Yellow-headed Caracaras (Milvago chimachima) are part of the falcon family, but are not swift hunters like their falcon cousins. They eat mostly carrion, along with some insects and small vertebrates I’m not sure why this one was pecking at the inside of a broken coconut shell. Perhaps there were some delicious bugs in there. The Yellow-headed Caracara is most common in the south Pacific region, where I photographed this one in 2006.
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A basilisk poses on a stump near Tortuguero.
Every time a guide has pointed out one of these reptiles, it has been described as a “Jesus Christ Lizard” for its ability to run on the surface of water using only its hind legs. I just learned from my new reference book on amphibians and reptiles in Costa Rica, however, that there is actually more than one basilisk species capable of “bipedal locomotion across water.” The particular species in this photo, Basiliscus vittatus, while it can run on water, tends to be more terrestrial, and is commonly spied near the ground and further away from water than other basilisk types that frequent trees.
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This little bird is one of the first I ever spotted, photographed, and identified, in Costa Rica on my own in 2002. It took me quite awhile to page through my bird book, comparing color, markings, size, and beak shape, before I finally concluded that this is a Bananaquit. Today, the guidebook I consulted did not indicate that Bananaquits can be found in the central mountains, but I’m quite sure I photographed this one near Monteverde.
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A Great Kiskadee pauses in the morning sun along the Tortuguero River.
At around 23 cm, the Great Kiskadee is one the biggest members of the large Flycatcher, or Tyrannidae, family in Costa Rica. These strikingly handsome birds frequent the open, brushy areas of the Pacific forests and the Caribbean lowlands, where they eat insects and small vertebrates. I took both of these photographs during my first visit to Tortuguero in 2004.
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