Charming Hummingbird
Charming Hummingbird (female): Danta Corcovado Lodge, Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica (Osa Peninsula) — We found this little hummer, endemic to the Pacific Lowlands of Costa Rica and adjacent Panama, hanging around the entrance to the Lodge. We saw it there several times during out stay, always the female, but I only managed this one shot. The Charming is visually identical to the Blue-chested Hummingbird of the Caribbean slope lowlands, but there is no range overlap. Sony Rx10iv at 371mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 1600 @ f4 @ 1/500th. + .3EV.
Riverside Wren
Riverside Wren: Danta Corcovado Lodge, Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica (Osa Peninsula) — Today marks the transition from my first December trip of 2021 to my second, as we flew from San Jose to Puerto Jimenez in a small 12 passenger plane and reached Danta Corcovado Lodge just before noon. We had time for short hike to show us “something really special” before we sat down to eat. The something special turned out to be a Fer-de-lance snake coiled up at the base of a tree right by the trail. They rushed us out to it because, of course, there was no telling when it would disappear into the forest (I posted a photo in December), but the first bird of the Osa of note was this Riverside Wren in the deep understory of the rainforest. The Riverside Wren, as it turns out, is a fairly common bird, and not hard to see, but you have to be in the Pacific Lowlands of Costa Rica and adjacent Panama, where the bird is endemic, to see it…and this was my first journey to the Osa Peninsula and its unique habitats. Like most wrens, it has a wonderful song. Sony Rx10iv at 371mm equivalent. Program mode with wildlife modifications and multi-frame noise reduction. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. Equivalent ISO 6400 @ f4 @ 1/200th (very dark in there). + .3 EV.
American Dipper
American Dipper: Savegre River, Savegre Mountain Hotel, Reserve, and Spa, San Geraldo de Dota, Costa Rica — I mentioned the American Dipper yesterday, as a bird that shares habitat and habits with the Torrent Flycatcher. It is also another plain grey bird you see on the rocks of rushing streams in the mountains of Central America. The Dipper (sometimes called the Water Ouzel) is a wide ranging bird, found at higher elevations from Alaska to Panama, wherever there are rapid clean rivers and streams. It is, of course, famous as the only aquatic song-bird, and actually walks underwater to forage on stream bottoms. It does not swim, but uses its wings to help navigate the currents. I look for the Dipper every time I visit San Geraldo de Dota as the Savegre river is ideal habitat…it is always there, I am sure, but I see about 1 out of 5 years during my short visit, during which I only spend a few hours along the river itself. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent (cropped to about 1800mm equivalent). Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 800 and 1600 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Torrent Tyrannulet
Torrent Tyrannulet: Savegre River below Savegre Mountain Hotel, Reserve, and Spa, San Geraldo de Dota, Costa Rica — There are 11 species of Tyrannulets in Costa Rica…Tyrannulet is apparently just the name for any small bird in Tyrant Flycatcher family…which runs to 9 pages in the Birds of Costa Rica field guide. The Torrent, is, of course, the only one that feeds on the rocks and margins of rushing mountain streams, as you might guess from its name. You might mistake it for an American Dipper, the only other bird that shares this particular habit, or for a Black Phoebe with you sometimes see on the rocks of a stream like the Savegre, but it is unique enough so that it is easily recognized. We followed this one up the stream a ways before I got decent shots of it. Sony Rx10iv at 595 and 600mm. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 640 and 500 @ f4 @ 1/500th. + 1EV exposure compensation. Stream shot: iPhone SE.
Slaty Flowerpiercer
Slaty Flowerpiercer: Savegre Mountain Hotel, Reserve and Spa, San Geraldo de Dota, Costa Rica — This is my second post for the Slaty Flowerpiercer. The previous post featured close-ups of the female and one distant shot of the male, taken at Batsu Gardens on the mountainside above Savegre Hotel. This is the all male review…though it is all the same male, and we found him right on the grounds of the Hotel. You can see the flower-piercing beak very well in these shots and from several angles. 🙂 I was very happy to get these shots, as the Flowerpiercers are highly active birds and rarely pose. The Slaty is the only Flowerpiercer in Costa Rica, though there is one other species in Central America (the Cinnamon-bellied from Mexico and northern Central America) and 18 total, mostly in the Andean highlands of South America. Sony Rx10iv at about 500mm equivalent (I was really close to this bird). Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 1250 and 1000 @ f4 @ 1/500th. + 1EV exposure compensation.
Long-tailed Silky-flycatcher
Long-tailed Silky-flycatcher: Savegre Mountain Hotel Spa and Reserve, San Geraldo de Dota, Costa Rica — The Long-tailed Silky-flycatcher is a mostly fruit eating bird of the canopy in the highlands of Costa Rica, ruth up to timberline…but you can see it at eye-level when it is feeding on low growing fruit. Despite its common name, it is more closely related to thrushes and waxwings than it is to true flycatchers. These were seen on the grounds of Savegre Hotel, and down along the river near the lodge. Sony Rx10iv at about 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. All f4 @ 1/500th. 600mm, ISO 1250, + 1EV; ISO 800, + 1EV; Multi-frame noise reduction equivalent ISO 3200.
White-throated Mountain Gem
White-throated Mountain Gem: Savegre Mountain Resort and Reserve, San Geraldo de Dota, Costa Rica — I shared this same bird from Paraiso Quetzal Lodge at 10,000 feet, which we visited on our way up to San Geraldo de Dota, but we found this one on the grounds of Savegre Lodge at about 7500 feet a little further down the Pacific slope. It is a highlands hummer, but more associated with the cloud-forest than with the paramo. The other Mountain Gem of Costa Rica, the Purple-throated Mountain Gem, is a bird of the foothills and lower slopes. This bird is sometimes called the Grey-tailed Mountain Gem to differentiate it from the sub-species of Mountain Gem from Western Panama. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with wildlife modifications and multi-frame noise reduction. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 4000 and 2000 @ f4 @ 1/500th. +1 EV exposure compensation.
Stripe-tailed Hummingbird
Stripe-tailed Hummingbird: Savergre Mountain Resort, San Geraldo de Dota, Costa Rica — This is another bird that is, in my opinion, “under-named.” I can think of so many more apt and flattering names than Stripe-tailed Hummingbird. And, honestly, the stripe on the tail is the last thing you are likely to notice about this bird. It’s “tell” (the memorable thing about it that is key to your recognition) is the rufous patch on the wings, and on the male, the bright green head and belly. It is not a common bird, but I generally see at least one on every trip to the Talamanca Mountains. This one was on the grounds of Savegre Mountain Resort. Sony Rx10iv at 547mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 640 and 1250 @ f4 @ 1/500th. +1 EV.
Volcano Hummingbird
Volcano Hummingbird: Cerro Buenavista, Talamanca Mountains, Costa Rica — I have seen Volcano Hummingbirds at lower elevations…down to about 8000 feet, but I found this one in its “native” habitat, above tree-line on the paramo of Cerro Buenavista at 11,400 feet, where there were quite a few around the parking area. I have to think they are pretty common at that elevation. The only other hummer that goes that high is the Fiery-throated, though the Fiery-throated is more common just below tree-line. The Volcano is a tiny hummingbird, half the size of a Fiery-throated, which is about the size of our Ruby-throated, and a quarter of the size of the Talamanca which it shares territory with in the Cloud Forests. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. For the second shot I had time to add some exposure compensation: +1…but after post processing it did not seem to matter. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 160 and 125 @ f4 @ 1/500th.
Volcano Junco
Volcano Junco: Almost every birder who visits the paramo in Costa Rica wants to see the Volcano Junco, and not because it is the only Junco in Costa Rica. Mostly they want to see it because it is one of the few birds exclusively limited to the area above tree line, so its range in Costa Rica is very limited. It is not endemic to Costa Rica, but almost. You can see it on the highest peaks in Northern Panama, just over the border. Fortunately it is very easy to see (unlike the other iconic bird of the paramo, the Timberline Wren which can be very elusive). If you drive up to the top of Cerro Buenavista and park under the first antennas you are likely to see one as soon as you get out of the vehicle…feeding on the ground or in the bushes around the buildings there. There have been days when I have visited that were so bad…cold, windy, and misty, with a visibility of just a few yards…that the Volcano Junco was the only bird we saw on the paramo, but we have always seen at least a few. Sony Rx10iv at 320mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f6.3 and 4.5 @ 1/1000th.