Tag: Palo Verde National Park

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Rancho Humo: The Book

Check out the free electronic preview of all pages of my latest Costa Rica photo book at: http://www.blurb.com/b/9079446-rancho-humo  or click the book cover image below. Use “full screen mode” to best see these photo pages. I think my books & photos are getting a little better.  🙂

Front Cover of Book  –  click for preview
Back Cover of Book  –  click to see larger

 

Charlie Doggett – Retired in Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

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Last Morning Walk at Rancho

Thursday the 15th my driver drove back from Atenas to Rancho Humo and joined me for lunch before we drove back to Atenas. Before breakfast I caught the sunrise, el amanecer, then walked around the ranch one more time. Here are some of the photos I made on my last morning walk there as a slideshow.

Morning Walk 15 November 2018, Rancho Humo, Costa Rica

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Sunrise from my room, 15 November 2018

 

Hotel’s 2 Minute Video Says it All!

¡Pura Vida!

Another day of “Retired in Costa Rica” with Charlie Doggett!

Why would anyone retire anywhere else?   🙂

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Palo Verde National Park Visit

There is plenty to see and photograph on the 5,000+ acres of Rancho Humo, birds, other wildlife, and scenery! But across the river from the ranch is another wonderful and large Costa Rica park: Palo Verde National Park.

Costa Rica is blessed with many national parks and wildlife reserves, more than 25% of country’s total land!  This park is a combination of Tropical Dry Forest, the Tempisque River and its surrounding wetlands which bloom with wildlife.

 

Tomorrow (Wednesday) I float down the river for a different experience in the park. But here are 3 slideshows for what was seen on Tuesday on a 6 km hike and posting here on Wednesday. Will post boat trip later today or tomorrow.

Birds in Palo Verde National Park

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Other Wildlife in Palo Verde National Park

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Views Surrounding Us in Palo Verde National Park

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A Hat Full of Sky

“There’s always a story. It’s all stories, really. The sun coming up every day is a story. Everything’s got a story in it. Change the story, change the world.” 
― Terry Pratchett, A Hat Full of Sky

And today’s story begins as I wake up with that big sky sunrise at the foot of my bed in beautiful Rancho Humo, eat a Tico breakfast of scrambled eggs with beans and rice (Gallo Pinto) and begin a 6 km hike in Palo Verde Park after a 30 minute boat ride to the park entrance.  Tired, invigorated, hot and smiling. Today’s story will continue once I’ve sorted the photos   🙂    –another episode of “Retired in Costa Rica.”  ¡Pura Vida!

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New Friends on My Afternoon Walk

My 4 pm afternoon walk ended up being partly with a young couple from Germany who checked in the hotel today along with a separate American couple, so I no longer get all the attention of the staff!   🙂    This German couple are going with me on the hike into the national park tomorrow morning.

My other new friends were a group of Yellow-naped Parrots that live only in the Northwest of Costa Rica and thus my first time to see. They are also popular for pets and thus now endangered, so a really good photo find and a “Lifer” for me. Click the name link above for Cornell University’s Neotropical Birds article with map of the few places they still live in the wild and a recording of their sounds which I heard live today. This kind of wildness is going to disappear one of these days if humans don’t change their ways.

Yellow-naped Parrot, Rancho Humo Estancia, Guanacaste, Costa Rica
Yellow-naped Parrot, Rancho Humo Estancia, Guanacaste, Costa Rica

¡Pura Vida!

 

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Rancho Humo Birds

All of these birds were photographed on the Rancho Humo hotel property (100’s of acres of farmland) with some fields flooded by a tidal irrigation system from the Tempisque River. Many of the fields are shared with some of the 800 cows they have here along with wild deer, howler monkeys, and all the smaller wildlife like coatis and iguanas, etc. Tomorrow I go into the Palo Verde National Park which will probably give me some new birds along with some of these.       CLICK AN IMAGE TO SEE LARGER or to begin a slideshow with larger images than the automated slideshow.

 

Rancho Humo Estancia on Rio Tempisque

See how I “rough it” in luxury in Costa Rica:

¡Pura Vida!

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A Beautiful Day!

And So Many Birds the Photos Aren’t Ready!

I photographed so many birds today that I can’t get them all processed to show tonight, so they’ll come tomorrow.

Above was sunrise from my room and below where I road in a safari jeep on the hotel property photographing birds and at bottom the sunset today.  Lots of bird photos coming tomorrow!

The Wetlands around Rancho Humo Estancia, Costa Rica
Another fabulous end to another fabulous day – Rancho Humo!

 

 

¡Pura Vida!

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The Birds of Palo Verde Park

Groove-billed Ani

Tempisque River, Palo Verde National Park, Costa Rica

Crane Hawk

Tempisque River, Palo Verde National Park, Costa Rica
This is my first sighting of this bird. 

Black-crowned Night Heron

Tempisque River, Palo Verde National Park, Costa Rica

Bare-throated Tiger Heron

Tempisque River, Palo Verde National Park, Costa Rica

Crested Caracara Juvenile (or young adult)

Tempisque River, Palo Verde National Park, Costa Rica
This was a “first sighting” of this guy. It’s usually Yellow-headed Caracara.

Spotted Sandpiper

Tempisque River, Palo Verde National Park, Costa Rica
Little Blue Heron

Tempisque River, Palo Verde National Park, Costa Rica

Boat-billed Heron

Tempisque River, Palo Verde National Park, Costa Rica

Mangrove Swallow

Tempisque River, Palo Verde National Park, Costa Rica

My computer is working properly again! And I haven’t even taken it to the shop yet! Maybe it is the weather here it likes better!  🙂  So I was able to upload these photos! Of course I have many more and we did not see as many birds as might have been possible because it was windy the whole time we were on the river. (Birds don’t fly much when it is windy! They hide in the bushes!) We also saw some other animals which I will show tomorrow. Below is a photo of the kind of boat we floated on, though only the two of us plus our guide and boat captain.

There are several tour boat companies here like at Rio Tarcoles & Rio Frio.
Tomorrow I will show the above boat passengers acting like tourists.  🙂

Had it not been windy, we would have seen more smaller birds including hummingbirds, but weather is just part of life! Pura Vida!

See my photo gallery of BIRDS OF COSTA RICA

Or all my BIRDS OF CENTRAL AMERICA   for even more!

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Tempisque River Today

Little Blue Heron
Tempisque River, The Palo Verde National Park, Costa Rica

I’m having trouble with my computer shutting off every few minutes, so only one photo for now and more later from our boat trip on Rio Tempisque and a drive through Playa Hermosa and Playa Coco. I of course made lots of photos!  🙂  It was windy and thus not as many birds as we would normally have and I only got maybe one new or first time bird. But a good trip and I learned about some more Guanacaste beaches. Hope to get photos up soon!