Category: Travel

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Introducing A New Bird Book!

CLICK this front cover image to see a free preview of all pages!

To celebrate what will be 10 years of living in Costa Rica come December, I decided to publish a coffee table book of my favorite bird photos that turned out to be a lot! 174 photos! Each includes both the English and Spanish common names of that bird plus the location where I photographed it. Whether a birder or a lover of “Nature As Art,” I think you will like this 86 page photo book printed on premium matte paper. It might even become a collector’s item some day! 🙂 It will definitely become the book that I gift to the birding lodges I visit over the next year or two! 🙂

You can see a free electronic preview of all 86 pages by clicking the above image of the book cover or go to this web address: https://www.blurb.com/b/11961281-costa-rica-birds

BACK COVER of the book.

¡Pura Vida!

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My Most Memorable Semana Santa

Semana Santa is Spanish for “Holy Week” or “Easter Week” if you prefer and my most memorable and colorful one since moving to Costa Rica was 8 years ago (2016, my 2nd year here) while on a birding tour of Nicaragua and during Semana Santa I was for 3 days in the historical colonial town of Grenada where from my old hotel across from the oldest church I could watch the nightly processionals that along with architecture and the later 87 species of birds photographed made it my most colorful and memorable Easter Week here! (Linked to my photo gallery of that week.)

Easter Week Pageantry, 2016, Granada, Nicaragua
Sunset over Granada, Nicaragua 2016.

He is Risen!

¡Pura Vida!

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The “Everywhere Iguanas”

Without a doubt, the most frequently seen wildlife at Hotel Villa Lapas in Tarcoles was the Black Spiny-tailed Iguana, Ctenosaura similis (Wikipedia link) that lives only on the Pacific Slopes of Costa Rica (for reasons I know not), while the Green Iguana can be seen on both slopes, but more so on the Caribbean slope. Just two photos here, but I already have the Iguana Gallery for Villa Lapas ready where you can see more or even more in my CR Black Spiny-tail Iguana Gallery.

Black Spiny-tailed Iguana, Hotel Villa Lapas, Tarcoles, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
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2 Bat Species in Carara Park

The Northern Ghost Bat, Diclidurus albus (Wikipedia Link) is an obvious identification because the only other white bat in Central America is the Honduran White Bat and it has obvious yellow ears & nose, leaving this as the only other white bat. I’ve seen it twice in my nearly 10 years in Costa Rica and both times in Carara National Park where I got this photo more than a week ago.

Northern Ghost Bat, Carara National Park, Tarcoles, Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Read on for the White-lined Bat . . .

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The “Cute” Rodent – Agouti!

This Central American Agouti, Dasyprocta punctata (Wikipedia Link) is indigenous to Central America and found from Southern Mexico through all the countries to the northern borders of South America with another species in the rest of South America, plus Mexico has a Black Agouti. This one was photographed in Carara National Park, Tarcoles. I have photographed several in many places as seen in my C.A. Agouti Gallery.

Central American Agouti, Carara National Park, Tarcoles, Puntarenas, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Golden-hooded Tanager

The last bird I will post about from the Villa Lapas & Carara Park trip is not a good photo but a cool bird! The Golden-hooded Tanager, Stilpnia larvata (eBird link) was this time photographed inside Carara Park and is one I’ve seen all over Costa Rica as noted in my Golden-hooded Tanager GALLERY where there are some much better photos than this one in the shadows.

Golden-hooded Tanager, Carara National Park, Tarcoles, Puntarenas, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Piratic Flycatcher

A pirate because he steals nests made by other birds, the Piratic Flycatcher, Legatus leucophaiuss (eBird link) is not new to me, but these were difficult to identify at first, even confusing one with the Streaked Flycatcher, but he was not large enough. I had several sightings of this bird during my 2 hours in Carara Park and I’m now reasonably certain of these identifications, even with poor light and shadow problems. I’ve seen this species in three other locations (Arenal, Xandari & Monteverde) as shown in my Piratic Flycatcher Gallery. Here’s three totally different photos of the same species . . .

Piratic Flycatcher, Carara National Park, Tarcoles, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
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Kingbird Catches Insect

In Carara National Park on my last morning in Tarcoles, I barely got photos (in poor light) of this Tropical Kingbird, Tyrannus melancholicus (eBird link) before and after he caught an insect for his breakfast. 🙂

Tropical Kingbird, Carara National Park, Tarcoles, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Tropical Kingbird, Carara National Park, Tarcoles, Puntarenas, Costa Rica

I have some much better photos in my Tropical Kingbird Gallery. 🙂

¡Pura Vida!

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The Hero Vulture!

Yes! He’s a hero! Nature’s sanitation engineer or garbage collector if you prefer, but all the species of vultures keep our natural world clean and more beautiful for people like me to explore! And I think they are “handsome” in their own special way! 🙂 These two photographed at Hotel Villa Lapas in Tarcoles are each a Black Vulture, Coragyps atratus (eBird link) and you can see more of my CR vulture photos in their 3 different species galleries:

And here’s just two photos from Villa Lapas, one on the ground and one flying above . . .

Black Vulture, Hotel Villa Lapas, Tarcoles, Puntarenas, Costa Rica
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