The Central American Agouti (Dasyprocta punctata) is a rodent that looks like a cross between a rabbit with short ears and a giant squirrel with no tail. When frightened, the fur on its hind end stands out straight to make a bushy rump. Apparently this agouti feared neither people nor cars as it simply stood still in the yard of Bosque del Cabo as we slowly drove past and snapped its picture.
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Although the shadows on their faces make it difficult to see their red foreheads and light-colored upper beaks, I am fairly certain these are Red-lored Parrots (Amazona autumnalis). There is a chance, however, that they are Mealy Parrots (Amazona farinosa). Both species have wide, white orbital rings and stout, green bodies that make this parrot pair look like strange, inquisitive aliens climbing up a skinny branch.
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This Chestnut-mandibled Toucan (Ramphastos swainsonii) is one of the first birds I photographed during my first trip to Costa Rica back in 2002 with my first digital camera. I was thrilled, and I felt so lucky to have gotten a clear snapshot of such an exotic-looking creature! The Chestnut-mandibled Toucan is the larger of two toucan types in Costa Rica, and the only one on the Osa Peninsula.
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The Green Page Moth (Urania fulgens), also called Green Urania, is commonly mistaken for a butterfly, but it is actually a diurnal moth. Every four to eight years there is a massive migration of these moths from the Osa Peninsula in the southwest, over the central plateau, to the Caribbean lowlands. This one was photographed on the Pacific side, in the Corcovado National Park.
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Turkey Vultures sport a red head, and have a distinct black-and-white pattern under their wings. Although Turkey Vultures are relatives of storks and ibises, they can be found all over Costa Rica, including high in the mountains. This one doesn’t seem to have a pale blue nape, suggesting that it is a migratory rather than a resident example.
A Turkey Vulture lands in a tree on the Osa Peninsula.
Turkey Vultures have a keen sense of smell and a hooked bill that help them locate and rip apart carrion.
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A female Green Kingfisher surveys the Claro River near Sirena.
In some birds, the males and females of the species are dimorphic, meaning they have different features or markings. This female Green Kingfisher (Chloroceryle americana) lacks the rufous patch of breast feathers that distinguishes its male counterpart.
As their name implies, Green Kingfishers survive by fishing.
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Northern Tamanduas (Tamandua mexicana), also called Collared Anteaters, are the most common of the three anteater species in Costa Rica. These fuzzy mammals eat termites and ants that they find in trees or in the ground, where they use their long front claws to tear open insect colonies.
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A Mangrove Black-Hawk enjoys the spray of Pacific waves breaking on volcanic rocks near Corcovado.
Before I started writing this post, I didn’t realize that there are two types of Black-Hawks in Costa Rica that look just like the bird in this picture: the Common Black-Hawk (Buteogallus anthracinus) and the Mangrove Black-Hawk (Buteogallus subtilis). According to one of my bird books, Common Black-Hawks live along the Caribbean coast, while Mangrove Black-Hawks live along the Pacific, especially to the south. The two species may be conspecific, meaning they’re really the same bird. Perhaps time and a little science will tell. I commonly see these large raptors on the Osa Peninsula, where I snapped this photograph during a hike.
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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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The Blue-crowned Motmot (Momotus momota) is the only motmot species in Costa Rica that can be found in the southern Pacific forests. This one was photographed near Carate on the Osa Peninsula. It was swinging its long, racquet-tipped tail feathers back and forth like a pendulum, as motmots often do while scouting for large bugs and small lizards or amphibians to eat.
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