Trees Archives - Page 15 of 62 - Retired in Costa Rica

July 27, 2023July 15, 2023

Turquoise-browed Motmot

It has been a long time since I’ve photographed one of these fave birds in my yard, so I was smiling when I photographed him in my back Nance Tree, uphill or above my roof. Then I went straight in the house and started processing the photos and this shot was my favorite, writing this blog post 12 days ago. The Esquinas trip got me ahead of schedule and I just may stay that way with good birds like this stopping by! 🙂

We can regularly have two different species of motmots, this Turquoise-browed Motmot and the Lesson’s Motmot (both linked to eBird). The Lesson’s used to be called blue-crowned which was more descriptive, but there are reasons for name changes. And of course I have lots of photos of both in my galleries plus a few of the other 2 Motmots:

¡Pura Vida!

July 23, 2023July 15, 2023

Sunning in My Cecropia Tree

This Variegated Squirrel (link to article on “Canopy Family” website) is the most common squirrel in Costa Rica and here he seemed to enjoy the warm sunshine in the branches of my Guarumo or Cecropia Tree one morning back before my Esquinas Trip. He is seen all over Costa Rica as my Variegated Squirrel Gallery shows. Here’s two more shots for my collection . . .

July 22, 2023July 15, 2023

Morning Panorama

These mountains or a wider vista of them is one of the things I look at during breakfast every morning that I’m at home, though I have never been able to fully capture exactly what I see. Here is another effort with a 5-shot panorama. You can see many of the other efforts in my GALLERY: From My Roca Verde Terrace – and just like sunrises and sunsets, no two are alike! 🙂 ¡Pura vida!

¡Pura Vida!

July 19, 2023July 19, 2023

New HAIKU Photo Book!

A nice little 24 page book of Haiku Poetry printed over my nature photos and available to the public at https://www.blurb.com/b/11644063-nature-descriptions-haiku

Or click this book cover image:

Free preview of every page at online bookstore!

¡Pura Vida!

July 19, 2023July 14, 2023

La Gamba Field Station

I earlier promised a blog post on this unique place adjacent to Esquinas Rainforest Lodge and then I will lay off posts from that area for awhile. 🙂 And begin again tomorrow doing blog posts from my garden and the community of Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica! 🙂

Normally the station is full of students and other researchers as in this photo from their website, but the week I was there, they were in between research projects and I talked with only two students.

The University of Vienna in Austria does an exceptional amount of tropical and rainforest research with not only their professors and students, but with many guest researchers from other parts of Europe and from the USA and Latin America. Read more about this important research station on their English-language website: https://www.lagamba.at/en/ while being aware that the primary language there is German. 🙂 Austrians speak an Austrian dialect of German.

July 15, 2023July 14, 2023

New Esquinas GALLERY is finished!

Check out the now finished gallery of photos from my latest Costa Rica Adventure and second visit to Esquinas Rainforest Lodge by clicking the first page image below or go to this link: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2023-July-1-6-Esquinas-Rainforest-Lodge

CLICK this image of the 1st page of my ’23 Esquinas Rainforest Lodge GALLERY to visit it.

June 28, 2023June 26, 2023

Still the most-seen bird . . .

. . . in my garden, the Yigüirro or Clay-colored Thrush (eBird link) who is no longer singing his longing melody that tradition says is him calling in the rain for rainy season to begin. It began with June and we’ve had rain every afternoon since! So I think he is a happy bird! 🙂 But overall, this june I’m seeing fewer varieties of both birds and butterflies than usual. I’m hoping that won’t be true of the rainforest I visit next week! 🙂

Yigüirro or Clay-colored Thrush, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

June 27, 2023June 26, 2023

Late-blooming Nance Tree

Or was the other one an “early bloomer?” 🙂 Both the Nance Tree and the Maraca Flowers on the front slope of my house have finished blooming while the ones back of my house (up hill) are just now blooming. Maybe the difference is morning sun (back) and afternoon sun (front) or I’m just fortunate to have them blooming at different times of the year! 🙂

A Guatemala website tells Mayan stories of this tree that they question, while a produce website tells about the uses of the berries and the Wikipedia site has a great general summary about the tree and its fruits and uses. I tried to eat a raw berry once and did not care for it. All 3 of my trees are harvested by birds only and at two different times of the year!