I've been in Costa Rica since November 13th and have not shown a single picture of a bird yet. That is no longer acceptable... so I want to catch up here. In this post I show some of the birds that I could photograph so far. Including migratory birds there are more than 900 species in Costa Rica... it's every birder's paradise!
The Summer Tanager (Piranga rubra) is one of those migratory birds. Living most of the year in the southern part of the USA, coming to visit Central America during the winter. This is a beautiful male. The females are less colorful, more brownish.
The very common Blue-gray Tanager (Thraupis episcopus) doesn't show a significant gender dimorphism.
Definitely one of my favorite birds I've seen so far: Golden-hooded Tanager (Tangara larvata)
The Rufous Motmot (Baryphthengus martii) is 46 cm (18 in) long and weights 195 g (6.9 oz). This bird feeds on insects, lizards, frogs, fish, crabs, and many fruits.
With approximately 12.2 cm (4.8 in) length, the Red-legged Honeycreeper (Cyanerpes cyaneus) is a quite small bird. The green females are very pretty birds...
...but the shiny blue males are even prettier. These birds look like flying gems!
And finally the famous one! This is the largest species of toucan, living in Costa Rica: the Yellow-throated Toucan (Ramphastos ambiguus). It reaches a total length of 47–61 cm (19–24 in). It feeds mainly on fruits, but also on lizards, snakes, rodents, smaller birds and insects.
