Punta Leona

I tried birding locally again this morning.  At Tiscornia I think I saw the same 2 long-tailed ducks that were in the pics yesterday.  I then did some walking at Sarett and Brown post-holing ankle- to knee-deep every 3rd step or so.  Back to the tropics.

The resort at Punta Leona was our base for the last couple days of the trip.  It's a very large complex, including condos, small homes, traditional hotels, a beach, and extensive grounds.  Each morning we birded it before breakfast, and I walked about some during our noon breaks as well.

Our first morning Lathe and I got up well before the meeting point hoping to find some birds coming into the street lights.  We were not successful, but we did hear a Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl.  Once the group met up Vernon fairly quickly located another one.

Blue-gray Tanagers are common throughout the lowlands, they tend to stay fairly high though, so I didn't get a ton of pictures of them.  Their squeaky voices became fairly familiar however.

The first really exciting bird walking about the grounds was a Turquoise-fronted Motmot, the national bird of Guatamala

We found a few Fiery-billed Aracaris as well.  I never did manage a frame-filling view of one.

They tend to perch in the open a lot more in the very early morning hours.  I don't think we saw one at all anywhere on the trip after breakfast.

Mealtimes frequently found White-faced Capuchin monkeys circling the dining area looking to score a handout

My lunchtime walk that day turned up mostly just birds we would consider North American...

though Lathe and I did find a Scaly-breasted Hummingbird, another bird that I'd like to get better pics of