Category: Photography

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Hecale Longwing

Hecale Longwing, Heliconius Hecale (my gallery link) is found from Mexico south to the Peruvian Amazon, including my garden in Costa Rica! 🙂 My gallery includes sightings in 8 different Costa Rica locations on both slopes. Here’s a side view and a top view recently in my garden:

Hecale Longwing, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Hecale Longwing, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

Toucan Sighting with No Photo!

Have I told you yet that a Keel-billed Toucan landed in my Cecropia Tree the other morning after breakfast? He was smaller than some, so probably immature or not quite an adult. And it was one of the few mornings that I did not take my camera with me to breakfast on the terrace! I slowly pulled the cell phone out of my pocket and turned it on just as he flew away! Oh well, that’s life! ¡Así es la vida! 🙂 And my camera has been with me for breakfast every day since! 🙂

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Lineated Woodpecker

I always like this one better than the more common here Hoffman’s or Black-cheeked Woodpeckers. And maybe that is because this one reminds me more of Woody Woodpecker. 🙂 And Woody is special in many ways, one being that he was born the same year as me, 1940. 🙂 But enough of that! The Lineated Woodpecker, Dryocopus lineatus (linked to my gallery), is a tropical forest bird found in both the lowlands and foothills (where I live) of Central & South America. In my gallery you can see that I’ve photographed him on both slopes of Costa Rica in many locations. Read about him on eBird.

Lineated Woodpecker, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Yigüirro or Clay-colored Thrush

The national bird of Costa Rica was thought by the indigenous people to sing in the rainy season at the end of the dry season, late April or May. It is the Clay-colored Thrush, Turdus grayi (my gallery link) and is found from South Texas throughout Central America and in Columbia. There are always Yigüirros in my garden. Read about on eBird.

Clay-colored Thrush, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Rufous-backed Wren

One of the most common birds in my garden is this Rufous-backed Wren, Campylorhynchus capistratus (my gallery link) and this one used to be called the Rufous-naped Wren, but just like with butterflies, “they” are always changing names of birds, making it hard to keep up with the latest names sometimes. Here’s a shot of one on my neighbor’s roof. And you can read about them on eBird. Found only from Southern Mexico south through Costa Rica.

Rufous-backed Wren, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Tropical Kingbird

I do still see birds in my garden even though the butterflies greatly outnumber them! 🙂 And of the four I am sharing these next four days, this is the least-seen of them: Tropical Kingbird, Tyrannus melancholicus (linked to my gallery) and as always, you can read more about them on eBird. They are seen throughout Central America and most of South America and are sometimes known as one of the “telephone wire birds: or “fence birds,” as they like open areas and catch flying insects, including my beloved butterflies. 🙂

Tropical Kingbird, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Red-headed Firetip

I’ve seen this one only one other time and just the top of wings then, which are a bright blue, while this folded wing view shows the underneath side of wings to be brown. He is the Red-headed Firetip, Pyrrhopyge zenodorus (linked to my gallery). Photographed yesterday across the street from where I live.

Red-headed Firetip, K’s Zinnia Garden, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica
Red-headed Firetip, K’s Zinnia Garden, Atenas, Alajuela, Costa Rica

And yeah, I know, the top of this one seems to be more brown than blue, so maybe one of nature’s exceptions. You can see a bright blue one in my gallery linked above. 🙂

¡Pura Vida!