Well, we’re in serious trouble photo-wise, and I have about five days’ worth of photos left, including Robert Lang’s final three installments of his trip to Antarctica. If you want this feature to continue, please send in your photos.
Today ecologist Susan Harrison of UC Davis returns with photos of Costa Rican birds. Her captions are indented and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.
Costa Rica: Mostly Big Colorful Birds
On a recent trip to the Sylvan field station in lovely and unspoiled southwestern Costa Rica, featured in my last RWP post, I also passed through the small coastal towns of Golfito and Puerto Jimenez and visited the fabled Corcovado National Park. Today’s post shows more birds seen on these travels — the first three of which have in common that they are large and colorful and nest in tree holes.
Scarlet Macaws (Ara macao) greeted us with noisy screams in Puerto Jimenez. A half-dozen of them were moving through the Almendra del Mar (Sea Almond, Terminalia catappa) trees and devouring the large oily seeds. My impression was that these were bickering couples, but I’m no macaw psychologist. What’s clear is that Costa Rica has done a magnificent job of protecting these once-endangered birds from the illegal pet trade. We saw many Scarlet Macaws in Golfito as well, zipping in and out of nests in hollow dead palm trees. We never saw any macaws deep in the forest.
Red-lored Amazons, or Red-lored Parrots (Amazona autumnalis), almost as large as crows, were another common sight and sound in the towns, and also in farmlands and flying high above the forests. Like the macaws, they have suffered from the pet trade but are doing well here at present.
Yellow-throated Toucans (Ramphastos ambiguus) were frequently seen in both town and forest settings. What I believe these photos show is a female toucan feeding her young, calling to her mate who calls back, obtaining food from her mate, and returning to their nest.
The rest of these birds are either big, OR colorful, OR treehole-nesting….
Crested Guan (Penelope purpurascens):
Baird’s Trogon (Trogon bairdii), a rare species:
Northern Black-throated Trogon (Trogon tenellus):
Golden-hooded Tanager (Stilpnia larvata):
Golden-naped Woodpeckers (Melanerpes chrysauchen):
I can feel the fresh air and hear the forest echoes in these
(Yep – I need to get out more!)
Beautiful; and fantastic that these creatures are being protected in Corcovado National Park.
A great set! Thank you for sharing.
Great pix, thanks!
Inspiring photos! I need to see some of those birds in situ. If time and money allow …