Twitching

It has been some months since our last confession. Things have been hotting up over here - both in terms of temperatures (reaching into the 40s) and work. We have been organising film crews, construction of a new project tourism centre and preparing for the imminent arrival of another 22 baby Scarlet Macaws to the release site here at Islita. Additionally, we have had 4 small earthquakes in the last 24 hours! However, amongst all the excitement, we still managed to snatch a couple of hours here and there to go and photograph the local wildlife. This post is dedicated to some of the more feathery Islita occupants. There are 894 bird species in Costa Rica, here are 9 of them...

Any bird-post here would be incomplete without at least one macaw shot. This photo combines 5 exposures of a Scarlet launching itself from a branch.

Blue-Gray Tanager eating some sort of spikey fruit (hey, I'm not a botanist)

Great Kiskadees are very inquisitive. Our house happens to share a territory with this individual who helps himself to our hammock, sink and even knocks on the windows!

Scissor-tailed Flycatcher - a winter resident in Costa Rica's Pacific lowlands. This is the first we have seen here.

Collared Aracari eating wild guava fruits using a specially elongated bill.

Sanderling? Maybe? Or some sort of wader...

White-throated Magpie-Jay... or "Blue Jay" for short. Very vocal birds that can produce a bewildering variety of strange noises.

A Whimbrel jumps to avoid the waves. These birds are easily identifiable by a down-curving bill and are common along the coastline.

Brown Pelican soaring across the Pacific in the rising sun.