Volcano Junco: Cerro de la Muerte, Costa Rica, December 2022 — And this, for a birder, is why you drive up the road to the antenna station at the top of Bueno Vista mountain and get out at 11,400 feet in whatever weather the day provides and walk around the roads through the paramo. The Volcano Junco is a regular around the lower buildings at the station. We worked harder for this one than for most…generally they are on the ground behind the buildings in plain sight. This was one of several skulking deeper in the brush and only coming out to the road about when were ready to give up. Still it gave us great views. Of the other birds of the paramo, the Volcano Hummingbird and the Timberline Wren, we got the hummer and dipped on the wren (that makes two years in a row we have missed the wren). I have only ever seen the Peg-billed Finch once there. Still, it is always good to see the Volcano Junco, a bird that is restricted in range to the tops of the highest mountains in Costa Rica, and can be seen nowhere else in the world. Sony Rx10iv at 517mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Pixelmator Pro and Apple Photos. ISO 100 @ f4 @ 1/500th. (I have heard at least 3 different stories as to why the mountain is called Cerro de la Muerte…mountain of death…but none of them are particularly convincing…certainly on a clear day Bueno Vista is a better name.)