January, 2018

I believe that this bird is a Willet, a common wading bird in Costa Rica and the surrounding region. It kept a wary eye on me while I was taking pictures of it, but opted to walk (and occasionally, run), to keep a good distance from me instead of flying away. This gave me the opportunity to take plenty of pictures of it.

Willet at Tambor Beach in Costa Rica #1

Willet at Tambor Beach in Costa Rica #2

Willet at Tambor Beach in Costa Rica #3

Willet at Tambor Beach in Costa Rica #4

Willet at Tambor Beach in Costa Rica #5

Willet at Tambor Beach in Costa Rica #6

Willet at Tambor Beach in Costa Rica #7

These brown pelicans put on a good show for us down at Tambor Beach. Another case where having a good, fast telephoto lens came in handy.

Brown Pelican #1

Brown Pelican #2

Brown Pelican #3

Brown Pelican #4

Brown Pelican #5

While I saw other hummingbirds in Costa Rica, only this one stayed still long enough to let me take a picture.

Rufous-tailed Hummingbird

These little (and not-so-little) guys are plentiful here in Costa Rica. Was kind of thrilled to shoot pics of a lizard with “saur” in its name. 😉

Juvenal Black Ctenosaur

One of the local attractions in Montezuma is the Mariposario Montezuma, which features an enclosed butterfly garden. Lots of the famous Blue Morpho butterflies–a symbol of Costa Rica–continually flitted about, but I could never get one to sit still long enough for me to take the type of picture I was hoping for. Still, I came away with some nice shots of some of the other butterflies that were plentiful there. For most of these shots I used my camera’s built-in flash, even though it was daylight, as I found that the flash brought out more of the butterflies’ colour.

Malachite Butterfly

Hamadryas amphinome

Banded Peacock Butterfly

Tiger Longwing

We also stayed for lunch, and I can honestly say that their beer was definitely worthwhile.

A female Red-crowned Woodpecker finally seen this morning (definitely heard it long before now!) in the villa grounds at Zumaloft, near Montezuma, Costa Rica.

Female Red-crowned Woodpecker

Damn these are photogenic birds. Glad we have a papaya plant on the Zumaloft grounds whose fruits are ripe and that they clearly love. There is a pair of these birds that come by for chunks of papaya at least twice every day. And check out that crazy tongue in the last shot!

Fiery-billed Aracari in Costa Rica Jan 2 2018 #1

Fiery-billed Aracari in Costa Rica Jan 2 2018 #6

Fiery-billed Aracari in Costa Rica Jan 2 2018 #5

Fiery-billed Aracari in Costa Rica Jan 2 2018 #4

Fiery-billed Aracari in Costa Rica Jan 2 2018 #3

Fiery-billed Aracari in Costa Rica Jan 2 2018 #2

This Great-tailed Grackle comes by regularly in the mornings at Zumaloft to sip some of the pool water (which is not chlorinated, but uses some sort of mild salts). This picture brings out some of the underlying colour in the feathers of what is otherwise seen as a “black” bird.

Great-tailed Grackle Drinking Water by the Pool

Easily one of the most spectacular birds I photographed while in Costa Rica, this Turquoise-browed Motmot casually let me take a number of pictures of him while he sat and scooped up some berries while sitting on a fence on the Zumaloft grounds.

Turquoise-browed Motmot #1

Turquoise-browed Motmot #2

Turquoise-browed Motmot #3

Turquoise-browed Motmot #4