Sorry it’s taken me so long to get back here. There’s more to come after this brief post too. For a relatively short trip, a little over a week, how could I be so buried in photographs? I’m beginning to wonder how I will ever make it through spring migration.

Here are a few birds in the hand…and in the field. First bird below is a Barred Antshrike. This was a new Antshrike for me!

Another new bird for my life list was this Black-Striped Sparrow. For those who do not think captured birds should be added to one’s life list, I did see both of these species out of the hand as well, although I did not get photographs of those.

The bird below looks much like the Turquoise-Browed Motmot in my last post from Nicaragua, but this bird is actually a Blue-Crowned Motmot. Perhaps the most easily noticeable difference between the two species upon first sight is the shortness of the tail between the base and the two paddles at the end – much shorter on this bird. The blue in the crown is easier to see on the closeup at the bottom of this post. This bird is bluer on the back than the Turquoise-Browed Motmot which has a rufous patch on its back.

Below is a Mottled Owl. Another new bird! We were fortunate enough to find him sitting about waist-high right next to the trail.

After this second morning tending the nets, we took a trip to Chocoyero, a protected area, to see the nesting site of the Pacific Parakeets. It was exciting to watch them fly in and out in pairs.

The trail also provided interesting vegetation…

I would not have been able to get the pictures of the Pacific Parakeets flying into their nests without my monster lens. But that meant capturing everything else, like the trees above, with my cellphone.

The FOOD WAS WONDERFUL all week long. Below is a picture I took of my first lunch or dinner at Montibelli, now I can’t remember which… I was eating basically vegetarian and was happily well fed every day wherever we were.

Here’s a better view of the royal blue on the crown of the Blue-Crowned Motmot.

I’ll try to be back much sooner now that I think I’ve rediscovered everything. To be continued…