Poised for Flight

I arrived back in Virginia this week after spending 2 and a half months in Costa Rica. I finished with 287 birds (not 300 as I planned because of last minute scheduling change). But that's Ok. I saw lots of cool birds, and other things as well. Such as this Red-eyed Tree Frog (Agalychnis callidryas) Notice how when it is sleeping it hides its brilliant colors very well in an attempt to avoid predation, but once awakened looks like a totally different animal. It must work very well since despite being fairly common, this is the only one I saw.

Another interesting thing I saw only once was this strange looking, but beautiful mushroom. The bizarre looking fruiting body is only around for a few days and smells like rotting flesh in order to attract flies that will carry away the spores.

Here is yet another eyelash viper found in Tortuguero National Park. This is the brown phase which much less easily seen that the yellow phase I had seen earlier. It was only 10 feet away from our banding station and we worked nearly the whole day before guide pointed it out to a group of tourists who were passing by the banding station. Scary but beautiful.

One of the most amazing things I visited in Costa Rica was the Hummingbird Feeder Garden just outside the gates of the famed Monte Verde Cloud Forest Reserve. There are numerous feeders up and the entire garden is buzzing with hummingbirds of all kinds. I counted 13 species in the 20 minutes that I was there but I overheard a guide saying that over 30 species have been seen at the garden. I managed to snap a few pictures while I was there.

(above 2) Purple-throated Mountain Gem - male and female

A Magenta-throated Woodstar hovers while a Coppery-headed Emerald feeds.

My personal favorite, the Violet Sabrewing

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A Green Violetear feeds while a Stripe-tailed Hummingbird come in for a landing.

Imposter!!! A Bananaquit pretends to be a hummingbird. I am not fooled.

(Above 3) Scenic shots from Manuel Antonio National Park on the Pacific. This park is home to some endemic Costa Rican birds such as Fiery-billed Aracari.