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Considering the luck that other large After exiting the forest and crossing the suspension bridge again we ran into a big mixed flock - don't you love a mid day mixed flock? Fantastic post with some really interesting and beautiful photos! It mostly occurs in middle elevation forests and appears to make elevational movements in search of fruiting or seeding trees. and you would be right...if you were thinking about Australia. Birding in Costa Rica requires Constant Vigilance.This Rufous-winged Woodpecker was hanging out near the reception area, devotedly pecking at the same spot and refusing to move. That’s probably a bad description of their vocalizations, but is what comes to mind!Sulphur-winged Parakeet: Like most members of this primarily South American genus, it has a small range and is the only parrot species restricted to the highlands of Costa Rica and Panama. They are always above me, so I can’t identify colors, but about half of them seem to have long-ish tails. At Black Rock Lodge you can walk right up to them, they just sit there along the trail like you are utterly nonthreatening and unimportant. You make me want to scream though, as I had a great trip to Costa Rica planned, birding, a visit to my daughter who lives there, and then on to Peru for last spring, but alas Covid struck and screwed the whole freeking world. They lack red in the plumage and have wings with darker, contrasting flight feathers than the Crimson-fronted.Orange-fronted Parakeet: This is the common, long-tailed parakeet species of dry forest. Birding in Costa Rica requires Constant Vigilance. So, once we arrived in our new home of Grecia and started getting used to the sounds and sights of different birds; I thought these noisy neighbors were Parrots.
I have written of sketchy birders.
I have written of stringers, assholes, liars, and the clueless. Its calls can sound similar to those of the Mealy Parrot but have a more ringing quality to them, like “clink clink” rather than the harsh squawking of the Mealy.Yellow-naped Parrot: About the same size as the Red-lored, trapping and habitat destruction have reduced its population although it is still regularly seen in a number of areas including Cerro Lodge, Santa Rosa and Guanacaste National Parks, and Palo Verde. I think “wild” might be the key word here because the parrots or macaws we saw in Niagara Falls, New York were either in the pet store or featured in television commercials. An exotic-but-not-exotic-looking frog.I do have a clue about this - this is a cane toad aka marine toad. Last evening there was quite the racket in a tree. We then were tortured by a mostly uncooperative mixed flock for too much time.A pair of Broad-billed Motmots allowed themselves to be seen well at least. Sick.Here is the courtyard with the Tree of Lifers. And no I don't mean that I've just never seen them in a parking lot before, I hadn't seen them anywhere. When perched, they are easy enough to identify but hard to see as they quietly forage in the canopy. So while bird blogging seems as insignificant as ever, it's also about time BB&B gets some of the attention it deserves, from me anyways.
You can read more about Plain Wren duets in the following paper: Mann NI, Marshall-Ball L, Slater PJB. Eventually this huge, seemed to be all green in color, sat on a tree top for a serious 20 minutes, quiet, looking around and as it eventually flew away squawking the whole time. Therefore, every time I see a parrot, parakeet, or macaw in Costa Rica, I feel a flurry of excitement and recurring revelation that vanquishes my childhood doubts about the existence of such amazing birds.Parrots in Costa Rica are as essential to the local landscape as Cecropia trees, Blue-gray Tanagers, and volcanoes and thank goodness because they add a bit of excitement to each day lived in this snow-free, tropical country. Other good birds we had here included Short-tailed Nighthawks, Blue-chested Hummingbird, Brown-hooded Parrot (lifer for me), Gray-chested Doves, and a massive Turkey Vulture migration one day. They are exotic and large and ridiculous and, when I look at this photo, I feel that being bitten by one would be highly regrettable.In 2012, Hotel Gavilan provided a pair of easily viewable Spectacled Owls. Pink feet. Since I don’t exactly get tired of observing any birds, perhaps what I really mean to say is that an inescapable twinge of excitement accompanies every screech and sighting that can be attributed to any of Costa Ricas 17 Psittacid species.Whether it’s the daily flyovers of Crimson-fronted Parakeets that screech from the skies above my house in the Central Valley, Scarlet Macaws that grumble from the canopy of the tall forests in Carara, or elusive Barred Parakeets that remind me of crossbills as they chirp and zip over the ridges of the high Talamancas, there’s always something special about seeing a wild Psittacid. The main threat to its future existence in Costa Rica is destruction of lowland rainforests and cutting of a tree that it very much depends upon, Mealy Parrot: This large parrot is commonly seen in forested sites of the humid lowlands (although I get the impression that its numbers have decreased since I first came to Costa Rica). Semiplumbeous Hawk didn't seem to care that we were all hanging out with it. The highlight of the first bridge was this Purple-crowned Fairy nest that a guide pointed out to us...wow, not a nest I ever expected to see in my life. My awesome kiwi friend, Chris Castles heads up the program to rehabitate government confiscated and injured psittacines but with an emphasis on Sea macaoThat was supposed to be: Ara macao (Scarlet macaw) and Ara amibigua (Great Green or Buffon’s macaw).