Tuesday, February 3, 2015

PURA VIDA 3!

I couldn't stay away.  Costa Rica's diverse habitats drew me back for another trip which I recently returned from.  As with the 2 prior trips, we started at Hotel Bougainvillea, a beautifully landscaped property in the outskirts of San Jose.

The country's unpretentious national bird, the Clay-colored Thrush, greeted us.

Melodious Blackbirds were another relatively plain bird that I'd mostly overlooked in prior trips.
This was my first even remotely decent pic of one.  Their loud calls, that were somewhat reminiscent of a cowbird crossed with an oriole's, dominated the bird sound.

Of course not everything there was plain.

Rufous-capped Warblers were easier to see this year.  In two prior visits I think I'd only seen one there; this year we ran across this pair in a couple places.



Finally one of the true tropical stars of the gardens, a Blue-crowned Motmot.
 This one seemed to be still growing the tail; its seems to lack the characteristic rackets.  For their size (probably a size bigger than a blue jay), they can be remarkably easy to overlook.

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