trip's end

All good things must come to an end, and so it went with my birding conference trip to Costa Rica.  I hiked the beach before lecture started on the final morning again hoping for Collared Plover or mangrove specialties but struck out on them.  Streak-backed Orioles were about though not particularly cooperative.  I'd seen a Whimbrel the first morning, but it was in nicer light on the final morning.

This was the first decent sized Hermit Crab that I've encountered.  It still would have fit on the palm of my hand, but before this I'd never seen one bigger than the end of my thumb.

This caracara was on the road leading away from the hotel.  I'm assuming the breast skin is some sort of breeding appendage but admittedly haven't really done any research into it.

I'd planned to put a few sunset shots into this post, but unfortunately the SD card they were on corrupted before I got them downloaded so a lot of the scenic pics from the trip are lost.

Ah well.  Just one more excuse to go back right?  But before I go back to Costa Rica there might be somewhere else to return to...  Give it a few months.