Called a “Congo” by Costa Ricans, the Mantled Howler Monkey is the largest and loudest of the four species of monkeys in Costa Rica and the only one I got photos of this trip, from alongside Rio Tres Amigos on float trip last Wednesday near Maquenque Ecolodge. I heard them at the lodge but never was close enough for photos and the same for the Spider Monkeys. I’ve been photographing Howler Monkeys since my first weeks in Costa Rica and have an okay GALLERY: Mantled Howler Monkey of Costa Rica.
Mantled Howler Monkey male, Rio Tres Amigos, San Carlos Canton, Alajuela, Costa RicaImmature Mantled Howler Monkey, Rio Tres Amigos, San Carlos Canton, Alajuela, Costa Rica
I photographed this beautiful bird along the road on our way to Rio Tres Amigos for our floating safari. The guides and drivers are all so good about stopping when a significant bird is seen. I would not have photographed this bird had we not stopped the van. The map on eBird shows this falcon type bird throughout the Americas, but more so in Central and South america.
Crested Caracara, near Rio Tres Amigos, San Carlos Canton, Alajuela, Costa Rica.Crested Caracara, near Rio Tres Amigos, San Carlos Canton, Alajuela, Costa Rica.
I was originally planning to do my post on Rio Tres Amigos today, but simply have too many photo of too many things to have them ready by today, plus this is a very full week with two medical appointments and tourist friends from the states stopping by! 🙂 So I may stick to individual birds, etc. for most of this week. But that Rio Tres Amigos was a great half-day trip that is going to make a super gallery when finished!
WARNING! The photos in this post are graphic and could be considered gross, especially if you are a lizard or have close friends who are lizards! 🙂
I was waiting for my driver from Atenas to arrive at Maquenque for lunch and our return trip home when one of the lodge staff come running in, excitedly telling me that there was a Toucan in a tree in front of the restaurant eating a lizard. Of course I grabbed my camera and ran out for some photos which were difficult because of the poor light in the tree at almost 12 noon! But here’s 5 shots of the Yellow-throated Toucan with his captured lizard and the final shot of another toucan either stealing lizard meat from him or having it shared. I could not tell which. 🙂
Yellow-throated Toucan eating a lizard for lunch at Maquenque Ecolodge, Boca Tapada, Costa Rica.
. . . at drastically different stages of development! 🙂 And so I guess all the eggs don’t hatch at the same time?! Four of us humans walked up to the nest where the mother was sitting and she just flew off! Hopefully to get food for that gaping mouth! 🙂
This is the nest of a Scarlet-rumped Tanager at Maquenque Ecolodge the other day. This is a nesting & hatching time for some near the end of the Dry Season These babies will grow up in the Rainy Season!
Baby Scarlet-rumped Tanager & Sibling still in the shell, Maquenque Ecolodge, Boca Tapada, Costa Rica.
The only way we are going to save the earth for future generation is by “rewilding” or creating “new” old growth forests of about 50% of the globe by planting more trees. Yesterday I did one tiny part of that by planting an Almond Tree here at Maquenque, where they hope to reintroduce the endangered Green Macaws that eat mostly almonds! And soon they will add nesting boxes to replace the big old trees with nesting holes, one of several reasons they are endangered. It will be a few years before my little baby Almond Tree will feed Macaws, but we have to plan for the future! And that is symbolized by Vicky’s (lodge manager’s) children standing with me in the second photo.
Plus Maquenque does have a few grown Almond Trees here already, “los almendros.” But very few macaws on the ground now, mostly flying overhead as in the third photo below. Plus, since they are located north-central, close to the continental divide, they can have both Green Macaws (Caribbean Slope which they are on) and some Scarlet Macaws (from the Pacific Slope). The Scarlets evidently fly over the Continental Divide which is not high mountains here in the lowlands. Scarlet Macaws are not as endangered as the green but are near-endangered because of habitat loss.
Charlie Doggett with the baby Almond Tree he helped plant at Maquenque Ecolodge & Reserve, Boca Tapada, Costa Rica, April 13, 2023.
This common resident bird is found literally all over Costa Rica at most levels and this is my 4th time to see one in my Atenas neighborhood, with all other photos here in trees, bushes or on a fence, though their feeding is in the grasses! I have seen one across the street in the cow pasture grasses but without a photo! 🙂 I did get photos of him in the grasses of a meadow in Curi-Cancha Reserve, Monteverde and I’ve also seen one at Celeste Mountain Lodge at Tenorio Volcano NP. See my other photos in the Yellow-faced Grassquit GALLERY. And you can read about them on eBird. He’s a resident, tropical, non-migrating bird found throughout Central America, the Caribbean Islands and the northern fringes of South America. Here’s 3 shots of this male in one of my Nance Trees . . .
Yellow-faced Grassquit, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
The most frequently heard song in my garden in April is always the melodic song of the Clay-colored Thrush, called Yigüirro in Costa Rican Spanish. Local tradition is that he is singing in the rainy season, begging God for rain and thus he usually goes near the top of trees to sing and why my photos seldom show him singing. It sounds like he is trying really hard to do a good job and loud! As locals say, “singing his heart out!” You can hear one recording on eBird, click the “Listen” Button.
But they do come down to the lower limbs occasionally for my photos, 🙂 with these two shots from two different days. Usually we have a light start of rain the middle of April scattered over several days with the “real” rain beginning in earnest in May when we can have a shower or more every afternoon through November.
This year we had the unusual experience of 4 days of showers in March! Climate change! I live in the “Central Valley” which would not be considered a “rainforest” like both coasts and their corresponding “slopes” where it rains year around and occasionally all day. I like visiting the rainforests but the Central Valley is better for daily living. 🙂
This one Rufous-tailed Hummingbird appears to be the only one living in my gardens right now and occasionally he almost poses for a photo. I have not been putting out the Hummingbird feeder for a long time now because these Rufous-tailed Hummingbirds are very territorial and he chases any others off. But after next week’s trip I will have nearly 3 months of no travel and may try the feeder again, not to necessarily feed this guy but hope it attracts other hummingbirds. We will see! 🙂
Right now they depend on flowers alone for food! I guess that is more natural! 🙂 But in the past I had a lot more than this!
This small bright blue & yellow bird landed for 30 seconds or so in my Yellow Bell Tree Wednesday and I managed to get a few shots before he left. He is the male Spot-crowned Euphonia (eBird link), endemic to Costa Rica and the northern fringes of Panama, only on the Pacific Slopes, and just my third time to photograph one! First time in my garden! 🙂 My other places were at Esquinas Rainforest lodge at Piedras Blancas NP north of Golfito and at Hacienda Guachipelin, Rincón de la Vieja NP in Guanacaste near Liberia. I go back to Esquinas in July for my 83rd birthday and expect to see them again! 🙂
One of my all-time favorite bird photos was of a female Spot-crowned Euphonia eating a berry at Esquinas Lodge! See that and the other shots in my Spot-Crowned Euphonia Gallery! Now here’s 3 shots from my garden Wednesday . . .
Spot-crowned Euphonia, male, Atenas, Costa Rica
Above he’s looking down, next looking up and the third looking right into the camera before flying off! 🙂
He landed in one of my Nance trees for only a few seconds and then flew away, never showing his face, which can help with ID! 🙂 But after a lot of research online and in my books I am pretty certain that this fellow is a Great Crested Flycatcher which we can have here as both immigrants from the north this time of year or non-breeding residents year-a-round. But this is my first time to see one here, though I saw one in the states in the past.
Great Crested Flycatcher, Atenas, Costa Rica
For the birders reading, notice the distinctive white wing-bars and the slight reddish-orange tinting on the lower edge of his wing. Only Great Crested, Brown and Ash-throated Flycatchers have both of those, eliminating the similar Yellow-bellied Elaenia, Dusky-capped Flycatcher and Northern Beardless Tyrannulet. Plus none of those have this bright a yellow belly or this dark of a brown crest which is also the two reasons I eliminate the Brown and Ash-throated Flycatchers!
Sometimes bird ID becomes like scientific detective work! 🙂 But I’m pretty confident of this ID, even without a face shot which would have shown no eye ring and a slight bit of pink at the base of his bill. Read about him on eBird. And you who live in the Eastern U.S. are possibly familiar with him as a common bird there, as shown on eBird’s map, and where I’ve seen him before.
