places along with the nearby Tarcoles River. They were originally scheduled to go there with Walter on their way to Punta Leona, but heavy rain closed the park that day. Some of the trails were still muddy, but our excellent guide, Franklin, provided high rubber boots for us, so we didn’t return with muddy shoes! 🙂 I usually see many more birds there than on this trip, but the unusually heavy rain this November has affected many such activities as birding! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
Another purely Central American bird is the Lesson’s Motmot, Momotus lessonii (my gallery link) is found from Southern Mexico down through Panama. There are different species of Motmots in South America and we also have another one called the Turquoise-browed Motmot (my gallery link to it). They are mostly seen in the shadows of a tree and thus difficult for good photos. Here’s a shot of the one in my next-door neighbor’s Cecropia Tree last Wednesday morning and there are many more in the above-linked gallery. Read more about them on eBird.
¡Pura Vida!
Hecale Longwing, Heliconius Hecale (my gallery link) is found from Mexico south to the Peruvian Amazon, including my garden in Costa Rica! 🙂 My gallery includes sightings in 8 different Costa Rica locations on both slopes. Here’s a side view and a top view recently in my garden:
¡Pura Vida!
Have I told you yet that a Keel-billed Toucan landed in my Cecropia Tree the other morning after breakfast? He was smaller than some, so probably immature or not quite an adult. And it was one of the few mornings that I did not take my camera with me to breakfast on the terrace! I slowly pulled the cell phone out of my pocket and turned it on just as he flew away! Oh well, that’s life! ¡Así es la vida! 🙂 And my camera has been with me for breakfast every day since! 🙂
I always like this one better than the more common here Hoffman’s or Black-cheeked Woodpeckers. And maybe that is because this one reminds me more of Woody Woodpecker. 🙂 And Woody is special in many ways, one being that he was born the same year as me, 1940. 🙂 But enough of that! The Lineated Woodpecker, Dryocopus lineatus (linked to my gallery), is a tropical forest bird found in both the lowlands and foothills (where I live) of Central & South America. In my gallery you can see that I’ve photographed him on both slopes of Costa Rica in many locations. Read about him on eBird.
¡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! 🙂
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!