Today we had another full day at La Selva. The diversity was just incredible, you can walk the same path multiple times a day and still see a dozen new things!
Our meals at La Selva were in a cafeteria on the grounds and they often consisted of pretty basic foods (lots of beans, rice, juice, etc). The La Selva biological station is by-no-means a place for Reebok tourists. School groups, though, visit in numbers. There were actually a couple school groups visiting at the same time.
This is a Passerini's Tanager, one of the most common species in this part of Costa Rica.
Above is a White-necked Puffbird, a rather tough bird to find when you actually want to. We were lucky to have spotted it (and even got a couple pictures to boot).
This is a White-collared Manakin. Manakins are a very fun family of birds found only in the tropics. La Selva was the only place we found any manakins at all on this trip. This male was particularly hard to photograph, however. Even though it's brightly colored, the dark understory of the rainforest makes all things rather difficult to photograph.
Above is a Rufous-tailed Hummingbird, the most common hummingbird in most parts of Costa Rica. This perched one near the cafe let me go-to-town with my camera.
Above is a Semiplumeous Hawk, an uncommon woodland species in the lowlands. We saw several during our stay at La Selva.
This striking bird is a Long-tailed Tyrant. Turns out, it's pretty darn common too around the reception area at La Selva.
Above is a Social Flycatcher, another one of the most common species here. This one was in the process of regurgitating pits! Lovely, huh?.JPG)
One of our best birds at La Selva was this Yellow-tailed Oriole! I was birding around the reception when this bird came into view. Knowing it's an oriole, I decided to get some pictures. Soon after, all the guides rushed out pointing to the oriole! It was then that I realized that this bird was actually one of the rarest we had seen in Costa Rica so far.
Cinnamon Becards were easily seen at La Selva, such as the above bird.
Above is the Chestnut-mandibled Toucan. This is another common species at La Selva.Overall, another splendid day of birding at La Selva. Here is the list of NEW species to our trip, ones that we had not seen until today:
Antbird, Chestnut-backed
Barbthroat, Band-tailed
Becard, Cinnamon
Dacnis, Blue
Dove, Gray-chested
Dove, Ruddy Ground-
Euphonia, Yellow-crowned
Flycatcher, Common Tody-
Flycatcher, Yellow-olive
Gnatcatcher, Tropical
Hermit, Stripe-throated
Honeycreeper, Green
Kingfisher, Ringed
Kite, Double-toothed
Kite, Hook-billed
Manakin, White-collared
Oriole, Yellow-tailed Osprey
Owl, Black-and-white
Owl, Central American Pygmy-
Owl, Vermiculated Screech-
Puffbird, White-necked
Sparrow, Orange-billed
Swallow, Mangrove
Swift, White-collared
Tanager, Red-throated Ant-
Tinamou, Slaty-breasted
Vireo, Yellow-throated
Vulture, Black
Woodcreeper, Streak-headed
Woodpecker, Rufous-winged
Woodpecker, Smoky-brown
Wren, Band-backed
Xenops, Plain
