Category: Trees

Posted on

Amazon Kingfisher – Speed-fisher!

It’s a joy to watch these amazing birds dive lightening fast into the water from a tree branch to catch a small fish. Usually successfully! This Amazon Kingfisher is the biggest of these 4 Kingfishers that can be seen in Tortuguero waters (with links to my gallery of each):

  1. Amazon Kingfisher
  2. Ringed Kingfisher
  3. Green Kingfisher
  4. American Pygmy Kingfisher

Note that there are two other species of Kingfishers in Costa Rica, the Belted Kingfisher I’ve seen in other areas and the Green and Rufous Kingfisher which I am yet to see but the book says is on this Caribbean side of the country. Here’s photos from this trip of 1 male and 1 female Amazon Kingfisher which if you are still in the email notice you can see larger and better on the blog website, by clicking the blog title above.

Amazon Kingfisher male, Tortuguero NP, Limón, Costa Rica
Amazon Kingfisher female, Tortuguero NP, Limón, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

And for more info and a location map of where found in only tropical Central and South America, see the eBird page.

BONUS READ

“Love thy neighbor (no exceptions)” article in the Friends Journal on simply following the example of Jesus.  🙂

Posted on

Lost Photos: Collared Aracari

I shoot my animal shots with a fast shutter speed in the Canon automatic “Sports-Action Mode” to freeze the action of always moving birds and butterflies! That is the fast click,click,click you hear sometimes from a camera, and it means I get lots of photos (thousands) that I have to go through to delete bad ones and sort according to subject, thus very time consuming! And with so many file folders on my computer I sometimes misplace images as I did with these Collared Aracari eating red berries in a tree behind my cabin one day. They are much better shots than the ones I used on that earlier 3 Toucan Species post, so I just have to give them their own post!  🙂  Occasionally you do luck into good sunlight from the right direction to make an okay image as with these (unlike the Aracaris in the other post):

Collared Aracari eating berries, Tortuga Lodge & Gardens, Tortuguero NP, Costa Rica
Collared Aracari eating red berries, Tortuga Lodge & Gardens, Tortuguero NP, Costa Rica

And for more of this bird, my CR Collared Aracari GALLERY.

¡Pura Vida!

 

Posted on

Part of the Tree?

There’s one bird in the tropics that disguises himself as a bump, knot, limb or branch of a tree to avoid predators. And here’s a couple of shots in different light of a Common Potoo that was seen on one of our trips into the rainforest at Tortuguero.

Common Potoo, Tortuguero NP, Limón, Costa Rica
Common Potoo, Tortuguero NP, Limón, Costa Rica

To see other of my photos of this bird, some with the faces showing, go to CR Common Potoo GALLERY. I think they are related to the Nighthawks, Nightjars and Whip-poor-wills (at least they look similar and are grouped together in the bird books).   🙂   Read more on eBird. They are found only in Central and South America.

¡Pura Vida!

Posted on

Nesting & Eating in Rain

These Pale-vented Pigeons did not let the rain stop them from feeding and nesting in the daily rains at Tortuguero. The mother is on her nest under the eve of the outdoor restaurant at Tortuga Lodge and the others in the trees looking for food!

Pale Vented Pigeon, Tortuguero NP, Limón, Costa Rica

And 2 more photos, including the nest . . .

Continue reading “Nesting & Eating in Rain”

Posted on

Capuchin & Spider Monkeys

Yesterday was the Howler Monkey with the other two types in the Caribbean lowlands today, the White-faced Capuchin Monkey and the Central American Spider Monkey.

White-faced Capuchin Monkey in the Rain, Tortuguero NP, Limón, Costa Rica

Below is a two-photo gallery on each species plus a link to the trip gallery for each where I have several more photos, plus links to my Costa Rica galleries of each where I have even more photos from my 8 years of living in Costa Rica. Enjoy!  🙂

Continue reading “Capuchin & Spider Monkeys”

Posted on

Mantled Howler Monkeys

While at Tortuguero I saw all three of the monkeys that live in that rainforest, but, as usual, the Mantled Howler Monkeys were the most photogenic with White-faced Capuchin next, often showing off, and the Spider Monkeys the most difficult to photograph as they frantically run through the tree tops like out of control hyper children. I’ll show these other two in tomorrow’s post as I continue a break from the many birds.

Mantled Howler Monkey, Tortuguero NP, Costa Rica – Fruit for lunch!

Two more photos below or you can see even more photos from this trip in my Howler Monkeys 2023 Tortuguero GALLERY or  see all my Mantled Howler Monkeys GALLERY from my 8 years in Costa Rica, including a nursing mother and other juveniles.

Continue reading “Mantled Howler Monkeys”

Posted on

Rainforest Floating Reflexions

I’m up to photos of about 40 bird species plus at least 20 other animals and I don’t leave until noon tomorrow, so it will be a while before I report on all of those, thus here’s a few representative shots from the different boats I floated on through the Tortuguero rivers and canals . . .

The 6 am trip was rainy more than half the two hours but we still saw a lot of wildlife!

Here’s 10 more shots, some of which could be considered art (I think) . . .

Continue reading “Rainforest Floating Reflexions”

Posted on

One Last Post on the Xandari Visit

Because the 2023 Xandari Trip Gallery is now ready for you to see all this year’s photos from this colorful nature resort, I will just summarize what was to be the last 4 posts on that trip and you can see the photos in the gallery which is more and better than a few here!  🙂  The last 4 categories each have a gallery that I’m linking to with the 4 pix below:

I photographed only 4 birds mainly because of the high winds we were having there that week. Here’s just 1 of those 4 and to see the others, click the above link or this image:

Clay-colored Thrush or Yigüirro, the National Bird

Though there did not seem to be as many Flowers on this trip as in earlier ones (different time of year), there were still a lot and you can see the ones I photographed by clicking the above link or this one image.

Bird of Paradise Flower, Xandari Costa Rica

Thirdly are some of the Leaves & Nature Things that I love to photograph out in nature anywhere I go! And I think I got a few interesting ones this trip including the feature photo at top of the post. Check them all out at the above link or click this one photo:

Nature as Art, Xandari Costa Rica

And last but not least are a few photos I made of only a sampling of the Trees & Trails at Xandari. Click that link or this one image to see more:

Trees & Trails at Xandari Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Or see all the 2023 Xandari Trip Galleries!

🙂

 

Posted on

Dry Season Waterfall

There is not a lot of water in many streams during dry season, though springs provide some, and this Waterfall #5 is the biggest one during the rainy season, but not much to look at on my last morning hike down the steep path to see it. Of course there is a much larger and nicer falls at Arenal Observatory Lodge and even better are the 3 giant falls at El Silencio Lodge in Bajó del Toro, but still I like all waterfalls, so here’s 4 shots of a little one from this morning.  🙂

 

Waterfall #5, Xandari Costa Rica

Continue reading “Dry Season Waterfall”

Posted on

Xandari Landscapes

I got 8 more butterflies today and at least one a “lifer” or new one for me, but identifying and processing hundreds of photos is just too much to share those today and the birds were just a very few! It is quite windy here this time of year.

So for today’s post, the easy way out, a handful of vistas from the hotel, many from my room and most of these are untouched straight out of the camera to facilitate my limited time for this post today!  🙂 One shot of last night’s sunset from my room just for the email announcement, and then all in a slide show that follows . . .

Sunset from Villa 19, Xandari Costa Rica, Alajuela, 31 January 2023

 

Continue reading “Xandari Landscapes”