Category: Uncategorized

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Maquenque The Book is Published

Maquenque Book
Click image to Preview free online.

Or go to the book in my Bookstore at:

http://www.blurb.com/b/9282399-maquenque-ecolodge

A New Favorite Lodge

I hesitate to rank or say there is only one favorite birding lodge, but this is in the top 3 or 4 best easily based on both the number of birds I photographed (53+) and the new birds I photographed for the first time or “lifers” of which there were these 7:

This is also one of the best or easiest places in Costa Rica (the whole world?) to get close photos of the King Vulture. My previous photos were made through a spotting scope, so I was thrilled to have Sergio pick me up at the lodge and take me to his blind on a nearby bluff where the King Vultures hangout and from his blind that he calls a “hide” I was about 20 to 30 feet from King Vultures.

Plus the lodge guides are excellent birding guides and found birds I would never have found on my own plus on the night hike I got a photo of the rare Red-webbed Tree Frog which is on the cover of my book. The DIY trails are excellent also for birding where I got several birds on my own.

The food is very good with excellent wait staff and by planning ahead nearly a year I got one of the 4 Tree Houses as my Treehouse Room for the week – an unbelievably unique experience which yielded all the Howler Monkey photos in my gallery (by climbing up 55 steps to my room). Or see my entire “Trip Gallery” 2019 Maquenque Ecolodge.

And check out the lodge website: Maquenque Ecolodge   a true experience in nature! I highly recommend it for all nature lovers and especially for birders! Just be aware that it is not near anything familiar, a 4-hour drive from my house in Atenas to a river on the Nicaragua border.

¡Pura Vida!

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The Penalty of Too Much Sun

And Mostly When a Child

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is what the Dermatologist says about the cause of skin cancer. But he also says if I continue to get too much sun it will make it worse, so my two wide-brim hats and 60 SPF Sunscreen, called El Protector Solar here or informally  protección de sol.  I dislike it but when I know I will be in the sun much, I use the sunscreen now and wear my big hat everytime I go out!

SKIN CANCER SURGERY ON MY FACE THIS TIME

The only other skin cancer removed was from my arm a month or two ago and it was comparatively easy with a lot more skin on the arm. Sorry if the photo below grosses you out, but I was really surprised at how much this facial growth had grown with this big of a scar or “more than 15 stitches” said the doctor, though I counted more like 20 or 21 in the photo. My eye is partially swollen and partially closed but it will get back to normal soon. I went back to the doctor the day after surgery (Wed) and he changed the bandage which I will permanently remove Thursday. Air helps healing. And he prescribed a cream I put on it twice a day for at least two weeks when I see him again for a checkup, after my next photography trip of course!   🙂   I have to keep my priorities straight you know!

MOHS SURGERY

It was Mohs surgery Tuesday which the link describes or basically it is a pathologist there with the surgeon doing biopsies on every bit removed until there is no sign of cancer. With this he is now more certain he got all the cancer and didn’t remove too much “good skin” which is more limited on the face. He was prepared to graft a piece of skin from my cheek if necessary, but thankfully it was not. And in two weeks or so I will be back to normal with a noticeable scar on my face. No problem! Just call me “Scarface.”   🙂

That’s Life!     –    ¡Así es la vida!

¡Pura Vida!

 

And tomorrow I will go back to sharing more from my great trip to Maquenque Eco Lodge!    (Link is to the Gallery)

And oh yeah, that sunset photo above is one I made at Arenal Volcano National Park. After all, this article is mostly about the sun!   🙂

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Maquenque Smaller Water Birds

Water birds are impressive and numerous all over Costa Rica with most of these found in all lowland waters on both the Pacific and Caribbean sides. I never tire of river trips or wetland visits because the surroundings are always changing and even though I see some of the same birds every time, they are never the same! At Maquenque I had both a river trip and lived for 5 days on lagoons that attract the same birds in these wetlands (el humedal en español) of the Caribbean Slopes of northern Costa Rica. A birding paradise!

Click Image to Enlarge

¡Pura Vida!

You may also enjoy my Costa Rica Birds Gallery 

and my 2019 Maquenque Lodge Trip Gallery

See the lodge website:  Maquenque Ecolodge

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Maquenque Wildlife

Here are some shots of non-bird wildlife I haven’t already shown on the blog other than the monkeys and frogs that got their own blog posts earlier. A real rainforest like this is full of wildlife of all kinds and the photo ops are numerous and I’ve seen more than shown here.

 

The photos of my main target, birds, is almost overwhelming as I now have gotten photos here at Maquenque of over 50 different species and with new lifers my total Costa Rica collection is close to 300 species now, though not tabulated yet. I am still sorting and labeling photos and may be for days,  🙂    but will soon have a blog post and an online gallery of Birds at Maquenque. That will include 2 manikins, 2 trogons, plus a Little Tinamou and a Water Thrush as lifers plus more new ones for me!

¡Pura Vida!

You may also enjoy my Other Wildlife Gallery

and my 2019 Maquenque Lodge Trip Gallery 

See the lodge website:  Maquenque Ecolodge

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Church Group Cancels & I Add Monteverde!

Anytime you are dealing with groups of people there are complications and changes and this happened with the First Baptist Nashville group that were coming back to Atenas to work again in the Hogar de Vida Children’s Home this April. Pam told me yesterday that it did not work out, so instead of a week with them I now have scheduled a week in the Quaker town of Monteverde in April and already scheduling guided birding hikes while there.   🙂

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Rare Three-wattled Bellbird I photographed at Selvatura Monteverde in 2016

I limit myself to one birding trip a month and somehow for 2 years now I have not been able to get back to Monteverde where I had only 2.5 days back in 2016 on a Birding Club Trip that I added an extra night to but still did not have enough time for all the reserves and other places for nature. I’ll stay 6 nights this time with my first priorities guided birding hikes in three reserves: Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve (or Official Site in English), Santa Elena Reserve (or Official Site in Spanish), and Curi-Cancha Reserve. That’s three days! Then a really good commercial nature reserve there called Selvatura that has the longest canopy hanging-bridges in the country plus a fabulous butterfly garden & hummingbird garden and more! That will be another full day, to which I will then add shorter trips like one of the best night hikes in the country, the excellent Monteverde Butterfly Garden, not to mention the trails and gardens at the Monteverde Lodge & Gardens where I will be staying. A full and fulfilling week!   🙂   So Nashville guys, I will miss you, but not be bored!   🙂

And I change my 2019 Trips Map with #4 (April) moved from Atenas to Monteverde.

Click to enlarge

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=10&v=ClJTt-GqlBw

 

¡Pura Vida!

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Flower Garden at Night

I’m not often in my garden or even out of my house at night, but with late watering tonight I saw how different it looks and tried to photograph it, though a photo can’t capture the magic of night in a garden. The blue flowers are Plumbago.

 

“A garden to walk in and immensity to dream in–what more could he ask? A few flowers at his feet and above him the stars.”
― Victor Hugo, Les Misérables

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Damas Island Estuary, Quepos

This morning I got to go on a boat trip through the mangroves and thus saw lots of birds! Though mostly water birds, I did get one new species there that is not a water bird, it is the Common Pauraque (a type of Nightjar bird) which is pictured above. Here’s all the ones I got photos of:

BIRDS at Damas Island Estuary

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River Scenes

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Lizards

 

A river is more than an amenity, it is a treasure.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

See this TRIP GALLERY   2018 December Si Como No.

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Birds at Hotel & Park

That’s a Fiery-billed Aracari in above feature photo which is the rarest bird yet for me here, shot from the deck of my room. I’m doing this as a separate birds post from what I will see tomorrow on:

Damas Island Estuary Boat Trip

Discover the complex estuary system of Damas Island. From your covered boat, you’ll wind you way through coastal mangroves for up-close looks at the abundant wildlife, including a variety of sea birds and tropical birds, reptiles, and monkeys.  ~from the hotel website Tours descriptions

Note, that even with their own “Wildlife Refuge” at this hotel, I have seen fewer birds here than most of the lodges I visit and in this national park the only bird photo I got was of the stationary Hermit Hummingbird nest. I did see a Kingfisher and Woodrail on the hotel night hike but no photos. I expect my most bird photos tomorrow in the mangroves.

Si Como No Birds:

 

Birds are a miracle because they prove to us there is a finer, simpler state of being which we may strive to attain. 

~Douglas Coupland

I have started my TRIP Gallery for this 2018 December Si Como No trip.