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My collection of artisan bird ornaments got pulled out of storage this year and stuck on an ugly artificial tree or bush, but I think that the Latin American Artisan Birds are beautiful, so I created a slideshow of about 20 closeup photos of some of my collection. See them in the online version of this post . . .
See 20 (not all) of my artisan bird collection in the slideshow online . . .
Continue reading “Artisan Birds Christmas Tree”
Here’s just two of the shots I made in November of this frequently seen tropical bird, the Blue-gray Tanager, Thraupis episcopus (eBird link) is found only in tropical Central & South America and is one of the more frequently seen birds for me in Costa Rica as my Gallery: Blue-gray Tanager will show.
The feature photo at top is what most of this species looks like and I am guessing that the more rotund one below is a pregnant female, with several eggs to lay. 🙂
¡Pura Vida!
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!
Just the day before yesterday I had my gardeners install a new garden bench up the hill beside my house at roof level and beside “K’s Little Zinnia Patch” (linked to an earlier blog post) under a palm tree with easy photography of butterflies in both the Zinnia Patch and in my row Porterweeds which also attracts hummingbirds. PLUS a view of the trees and the hills around me for birds. It will become one of my morning rituals to go sit and photograph nature around me! It is a challenge to hike up the steep driveway and then I needed a place to sit. So I installed one! 🙂
And see more photos of the bench and its vistas in this slide show online:
Continue reading “Bird & Butterfly Bench”
Possibly the most seen woodpecker in my garden is this Hoffmann’s Woodpecker, Melanerpes hoffmannii (eBird link), distinctive with it’s gold nape and for the male (this photo) a bright red crown! It is exclusively in Costa Rica and Nicaragua with a few strays into El Salvador and Honduras. See some more of my photos in my Hoffmann’s Woodpecker Gallery made over the years literally all over Costa Rica. Here’s three shots from my garden recently that I’m adding to that gallery collection . . .
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!
It is tempting to call this a Green Iguana, but those do not live in my garden and these do! 🙂 The babies and juveniles of both species are very much alike, so location determines this ID. I see them in my garden a lot! And their parents & big brothers & sisters walk around on my roof and climb the trees! 🙂
See more of my many photos of this species in my GALLERY: Black Spiny-tailed Iguana. And oh yeah, the scientific name is: Ctenosaura similis.
¡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!
Inca Doves, Columbina inca (my gallery link) is one of several common doves in Costa Rica. Here’s a recent shot in my garden . . .
Well, in this case, two totally different “feathers” are flocking together or at least sharing the same tree in a neighbor’s yard on a hill above me. First time I have seen the Keel-billed Toucan and the Gray-headed Chachalaca sharing a perch tree. (Names are linked to my galleries of each species.)
My landlord “K” texted me to say he looked down (his house is above mine on the same hill) to tell me that there were two toucans in my Cecropia Tree. I went out with my camera and as I looked up the last one of the two flew off. But fortunately both flew up a different hill into someone else’s tree which they shared with a Gray-headed Chachalaca. 🙂
And thanks to my telephoto lens I managed to get this shot of friendly neighbors of different species about a hundred yards away! 🙂 Maybe it’s an object lesson for us humans! 🙂
¡Pura Vida!