I’m showing birds photographed at the hotel the first day and a half since tomorrow I do Carara National Park Birds and want to separate them. There will be more from hotel, like water birds at beach which I’ve not done yet. But this gives you an idea of some of the birds you can see here. Click image to enlarge or start a manual slideshow:
Punta Leona is huge and having a car here would be helpful, though they do have shuttle vans when available, but as always, the walking is good for me! 🙂 And I’m exhausted from walking several hours today!
Sidewalk leading from Reception Lobby
They are strict about the 3PM check-in time meaning they held my luggage from my 11AM arrival until 3 at the front desk while I explored, photographing birds and butterflies in their above-average butterfly garden, finding the Scarlet Macaws and their nest boxes that are all very, very high in very, very tall old trees.
I walked to the closest beach, Mantas Beach and may wait for the shuttle to see Playa Blanca. In the midst of what must have been a gorgeous old-growth forest they have placed buildings of all kinds while saving a lot more big old trees than most developers, but it is still a development with houses, condos, hotels, cabins, restaurants, etc.
Groove-billed Ani
Except for the Scarlet Macaws, all the birds I saw today are pretty common all over Costa Rica. I’m doing the 6AM birding hike on property in the morning (Wed) and Thursday morning I’m going with a guide to Carara National Park. The transportation to Tarcoles River is pretty expensive, so I decided to pass on that, since I’ve been there about 8 or 9 times! The rest of the week I’ll just explore their huge property. And oh yeah, I have to wear one of those plastic bracelets while on the property, 🙂
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
Juvenile Basilisk
Baby Basilisk
Black Spiny-tailed Iguana
A river is more than an amenity, it is a treasure.
I asked the gardeners to “take a little off the top” of my remaining Yellow Bell Tree up front that this winter’s (yes, rainy season is called winter here) rain had caused to shoot up rapidly and high, blocking my scenic view. And typically Tico, one of the young men scurried up the tree with his machete and whacked away! I would not have left that bare branch, but it will soon have new branches and leaves. And my view is opened up again. I love my gardeners!
Click image to enlarge.
See more vistas in my VISTAS Photo Gallery from all over Costa Rica.
This is a rarer find today! This butterfly only exists from Mexico south as far as Costa Rica and is more common in Mexico and Guatemala. Read about the pink-spotted cattleheart, Parides photinus on Wikipedia or Google for other sites and articles.
The National Bird of Costa Rica is known for singing in the rainy season in April and May, thus his honored position in Costa Rica, yet a simple bird. Seen here in my back garden, hiding behind a limb he thinks.
The Gulf Fritillary Butterfly is found in the states touching the Gulf of Mexico, especially Florida and South Texas, all the way south through Central America and the northern edges of South America. They love to feed on my Lantana (Porterweed) plants shown in these photos in my garden and also love the Passionflower when available (I have none), thus its secondary name of Passion Butterfly.
The above average rain this year has helped my flowers which seems to bring more butterflies and maybe more varieties. June and July are the peak months for butterflies here, meaning they may decrease in number soon. I include two photos to show the difference in the bright orange top of wings and the underside with silver/white spots. Beautiful!
Gulf Fritillary or Passion Butterfly
What the caterpillar calls the end of the world the master calls a butterfly. ~Richard Bach
See also my Photo Gallery Butterflies and Mothswith more than 70 species photographed here in Costa Rica.
I also have a little 7X7 inch photo book titled My First 50 Butterflies in Costa Rica. You can preview all pages electronically for free at this link. Best viewed full screen for bigger photos.
Report on Tonight’s Surgery will come in tomorrow’s post, Tuesday.
One of the regular blogs I read is Christopher Howard’s Live in Costa Rica (he also does the best relocation tour) and his latest blog post quoted International Living Magazine on Costa Rica being one of the best places in the world to retire on less than $30,000 a year.Read his post or go to the online version of International Living and maybe find it there. And bear in mind that it is still true even with Costa Rica having the highest cost of living in Central America, but right now I don’t think you want to retire in any of the other Central American countries! (Panama being a sometimes exception.) I chose to retire in luxury in Costa Rica over sliding into retirement poverty in the U.S.
Today’s photo is of a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, the most common in my garden and possibly all over Costa Rica or at least in many of the places I have visited. They are aggressive and chase other species of Hummingbirds away from feeders and even “their” garden sometimes. Thus I have mixed feelings about them! 🙂 ¡Pura Vida!
