Yellow-bellied Elaenia: Las Cruces Biological Research Station, San Vito, Costa Rica, December 2022 — The Elaenias are pretty plain by tropical bird standards, but the Yellow-bellied has this interesting double crest that is often erected, making it stand out…as it does here in the early morning light at Weldon Botanical Gardens. I was out looking for the Snowy-bellied Hummingbird, which I did eventually see, but the Elaenia keep me entertained while I was waiting. The Yellow-bellied Elaenia has a wide distribution from southern Mexico all down through Central America, at all but the highest elevations. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 800 @ f4 @ 1/500th.

Lesser Goldfinch: San Vito, Costa Rica, December 2022 — Another bird from the wasteland by the airport in San Vito. The Lesser Goldfinch is actually rare in Costa Rica, and restricted to foothills and highlands. It is similar to the Lessor Goldfinches we might see in South Texas, but quite different than our Lessers from most of the west. Sony Rx10iv at 591mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 200 @ f4 @ 1/500th.

Rufous-browed Peppershrike: San Vito, Costa Rica, December 2022 — We drove down to the town of San Vito, cutting down a narrow steep shortcut to come out the other side of town by the airport. There is a woodworking shop there where birders park to overlook the little wetland in the valley below in hopes of some interesting water birds. It is a long shot, but there are sometimes some brushy birds in the waste ground around the shop as consolation prizes…on this visit a Rufous-browed Peppershrike, down low. This is a mid- and high-canopy bird of forest edges, so seeing it in bush 5 feet from the ground in the open was kind of special. It stayed well tucked back in the bush and was only in clear view for the moment when I happened to be looking through the camera. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 400 @ f4 @ 1/500th.

Lesson’s Motmot: Las Cruces Biological Research Station, San Vito, Costa Rica, December 2022 — If you remember, I posted a Lesson’s Motmot from our very first day in Costa Rica, from the grounds of the Hotel Bougainvilla, This one came for the bananas on the terrace behind the dinning hall at Las Curces. Lesson’s and the Blue-capped Motmot with a range in Northeast Mexico both used to be the Blue-crowned Motmot when I first birded in Central America. The Lesson’s is perhaps the most common Motmot in Central American and certainly in Costa Rica. Sony Rx10iv at 580mm and 493mm equivalents. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. Upright: ISO 400 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Horizontal: ISO 800 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Plus .7EV.

Fiery-billed Aracari: Las Cruces Biological Research Station, San Vito, Costa Rica, December 2022 — Though we see Fiery-billed Aracari on the Osa Peninsula, I alway enjoy them at the feeders on the deck behind the dinning hall at Las Cruces. Up close and personal. And such intense birds! They, like most of the Toucan family, are terrible bullies and nest predators, but you have to admire their plumage and that massive bright bill. 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 486 and 587mm equivalents. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th and 1/640th.

Spot-crowned and Yellow-throated Euphonia: Las Cruces Biological Research Station, San Vito, Costa Rica, December 2023 — when we visited Las Cruces last year, that is in 2021, there were only Spot-crowned Euphonias coming to the feeders…but this year (2022) there were both Spot-crowned and Yellow-throated. Such a treat! Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/1000th and 1/640th.

Green Honeycreeper: Las Cruces Biological Research Station, San Vito, Costa Rica, December 2022 — This is one of those rare bird species which is obviously named for the female, who is indeed, very very green. The male, in his turquoise and black, can therefore, come as somewhat of a surprise, the first time you see one…which is likely to be at any fruit feeder in Central America or almost anywhere except the highest mountains and deepest Amazon in northern South America. Of course they do exist just fine where people are not feeding birds…but they are certainly among the most common “feeder birds” in American tropics, often arriving first and staying longest. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 100 and 1600 @ f4 @ 1/500th.

Speckled Tanager: Las Cruces Biological Research Station, San Vito, Costa Rica, December 2022 — The Speckled Tanager is reason enough to visit the Wilson Botanical Gardens at Las Cruces Biological Research Station. It is a bird of upper and mid-canopy in the foothills of the Caribbean slope and the South Pacific slope, but it does come down to fruit feeders. They are regular visitors to the periodic feeding station on the terrace by the dinning hall at LCBRS. I say periodic since there is really only fruit out when a group of birders/photographers are visiting (it is a BYOF feeder, and we always stop in town for fruit on our way to Las Cruces). The Speckled Tanager of Central America and northern South America is very closely related to the Spotted Tanager found further south in South America. They might, at one time, have been the same species but they have become geographically separated. That’s one theory anyway. I have only ever seen them at the Wilson Botanical Garden and early in the morning when the rising sun makes them glow. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th.

Crested Oropendola: Las Cruces Biological Station, OTS, San Vito, Costa Rica, December 2022 — Our first morning at the Las Cruces Biological Station, which is owned and managed by the Organization for Tropical Studies, we gathered on the deck behind the dinning hall and put out a few bananas for the birds. The sun was not fully on the deck yet when a pair of Crested Oropendolas came in. The Crested Oropendola has an extensive range in South America, pretty much at the mid-elevations surrounding the whole Amazon Basin, but it only reaches as far north in Central America as the border between Panama and Costa Rica…just into Costa Rica in the extreme south west. I had distant views of the bird in 2021 from the same deck at Wilson Botanical Gardens at Las Cruces, but this was my first close view. Wile not as large as the Montezuma Oropendola, it is still an impressive bird. A member of the Oriole family. The Las Cruces station is one of 3 in Costa Rica dedicated to providing habitat and housing for tropical research. OTS acquired the Wilson Botanical Gardens, formerly a commercial garden, when the Wilson’s retired. At least a good portion of there support these days comes from hosting birding and photography groups like ours in the rooms they provide for students. It is always a privilege to visit. Sony Rx10iv at 361mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th. Plus .3EV.