All Good Things Must End

Puerto Jimenez, on the Osa Penninsula in Southwest Costa Rica marks the last stop on my extended trips. Although Puerto Jimenez is the largest town on the Osa Penninsula, It's tiny. There is an airstrip, a short wharf, some small restaurants and hotels, not much more to it.
The Osa Penninsula is home to Corcovado National Park, which is Costa Rica's most pristine, and one of the largest parks.

The Chestnut-mandibled Toucan in the photo above was eating a Papaya in someone's yard in the middle of town. The neighborhood children could not understand why I would want to photograph such a mundane sight as a toucan. They wanted me to take photos of them. I popped my camera's flash at them a few times to make them think I was taking their photo.

A small Orange-chinned Parakeet. They are often seen in large flocks. They are the most abundant local parrot.

Speaking of abundant. A Tropical Kingbird. They are everywhere.

I saw a lot of Yellow-bellied Eleanias in different parts of Costa Rica and assumed that this bird was just another one. Now I'm not so sure, it may be a Lesser Eleania. Eleanias are a kind of flycatcher.

Female Black-crowned Tityras have brown crowns.

A lot of my Costa Rica photos are too dark. This is because the high humidity of the place caused all three of the cameras I used on the three trips to malfunction. This is a Cherrie's Tanager.

A Green Heron stalks a fish in a Mangrove swamp at the edge of town.

This is the unusual fish that the Green Heron was after. It had luminous headlights above it's eyes. Way cool.

I worked hard to get this photo. There were several Gray-necked Woodrails skulking around the edges of the same Mangrove swamp where the Green Heron was. I sat quietly for an hour or more, letting the mosquitos have a feast, hoping for a photo like this. It was a lucky shot, my favorite of the whole trip. The original slide looks so much better.

The countryside around Puerto Jimenez was the first place that I ever saw a Yellow-headed Cara cara. Their range has expanded northward because of widespread deforestation.

Roadside Hawks are another common raptor in the area. This one is perched on someone's thatched roof.

I went to Puerto Jimenez because I read that Scarlet Macaws occur in the area. Since I really wanted to see them in the wild, I had high hopes of catching a glimpse of them. I arrived on to the Osa Penninsula at night and heard them calling at first light in the morning. I walked in the direction of their raucous screams and found them in a tree overhanging the main street in the middle of town. They were completely unafraid of people.

This is going to be my last blog post for about the next six weeks or so,  because I leave for Uganda on Monday night. I really hope to have some new adventures to write about when I get back.