More photo browsing led me to find these snapshots of a female Pale-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus guatemalensis) poking about on a fallen tree in the Corcovado National Park. I can tell it is female by the black on its forehead, especially visible in the photo above.
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Browsing through Costa Rica photos this evening, I came across this one of what I think is a White-throated Shrike-Tanager (Lanio leucothorax). Similar in appearance to orioles, there are two varieties of the species in the country: one that lives closer to the Caribbean with a yellow rump and undertail coverts (the feathers beneath the tail), and another, like this one, with black rump and undertail coverts that lives on the south-Pacific coast. This male of the species, belting out his call, was photographed on the Osa Peninsula.
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In 2004, I caught this pair of Cherrie’s Tanagers (Ramphocelus costaricensis) on camera one morning near the Corcovado National Park. The female’s coloration is obscured by shadow, but the sunlit male on the right, with his bright red rump and light blue bill, is easy to distinguish. The male Cherrie’s Tanager, native to the south Pacific region of Costa Rica, looks virtually identical to the male Passerini’s Tanager (Ramphocelus passerinii), which is found only on the Caribbean side of the country. However, the coloration of the female Cherrie’s Tanager is significantly brighter than her Passerini counterpart. Collectively known as the Scarlet-rumped Tanager, the two species were formerly considered conspecific, but have since been separated.
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Yesterday, I became so wrapped up in my work that I entirely forgot to post a Costa Rican wildlife. This morning, when I realized my lapse, it reminded me how easy it let the business of living distract my attention from the beautiful life of the natural world. This sweet little bird is a female Cherrie’s Tanager (Ramphocelus costaricensis). Perhaps not as flashy as the shiny black males of the species that sport a bright red rump, yet quite lovely hooded in a dusky gray-brown, with a rust-orange throat and amber breast.
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Black River Turtles (Rhinochlemmys funerea) are often seen basking on fallen logs along the banks of rivers during the day. At night the web-footed retiles are known to travel on land to forage for food. This turtle was photographed along the Tortuguero River.
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I have not seen nearly as many Keel-billed Toucans (Ramphastos sulfuratus) as I have Chestnut-mandibled Toucans (Ramphastos swainsonii), in part because I have traveled most often to the Osa Peninsula, where there are none of the Keel-billed species. So I was delighted when I came across this photo taken in 2004 near Tortuguero. I love this pair’s bright lime beaks touched with orange and red, which compliment the birds’ bright yellow throats so well.
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It’s been more than a month since I posted any Scarlet Macaws (Ara macao). Here’s a pair that flew overhead while I was walking on the beach near Carate in 2004, and I was lucky enough to get a decent snapshot. I always feel lucky when I hear their exuberant call and see their flashing red color against the blue of the sky or the green of the forest.
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A youthful Green Heron (Butorides striatus) perches on the wood of a dock along the Tortuguero River. It’s just beginning to lose its stripes, and to show the rusty red neck and shoulder feathers that distinguish adults of the species. A few mature green feathers are growing in on its wings too.
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Along the brackish water at the mouth of the Tortuguero River, a male Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga) did a strange little dance as our boat floated past. I’ve no idea quite why the bird was flapping is silver-striped wings, though it was fun to see and photograph. Female Anhingas have a buffy brown neck and head instead of shiny black.
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Identified by its slate gray head and wings, white breast, and orange legs and ceres, Semiplumbeous Hawks (Leucopternis semiplumbea) haunt the understory and lower canopy of the rainforest. They prefer to drop from low perches onto their prey, and, like this one, don’t seem to mind people approaching with cameras.
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