Posts Tagged ‘Costa Rica’

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

Turns out it is not just the Fiery-billed Aracaris that like the ripened papayas on the grounds of Zumaloft, but also other birds like this Blue-gray Tanager.

Blue-gray Tanager #1

Blue-gray Tanager #2

After watching last night’s New Year’s pyrotechnics at the Ylang Ylang Beach Resort, the family spent the day relaxing and recovering on the ground of Zumalofts. A pair of toucan-related Fiery-billed Aracaris returned again to the ripe papaya tree to gulp down large chunks of the fruit, and putting on a great show. A wonderfully photogenic bird.

Fiery-billed Aracari Jan 1 2018 #1

Fiery-billed Aracari Jan 1 2018 #2

Fiery-billed Aracari Jan 1 2018 #3

Fiery-billed Aracari Jan 1 2018 #4

Fiery-billed Aracari Jan 1 2018 #5

Even the “blackbirds” are fancy here in Costa Rica. 😉

Great-tailed Grackle on Tree Branch

This toucan-related bird visited the ground of Zumaloft today, eating some of the ripened papaya straight from a plant. A very photogenic bird.

Fiery-billed Aracari #1 – Dec 29 2017

Fiery-billed Aracari #2 – Dec 29 2017

Fiery-billed Aracari #3 – Dec 29 2017