Sunday, March 17, 2013

Arenal feeders

We headed for the main lodge for breakfast, and the main lodge meant feeders of course.  A Great Curassow was stalking about looking for bits that the coatis (overgrown tropical raccoons) had missed.  We'd had glimpses of some curassows distantly going to roost in some treetops at La Selva so it was nice to substantially improve our views.

Blue-gray Tanagers were the most common tanager trying to find some remnants of fruit.
A few Palm Tanagers (below) filtered through as did some Passarini's though the Passarini's again defied my hopes for one to perch up at close range.

Montezuma Oropendolos gathered the most attention from the observers on the deck.  They monopolized a high feeder with a few strips of melon husk remaining.  The crow-sized males frequently gave their bizarre courtship displays where they warble like a cross between a House Finch and a Turkey as they lunge forward off their perch with half-arc-ed wings without actually letting go.
I took some video but most of it is really jumpy for some reason; I think the camera fell behind as it was recording and then skips back ahead to catch back up.  I haven't figured out how to edit it very well either.

Here's the coati's hoovering up every last morsel.  Some of the group saw a Gray-chested Dove move out from the underbrush and I had a better look at Black-striped Sparrow, but for the most part the ground was dominated by the coatis.

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