Page 10 of 13

Posted on

Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias)

The Great Blue Heron is one of the largest birds that occur naturally in Costa Rica. They can be found in watery environments like rivers and ponds, even artificial ones like the one in Concasa, which has been visited by a juvenile bird almost every morning from January 2018 to March of the same year. The name is misleading though, as the blue is color is rather dull on this bird. The juvenile is mostly grayish, with a darker cap, yellow eye and lower mandible, and black upper mandible. The adult shows a light dull blue on the back and wings, with brownish neck and white cheeks, maintaining the dark cap and yellow eye, but the upper mandible changes to yellow. They stalk prey from the edge of water ponds and lakes, and launch a forceful attack as fish pass by, able to snatch fish of considerable size and swallow them in one go.

Posted on

Golden-hooded Tanager (Tangara larvata)

The Golden-hooded Tanager, known as “Seven Colors” (direct translation from Spanish) in Costa Rica, is indeed a colorful bird, in my opinion one of the prettiest. In direct sunlight, the contrast of the deep black with the different shades of blue, white underparts and golden hood just looks amazing, like a very saturated painting, but it is real. They are small birds, similar in size to the Honeycreepers, and belong to the Tanager family. Juvenile birds lack the golden hood, but are just as colorful as the adults. Golden-hooded Tanagers do come to fruit feeders, but they prefer to stay on seed-bearing plants.

Golden-hooded Tanager
Posted on

Social Flycatcher (Myiozetetes similis)

The Social Flycatcher is part of the family of “Pecho Amarillo” birds, as are locally known in Costa Rica. It is pretty difficult to identify since the birds all look alike, but they can be identified relying on size, song and head markings. My parents say that this species should be called “Shakira”, an onomatopoeic interpretation of their sound. They are almost identical in size and shape to the Gray-capped Flycatcher, however their song is very different, and the Gray-capped not just has the different head color, it also shows erect feathers which the Social does not.

Social Flycatcher
Posted on

Black-and-white Owl (Ciccaba nigrolineata)

The Black-and-white Owl is very big, and usually perches high up in the trees. The face of the owl is black, with an orange beak and large black eyes, which enable the bird to hunt effectively during the night. From the throat to the vent, it shows fine barring in black and white, hence the name. We usually hear its call at my parent’s home during the evening, however this was the first time I saw it resting inside a bamboo forest during the day. I was riding my bicycle when I saw a dark blob in the bamboo, which at first I thought it was a vulture. Luckily I was carrying my camera on the backpack and when I came closer to inspect, I saw the owl.

Black-and-white Owl
Posted on

Fulvous Whistling-Duck (Dendrocygna bicolor)

The Fulvous Whistling-Duck is a pretty duck, very similar in shape to the Black-bellied Whistling-Duck, to the point that it can be confused with a Juvenile of the Black-bellied. I was lucky because three individuals came to swim on the lake by Concasa, so I spotted them when I returned home in the afternoon. This was unexpected, because I already knew that they only inhabit the northwestern region of Costa Rica, and should be not be found in the Central Valley. I took out my camera and snapped lots of pictures, because I assumed the birds would leave next day. And so they did, in the days afterwards there was no sight of them. Since then, a single individual has returned a few times joining a flock of Black-bellied, which seems pretty unusual. I have seen the Black-bellied pecking at this Fulvous, seemingly trying to drive it away, but it stays with the flock.

Fulvous Whistling-Duck
Posted on

Sooty Thrush (Turdus nigrescens)

The Sooty Thrush is a bird similar to the Clay-colored Thrush, the national bird of Costa Rica, but with black plumage. The bill and feet are a striking bright orange, with a light blue iris featuring an orange eye ring. It can be found in the highest mountains in Costa Rica, either flying between trees, or hopping in the ground in typical thrush fashion. Its song is delivered in intervals and has a metallic, harsh quality. In Colombia, there are two species very similar to the Sooty Thrush, one called the Great Thrush and another one called the Glossy-black Thrush, however both have dark irises and yellow eye rings, and look plumpier than the Sooty.

Sooty Thrush
Posted on

Bat Falcon (Falco rufigularis)

The Bat Falcon is colorful, combining orange underpants, white neck, and blue/grayish head and wings. In juveniles, the throat is buffy instead of white. Like its names implies, it mostly hunts bats, which forces them to be crepuscular in nature; it can also be seeing hunting small tanagers and swallows. As many other Bird of Prey, the female is a lot bigger than the male. It is among the smallest bird of prey in the world. It likes to perch in exposed branches in open spaces like in the picture below.

Bat Falcon
Posted on

Bananaquit (Coereba flaveola)

A small bird that’s placed in the tanager family, the Bananaquit has a thin, down curved bill that helps it drink nectar from flowers and feeders, thus becoming a pollinator. It has a yellow belly and chest with dark gray upperparts, which suggests a flycatcher, but unlike that family, this bird’s diet is not concentrated on insects. It can’t hover like a hummingbird, so it is limited to extracting nectar from flowers where there is a perch available to support its weight. This small bird has a down-curved bill, which helps to drink nectar from flowers in rather hummingbird-like fashion, without the hovering of course.

Bananaquit
Posted on

Black-crested Coquette (Lophornis helenae)

This coquette is a really small hummingbird, a little bit bigger than the Scintillant Hummingbird. When in the air, it resembles more a bee than a hummingbird, as it moves pretty smoothly. Most of the hummingbirds we normally see will move on short bursts of speed, and will constantly change from flower to flower, whereas this one had more predictable and swift movements. I have seen them in La Fortuna de San Carlos, and more surprisingly for me at my parent´s home in Rio Frio, right by the Porter Weed plantation that we created.

Black-crested Coquette