Category: Wildlife

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Magnificent Frigatebird

Our birding boat trip on Rio Tarcoles was both in freshwater and in the brackish tidal water near the mouth of the river and of course mangroves there. Mangroves are near the mouth of all rivers and where you see lots of seabirds and many use the mangroves to birth and raise their young, just like a lot of the sea fishes. So it is a rich in nature place to photograph nature. Today I’m sharing the biggest bird we saw, the Magnificent Frigatebird, Frigata magnificens (linked to eBird) and you can see my photos from 7 different sightings since coming to Costa Rica at my Magnificent Frigatebird GALLERY. Here’s four shots from this sighting . . .

Mature Male Frigatebird (red throat pouch), Tarcoles, Costa Rica
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Monkeys at Playa Mantas

I’m still working on my hundreds of photos of birds photographed on Rio Tarcoles Monday, so I will start with one of the last things we saw, a Troop of White-faced Capuchin Monkeys among the trees along Mantas Beach (Playa Mantas), which I first visited while staying at Hotel Punta Leona in March of 2019. The beach photo below was made then. 🙂 The hotel and resort development owns most of the land but the government says beaches cannot be private, so Walter took us to a little trail at the end of one street in the village of Punta Leona to get here, mainly for the monkeys and sloths. I did not get a sloth photo this time, but some of my Canadian friends did. To see more of these monkey photos, go to what will become a sub-gallery of this Trip Gallery: Playa Mantas Monkeys 2025 or if you want more, see my capuchins from all over CR in gallery: White-faced Capuchin Monkeys.

White-faced Capuchin Monkey, Playa Mantas, Punta Leona, Costa Rica
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Blue-vented Hummingbird

A new regular that’s seen about as much as the Rufous-tailed! See more photos in my GALLERY: Blue-vented Hummingbird.

Blue-vented Hummingbird, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Birding Today!

I’m out birding with friends from British Columbia, Canada today and expect to have a lot of photos to share over the next week or so. Stand by! Starting with blog in two days. 🙂

Our plan is to have breakfast in Orotina, which is not far from Tarcoles where we will check in at 8am for the birding river boat trip on the Tarcoles River. I usually get a lot of birds on that trip with my prefered “Jungle Crocodile Safari” boat. They generally do a lot better job finding birds than their several competitor boats who focus mostly on the crocodiles. 🙂

After two hours on the river we will go to the nearby coast and beaches of Punta Leona which is a private development and hotel, but the government requires all beaches to be public and Walter knows how to get in free. At these beaches he has seen sloths and monkeys in the past plus the usual seabirds. We will then eat lunch somewhere and travel the hour or so back to Atenas. That is the plan.

Hope you have a happy day too! 🙂

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Hanging on in Off-season

This Banded Peacock, Anartia fatima (my gallery link) is the most obvious butterfly to still be around during these months of fewer butterflies. Here in the Central Valley the best time for the most butterflies is May-October which is the bulk of the Rainy Season, which I cannot explain, because they do not usually come out when raining. But now, the wind is just as big a problem and it is more frequent than the rain is during rainy season. The irony is that this is the peak tourist season until May and thus tourist see very few butterflies except those captive in the butterfly gardens. 🙂

Banded Peacok, in my gardens, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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And the Runners Up are . . .

Yesterday’s blog post was my 12 favorite photos of 2024, allowing myself only 2 pix for each of 6 categories. The Birds Category was the most difficult to narrow down, choosing a Toucan and a pair of Green Ibis. Here are the other 9 bird photos that made my next-to-last cut, presented in a static gallery below this one photo for the email notice of the post . . .

Inca Dove, Atenas
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2024 Favorite Photos

As every year on New Year’s Eve, I am trying my best to narrow down my favorite photos to just 12 – pretty much impossible! 🙂 But I always do it anyway and never by the months. This year I created 6 categories of photos and chose 2 pix in each. As usual, the birds category was the most difficult to narrow down, so tomorrow I am publishing another post with the 9 runner ups in the bird category. 🙂

The Categories this year are: 1) Birds, 2) Butterflies, 3) Other Insects, 4) Other Wildlife, 5) Flowers, 6) Landscapes. And the ones labeled from “Atenas” are all from my garden except the vista from Casita del Café.

My twelve choices for 2024 will be below this one photo for the email version. They are a slideshow in the online version, so email recipients please click “Read More” below for 12 great photos! 🙂

Yellow-throated Toucan, Arenal Observatory Lodge & Trails, Costa Rica
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Xandari Gallery is Ready!

Christmas 2024 @ Xandari

Click this image of the first page or go directly to this web address: https://charliedoggett.smugmug.com/TRIPS/2024-December-24-26-Xandari-Resort-Tacacori-Alajuela

CLICK this image of first page to go to the gallery.

Yes, Xandari is expensive, but it is worth it for me as I think the photos tell. Enjoy my “Nature as Art” photos that are different each time I visit there.

¡Pura Vida!

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Seldom-seen Butterfly

This Yellow-patched Satyr or Starred Oxeo, Oxeoschistus tauropolis (my gallery link) is not one often reported on the scientific websites, and though I’ve seen it three times now, it was always in the same place! 🙂 This one on Christmas Day 2024, again at Xandari Resort which has always been one of my better butterfly locations.

Yellow-patched Satyr or Starred Oxeo, Oxeoschistus tauropolis, Xandari Resort, Tacacori, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Yellow-patched Satyr or Starred Oxeo, Oxeoschistus tauropolis, Xandari Resort, Tacacori, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Yellow-patched Satyr or Starred Oxeo, Oxeoschistus tauropolis, Xandari Resort, Tacacori, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Philadelphia Vireo – A Lifer!

Yes, on Christmas Eve, in the tree by my terrace at Xandari, I photographed another new species for me! This Philadelphia Vireo, Vireo philadelphicus (linked to eBird) was identified by the Merlin app from eBird and is probably a non-breeding immigrant from Canada who passed through Philadelphia on his/her way to Costa Rica. 🙂

Philadelphia Vireo, Xandari Resort, Tacacori, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Philadelphia Vireo, Xandari Resort, Tacacori, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Philadelphia Vireo, Xandari Resort, Tacacori, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Other Vireos, for you birders reading, that I’ve collected in Costa Rica linked to my photo galleries of each: