This is a stately-looking bird I think, maybe more so than the Great Kiskadee, though similar. See more images of him in my gallery: Boat-billed Flycatcher, Megarynchus pitangua.
¡Pura Vida!
Boat-billed Flycatcher
Hide ‘n Seek Toucan
A week or so ago I got some fairly good and close shots of a Keel-billed Toucan (my gallery link) in a Nance Tree, but this one Tuesday was maybe 40 meters uphill from me in one of K’s Trees was mostly behind leaves and limbs. But it is still fun to try and capture photos of any colorful toucan, whatever the situation! 🙂 The feature photo is the only shot where I got almost all of his full body and beak, while the other two shots show him hiding during the 3 to 4 minutes he was in the tree at around 4pm. 🙂
My Christmas Tree Adventure
Some of you may remember that back in 2017 I started a collection of handmade “Artisan Birds,” mainly from artists in Costa Rica, but a few from other Central American countries and ended up with 2 from countries outside Central America. The collection has not grown much since the first two years or so, but I finally I now have a better tree on which to display them.
And you can see all of my “Artisan Birds” collection with labels of where they are each from in my photo gallery: My Artisan Birds Tree
The first year (2017) was the best display tree, a dead tree branch with lots of branches and I never found another like that. Last year I finally bought an artificial green bush or shrub which I kept most of the year in my living room with or without the artisan birds, but never liked it and the artificial limbs were too weak and droopy and earlier this month it went to the garbage man. And I vowed to find a better one this year!
Well, last week I found this all white artificial small tree with little tiny lights and decided that was it! But again, the limbs were too weak and droopy to handle the small weight of my tiny ornaments! (See the BEFORE & AFTER pictures below.) Grrrrr! BUT, “where there’s a will there’s a way!” I figured out how they made it with a real little tree trunk and wires going up and out for limbs, “they” just used too thin or flimsy wires. I thought, “why couldn’t they have used stiffer (heavier) wires?” Then I realized that if I could tell them how they “should” have done it, I could just do it myself! And I did! 🙂
I went to the main hardware store here in Atenas (La Ferretería Vargas & Hijos) and bought some heavier or stiffer wire (12.5 m roll) for a fraction of what the 3 rolls of white electrical tape (cinta blanca) cost and two days later I have totally “rewired” my little Christmas tree with the new heavy wire held to the older thinner wires with lots of white electrical tape wrapped around every centimeter of every limb and the trunk! A LOT OF WORK! But, ta daa! I now have a new tree that is strong enough to hold the artisan birds! 🙂 Here are two pairs of “Before & After” photos to show you what I accomplished . . .
Continue reading “My Christmas Tree Adventure”Rufous-backed Wren
Still one of the most common birds in my garden is the Rufous-backed Wren, Campylorhynchus capistratus (my gallery link). These two shots were made in September in my garden . . .
¡Pura Vida!
3 Year Old’s Birthday Party
This past Saturday I had the privilege of being invited as the only non-family member to my driver & friend’s daughter’s birthday party along with both sets of her grandparents, aunts, uncles & lots of cousins! I did not take my camera, but made a few rough shots with my cellphone. Below are just 3 shots with many more in my online GALLERY: Montserrat-3-Años-Feliz-de-Cumpleaños. All of the cousins and family reminded me of my childhood with many get-togethers with cousins & all.
All but two of the teenager cousins conveniently had to leave after lunch 🙂 thus none of them in the photos. And one of my blurry photos I used as the feature photo calling it my “Art Photo.” 🙂 Translation: Piñata Pandemonium, but guess that is obvious! 🙂
Variegated Squirrel
This is the species that lives in my garden and is the most common squirrel in Costa Rica (with 7 subspecies) and I see them in most places I visit here, including different colors. In my gallery you can see my photos of 3 other species as well as this most common one, each species in their own gallery 🙂 . . .
- Alfaro’s or Central American Pygmy Squirrel (just 1 photo from Curi-Cancha Reserve, Monteverde)
- Deppe’s Squirrel (3 photos, also at Curi-Cancha Reserve, Monteverde, my favorite reserve in Monteverde, where I also get the most species of birds in Monteverde!) 🙂
- Red-tailed Squirrel (the 2nd most numerous for me with a dozen photos from 7 different locations across Costa Rica on both slopes, though considered “non-native”.)
- Variegated Squirrel, (49 photos from 12 locations across Costa Rica, including both slopes and more than one subspecies or color-combinations.)
- The only two of these that are “native” to Costa Rica are Deppe’s and the Variegated. The other 2 are “introduced” or “migrants,” kind of like me! 🙂
Just this one photo here. Go to gallery for more.
¡Pura Vida!
Green Heron – All Weather Bird + Trump Stops Mail Service from Costa Rica
This water bird is familiar to most people in North America as he is found in all of the contiguous states and in southern Canada south through Central America and the Caribbean Islands and in the northern tier of South American countries, always on or near water. But I do see more of them down here than I did in Nashville! 🙂 You can see my collection of photos made here in Costa Rica at Green Heron Gallery (linked).
¡Pura Vida!
Trump Stops Mail from Costa Rica
The Costa Rica Post Office (Correos de Costa Rica) informed me earlier that they could no longer accept mail addressed to anywhere in the USA because of the unpredictable tariffs on all mail, including letters, with no way to charge us. Some other shipping services have also stopped sending to the U.S. like Aeropost & ARCR, though I can still receive packages from the States through Aeropost. The local Correos is now suggesting that you use the more expensive EMS, DHL, UPS or FedEx. Every day brings another reason that I’m glad I live here and not there! 🙂 The United States is being destroyed quicker than I thought they could. Below is copied from an email I received yesterday from ARCR . . .
Mail Service to USA and Canada has been Discontinued  According to a September 2, 2025, article in La Nacion, due to the duties that the Trump administration has imposed on imports from Costa Rica, los Correos has temporarily stopped accepting mail and packages addressed to anywhere in the United States or Canada. This includes letter mail. It has been reported that Aeropost is following suit. The status of other mail forwarding services is unknown at this time. Check with your mail forwarding service provider. |
When are Americans going to wise up and get rid of the worthless Republicans running (ruining) the United States?
A Tropical Waters Icon
The Anhinga, sometimes called “Snake Bird” because when swimming with his long neck out of the water he/she looks like a snake swimming. This bird is found in all of the tropical Americas on the water where it dives into the water to catch a fish and then afterwards sun-dries itself on a tree as in these two photos, one a male (all black) and one a female (with brown neck). See more of my photos from Costa Rica in the Anhinga Gallery (linked) with most seen on rivers, though also on lakes.
And yes, this makes three days that I have reverted back to my Tortuguero trip for photos. That is because I’ve had some “lean” days in my garden recently (doing posts a week or more ahead now) and I always have more that can be shared from places like Tortuguero! 🙂 Every national park and wildlife reserve here is a rich source of nature photos!
¡Pura Vida!
Tamandua Anteater
One of the many interesting things seen on my Jaguar Trail hike (Tortuguero) was a Northern Tamandua, a type of anteater. He was high in the many dark shady trees and thus very difficult to photograph, but here are 3 photographs that give you an idea of this larger than monkeys but smaller than an adult man, looking like he is wearing black coveralls or vest or suspenders! 🙂 You can see the few other photos I’ve made in other parts of Costa Rica of this interesting mammal in my gallery: Anteater, Northern Tamandua, Tamandua mexicana. This one lives throughout Central America from Southern Mexico to the northern edges of the Andes, though there is also another, larger, species of anteater in South America called “Giant Anteater.” Here’s 3 photos made on one of my hikes in Tortuguero National Park a week or so ago . . .
August Flowers Gallery
You email readers be sure to CLICK “READ MORE” to see the gallery of 10 flowers (not all) I photographed in August . . .
There were fewer than usual with both less sun and less rain this year.
Continue reading “August Flowers Gallery”