Great Kiskadee

With forests lining much of the Rio Tarcoles, there are also a lot of “regular” birds like these Kiskadees (linked to my gallery). Just 2 shots in this post, one perched and one flying, with more in the gallery . . .

Great Kiskadee, Rio Tarcoles, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
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Common Black Hawk

This is the most seen hawk of all for me, almost everywhere I go. See more of my photos in the gallery Common Black Hawk. Not super good photos this trip, but this one of him flying right above me (close) is kind of interesting! 🙂

Common Black Hawk, Rio Tarcoles, Costa Rica
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Blue-gray Tanager

There are more than water birds on Rio Tarcoles with both shores lined with forests. And this is one of the more common Central & South American birds that even comes to my garden. See more in my gallery: Blue-gray Tanager.

Blue-gray Tanager, Rio Tarcoles, Puntarenas, Costa Rica.

¡Pura Vida!

Helmeted Iguana

One of the coolest things we saw at Carara National Park yesterday was a Perro Zompopo · Helmeted Iguana – Corytophanes cristatus also known as the Smooth Helmeted Iguana, Helmeted Basilisk, Helmeted Lizard and a few other common names. With that Perro Zompopo being the official Spanish common name on iNaturalist and of course that 3rd Latin name is the scientific name. He was in a lot of shade behind trees, limbs and vines in the thick transitional forest of Carara, thus difficult to photograph. The above shot with a greenish hue was on my Canon Camera while my cell phone shot through the spotting scope had a duller, brownish hue. 🙂 And my identification has not yet been approved by a specialist on iNaturalist, but I’m sort of confident of this.

Perro Zompopo -Helmeted Iguana – Corytophanes cristatus in Carara National Park, Puntarenas.

We got scads of bird photos on Rio Tarcoles but it may take awhile to work through all of them, while the complicated online way of now entering national parks meant we didn’t get on trail to after 11 which is too late for birds, but our excellent guide, Andrys, found lots of other nature to experience and photograph. Both experiences were really good, though too much for one day for our age group. 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

Western Cattle-Egret

A small flock of these egrets flying up and away from the Cow Pasture across the street on January 31. They are regulars at the pasture but I seldom try to photograph. A small group of houses are at the south end of the pasture and the birds are flying up from the pasture and over those houses. I’m able to get closer and better photos on some of my river trips as you can see in my Cattle-Egrets Gallery. Just the one photo here.

Western Cattle-Egret, Cow Pasture, Roca Verde, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!