Well, I shared last night’s post with yesterday morning’s guide, Antonio, and the one I called “Yellow-bellied Seedeater” is actually a “Morelet’s Seedeater” (similar, but the other is on the Pacific Slope and we are on the Atlantic Slope or called Caribbean Slope here.
PLUS I shared with Antonio an unidentified bird photo from yesterday and he identified it as an “Olive-crowned Yellowthroat” which is another new bird species for me, thus now 4 Lifers for yesterday’s morning bird walk! 🙂 That is really good for someone with more than 360 species in Costa Rica already recorded! 🙂
Olive-crowned Yellowthroat, Maquenque Ecolodge, Boca Tapada, Costa Rica
And the correct identification of this one . . .
Morelet’s Seedeater, Maquenque Ecolodge, Boca Tapada, Costa Rica
After a 3.5 hour drive up to Boca Tapada near the Nicaragua border on the San Carlos River, I crossed the river and got settled in my little rainforest “bungalow” on a small lake where I’ve already photographed more birds and other wildlife than I can count! But I will stay simple the first night and post only one photo, the back porch of my cabin overlooking the lake. Pura vida! 🙂
Back porch of my rainforest cabin at Maquenque Ecolodge, Boca Tapada, San Carlos, Alajuela, Costa Rica
¡Pura Vida!
Since it is such a short post, you might want more information:
This Tortuguero insects post was prepared 10 days ago while yesterday I decided to add below a totally unrelated link to an article I liked when read yesterday:
Column by E.J. Dionne, Jr. in yesterday’s Washington Post, March 12, 2023. It helps describe who I am and why I think most “liberals” (as either an adjective or a noun) are more like Jesus than most “conservatives” (as either an adjective or a noun). What I believe spiritually and politically is based on me being a “follower of Jesus” first and foremost and why I can no longer identify as a Southern Baptist or Evangelical (my former life) and even more certainly not as a Republican in the states.
I see them everywhere I go in Costa Rica, even occasionally in my yard, but I still continue to be amazed by the prehistoric looking, dinosaur-like creature! On the Caribbean Coast, where Tortuguero is located, you find only the Green Iguana; while on the Pacific slope you can find both the Green and the Common Spiny-tailed Iguana, and that includes Atenas where I live,s which is on the Pacific Slope. All four of these photos are Green Iguanas and if you don’t already know, the orange colors come to only the males during mating season, which supposedly attracts the females more than the green or brown colors. 🙂 I shared a face-shot of the all-orange one in an earlier blog post.
I usually get more frog photos in wet places like Tortuguero, but most frogs are nocturnal and it was very dark & cloudy on our night hike in deep mud (wearing required high boots they provide) and thus I was doing good to just keep up, not to mention trying to make photos, of which I got few! 🙂
We did see a lot more frogs than this, just no photos! Our guide on that hike was a very good spotter named Elvis! 🙂 I can’t use my 600 mm zoom lens in the dark successfully, but did try an older camera with a “normal” lens, but it was no better than the cellphone camera at night, which is what most of my good frog photos have been made on in the past.
White-lipped Rain Frog, Tortuguero NP, Costa RicaUnidentified Frog, Tortuguero NP, Costa Rica (possibly one of the rain frogs or a dink frog)
See my galleries of Costa Rica Frogs with more than 40 species, though the “unidentified” sub-gallery is the largest. 🙂 I got a new CR Amphibians field guide, but they are still difficult for me to identify. 🙂 But still, I’m proud of my large set of frog photos, especially several great shots of the Red-eyed Tree Frog over the years! He is one of several unofficial symbols or mascots of Costa Rica like the below shot at Danta Corcovado Lodge. 🙂
These fit with the larger ones already shared and though there are more that I saw and even tried to photograph, these are all I will try to share of the birds. Some other wildlife next! 🙂
Turkey Vulture, Tortuguero NP, Limón, Costa RicaGreat Green Macaw, Tortuguero NP, Limón, Costa RicaMontezuma Oropendola, Tortuguero NP, Limón, Costa RicaGreat Kiskadee, Tortuguero NP, Limón, Costa Rica
In case you thought there are only water birds at Tortuguero (Wetlands) National Park, remember the three species of toucans I’ve already posted and here are 5 species of small land birds I managed to catch, mostly at the lodge, and tomorrow I will share 4 more larger land birds including the endangered Green Macaw to finish out the 33 species of birds I photographed at Tortuguero, a really good birding spot! And there are several birds I photographed on other trips there that I did not get this time, plus much other wildlife like the River Otter on two other trips but not this time. Next to Corcovado NP, Tortuguero may have the highest concentration of wildlife of any other national park in Costa Rica (except maybe that inaccessible park that straddles the Panama border) with no public roads into it. You just have to work at getting photos of mostly elusive wildlife! A few lucky people have even seen a Jaguar there! 🙂
Not good quality photos, but they show what you can see at Tortuguero and then tomorrow I will have some more small “land birds” to share. But here are my efforts to catch these last 4 water birds . . .
Anhinga
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron
Neotropic Cormorant
Green Ibis
Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Tortuguero NP, Costa Rica
Three days ago, March 2, I published a blog post on the Snowy Egret, an all-white bird, and here are the other 2 all-white birds at Tortuguero: the Great Egret and the Cattle Egret.
You can tell the Snowy Egret and Great Egret apart by the opposite colors of their beaks and feet: Snowy has black beak and yellow feet, while Great has yellow beak and black feet. 🙂 The Cattle Egret is much smaller with shorter neck and beak and often with pale salmon coloring on head and chest. After this introductory photo, there is a 3-pix gallery for each of these two new all-white birds . . .
Great Egret, Tortuguero National Park, Limón, Costa Rica
