Flame-colored Tanager: Batsu Gardens, San Gerardo de Dota, Costa Rica — Tropical tanagers are among the most colorful songbirds…covering pretty much the full spectrum from deep red to brightest blue (sometimes in the same bird). The Flame-colored Tanger is relatively plane by that standard, though it can cover the full spectrum of orange pretty well. It is the typical highlands Tanager…it’s only rival for numbers at the elevations where you see it is the Blue-grey Tanager (and that you can see from sea-level to the highest peaks). This specimen was around the feeders at Batsu Gardens. Batsu is a project of one of the grandsons of the original settlers of the deep Savegre River Valley on the western slopes of the Talamanca Mountains. The Chacon family, two brothers and their wives and children, homesteaded the San Geraldo de Dota region in the 1950s, and as the family grew and more settlers were attracted to the valley, pioneered efforts to balance development with a healthy and rich environment. Eventually, 40 years later, they built the first cabins and lodge to accommodate birders, fishermen, and other tourists who were attracted to this beautiful area. Batsu Gardens, high on the mountain side, over 500 feet above the original lodge and the river, provides birders and photographers with covered viewing platforms, toilets, a coffee station, abundant native plantings, and responsibly managed feeders for the area birds. If you love birds, Batsu is one of the best places in Costa Rica to spend a morning or afternoon. Flame-colored Tanager is almost guaranteed 🙂 Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Photo and Apple Photos. ISO 640 and 1250 @ f4 @ 1/500th.