Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Pura Vida III: Tenorio #333-338

We were so excited for the morning at Casitas Tenorio that we got up at the crack of dawn. The first sound that I could hear from bed was so distinct, so I got up and found the source. An Oropendula doing his thing right out the window (not my video, but this is exactly what it was doing). "Oro" means "gold" and "pendola" for "pendulum"--you can see why.

We knew the owners of our B&B put fruit from the property out for the birds in the morning, so we got up way before breakfast to keep an eye on the feeding station. They had a perfect setup - breakfast was served in a covered building so you would be out of the elements but able to see everything out the sides. This effectively gave us some shelter and a sort of hide. These are the birds that visited over the course of the morning--the birds seemed to be on a schedule, some made just a brief appearance while others stayed longer. Some came only in the early morning and others came only late. 
#333: Montezuma Oropendola; Tenorio/Bijagua, Costa Rica; December 2015
Oropendola with "wattles" (fleshy bits at throat) visible
#334: Rufous-Tailed Hummingbird; Tenorio/Bijagua, Costa Rica; December 2015
We saw only one type of hummingbird at the B&B, but it was easily seen. Donald explained that they are very territorial. Small but fiesty -- hm, seems I can identify with this!


#335: Red-legged Honeycreeper; Tenorio/Bijagua, Costa Rica; December 2015
Possibly one of my favourite shots of the day.
Same bird as above, but here are males in full plumage!

#336: Clay-coloured Thrush; Tenorio/Bijagua, Costa Rica; December 2015
Early in the  morning...notice how much better the lighting is just a while later!



 Yellow-throated Euphonia; Tenorio/Bijagua, Costa Rica; December 2015
Same as the bird seen the day before, but the setup here allowed for way better shots!
#337: Blue-grey Tanager; Tenorio/Bijagua, Costa Rica; December 2015
There is something about this bird I find so absolutely mesmerizing.
#338: Green Honeycreeper (male); Tenorio/Bijagua, Costa Rica; December 2015
#338: Green Honeycreeper (female); Tenorio/Bijagua, Costa Rica; December 2015
Pippa and Donald run an awesome little operation, and to be honest, it was one of the highlights for us. We literally didn't need to step off the property for awesome wildlife and bird viewing and photographing opportunities. At no other point during our trip did we see birds so easily and regularly, so there was huge value in this. Our room actually had a giant mural painted on it with local birds, plus they were so knowledgeable and kind--we felt right at home. They had also made laminated info sheets and left them in the area, so instead of skimming through 400 pages of our book, we could refer to 4 handy pages.

I really wanted to put all the birds from Casitas Tenorio in one post but I've run out of allowable tags again (that's the names of the birds on the side where you click from and how I keep track of what I've seen--that's right, even on vacation, I refer to my own blog!).  Later that morning will be following shortly, so check back very soon!

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