Gray-capped Flycatcher Archives - Retired in Costa Rica

February 7, 2020

Gray & Yellow Mornings

Gray-crowned Yellowthroat

Both yesterday and today I went out around my house looking for birds about 6:20 to 6:40 AM, before breakfast. Both mornings I found birds with gray heads and yellow fronts! Yesterday (before going to Bosque Municipal) I got distant shots of the above Gray-crowned Yellowthroat (link is to Cornell’s “Neo-Tropical Birds”) seen in the cow pasture across the street from my house, my first of this species here, though I got better photos at Curi-Cancha Reserve, Monteverde last year, also in a meadow. Check ’em out!

IMG_0679-A-WEB — Gray-crowned Yellowthroat (different photo) in cow pasture in front of my house.

Gray-capped Flycatcher

A more common or more frequently seen-by-me-bird is this common flycatcher which has gray & yellow coloring like the above but is much larger. To learn more about him from Cornell’s “Neo-Tropical Birds,” click this name link, Gray-capped Flycatcher or go see my Gray-capped Flycatcher Photo Gallery (better photos than this). There are around 50 different species of birds here labeled some kind of “Flycatcher,” so a lot of variety! And yes, they do eat flies and other insects! 🙂

IMG_0853-A-WEB — Gray-capped Flycatcher, in my garden, Roca Verde, Atenas, Costa Rica

“Once upon a time, when women were birds, there was the simple understanding that to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk was to heal the world through joy. The birds still remember what we have forgotten, that the world is meant to be celebrated.”

― Terry Tempest Williams, When Women Were Birds

¡Pura Vida!

November 2, 2018

Tres Amigos

I took my camera out for a later breakfast today and though earlier is better, I did get shots of these three familiar friends. I include two of the dove because front view and back view is always different! Click image to see larger.

Tres amigos

Hope is the thing with feathers

‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –

And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –
And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm –

I’ve heard it in the chillest land –
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me.

~Emily Dickinson

¡Pura Vida!

January 8, 2017

Last 5 Birds from Sarapiquí

Buff-throated Saltator
Selva Verde Lodge Sarapiquí, Chilamate, Costa Rica
Also saw a black-headed saltator, but no decent photo.

Spotted Sandpiper
Selva Verde Lodge Sarapiquí, Chilamate, Costa Rica
As seen from my room balcony on Sarapiquí River
And I have never seen one with actual spots.

Northern Barred Woodcreeper
Selva Verde Lodge Sarapiquí, Chilamate, Costa Rica

Great Kiskadee
Selva Verde Lodge Sarapiquí, Chilamate, Costa Rica

Gray-capped Flycatcher
Along the Puerto Viejo River, Puerto Viejo de Sarapiquí, Costa Rica

See also my Photo Gallery of Costa Rica Birds

Well, that really is all the bird photos I will share from this great trip! But expect about 4 more posts of other wildlife photographed in the Sarapiquí area of Costa Rica.

Corcovado Beach at southern end of
Corcovado National Park, Costa Rica

Then a 4-month break before my next big adventure the first week of May to Corcovado National Park (largest Pacific Coast rainforest) and Drake Bay, staying at the AGUILA DE OSA, Rainforest & Marine Adventure Lodge. There is no end to adventure and nature photography in Costa Rica and I intend experience as much of it as possible! All my reservations are made including small plane air transportation down which is cheaper than a rent car. I could have done the bus but it is so much easier flying to the South Pacific! It is the wrong time of year for whale-watching, but my focus is birds right now. I’ll do whales another time.

Back in 2009 I visited the southern end of Osa Peninsula and Corcovado (above photo) on a birding trip to Luna Lodge and Lookout Inn, flying to Puerto Jimenez and a 2 hour dirt road drive to the edge of the park. This will be different at the other end or northern end and will include a visit to an island reserve out in the ocean. I can hardly wait!

May 2, 2015

More Balcony Birds

The balcony of my new house is providing a lot of birds, I just haven’t had time to sit still and wait on them for photos. Here’s 5 made in about a week, plus the hummingbird and toucan shown earlier. 7!

White-winged Dove
He ties with Yigüirro as the most heard birds. His is a coo-coo coo cooooooo

Yigüirro or Clay-colored Thrush
Day and night I hear him with his Tch, Tch, Tch, Tch or Toc, Toc, Toc, Toc
The National Bird of Costa Rica

Melodious Blackbird
My bird sounds app doesn’t have this one, but “melodious” must be happy!
The only all-black bird in Costa Rica with dark eye, shaking rainwater off here.

Gray-capped Flycatcher
He kind of squeaks in the morning among all the other bird sounds
then more of a chirp during the day

White-tipped Dove
His sound is not as noticed, a low-pitched uuuuuuu
His tail tip is white while above dove’s wing’s white

And if you’re wondering about the sounds, I got a new app for my phone, “The Bird Sounds of Costa Rica.” Cool! Maybe I will begin to recognize more of them now. For more information, check your app source (I got it from GooglePlays) or direct from the birdsounds website in the Netherlands: http://www.birdsounds.nl/ They have a bunch for all around the world.