Friday, April 23, 2010

Costa Rica Kingfishers

My post on the kingfisher is my bird photogrpahy weekly entry.

Costa Rica is a wonderful place for birders. I was able to see many lifers(first time seeing a bird) during my vacation without even trying. Some of the cool birds we saw along the river to Tortuguero were the Kingfishers. We saw three different species of Kingfishers. They were the Amazon Kingfisher, Ringed Kingfisher and the smallest kingfisher the Green Kingfisher. The Green Kingfisher was quick to move and I was not able to snap a photo. We did get to see a few sightings of the Green Kingfisher perched low over the river.

The Ringed Kingfisher is the largest, I read that this is one bird where the female is more colorful than the male. It  most distinguishing characteristic is the rufous belly, it covers the entire breast of the male.


The Amazon Kingfisher below was pretty common along the river, this guy below had food and was beating his catch against the tree. We were able to watch the kingfisher from our boat. They nest in horizontal tunnels made in a river bank.



Amazon Kingfisher

This is my Friday Ark entry and to see more click on my link. Thanks for stopping by my blog.
Also my post is for Camera Critter this week, thanks to Misty Dawn for hosting.

36 comments:

  1. These birds are little beauties. They are so colourful. How I wish they come to my garden too.

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  2. You have some different species of Kingfishers at Costa Rica.

    My white-throated kingfisher sends its regards to them.

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  3. Eileen,
    Thanks for bringing back memories of our Belize trip. We saw all of these when we visited. Sounds like you saw them more often than we did. Enjoyed this post!

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  4. Those are gorgeous!
    Lucky you to see them!
    And finally one bird race where the female is the more colourful one ;)

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  5. Eileen: You were truly blessed with these captures.

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  6. we have the belted kingfishers here on the pond and I love to watch them.

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  7. Lovely photos - got me wanting to go there!!!

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  8. the king fisher seem to have gotten more then it can chew. (smiles)

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  9. You for sure were able to catch some king photography. A wonderful start into the weekend for you.


    daily athens

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  10. Sensational Kingfisher captures!

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  11. Brilliant pictures of the kingfisher. Looks like there is a different side to Costa Rica apart from its beaches :-)

    Thanks for sharing these pretty birds with us Eileen!

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  12. Great shots of a very different looking bird, thanks for sharing. Have a wonderful weekend.

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  13. My husband and I were on an Eco-tour in 1995 and one of the places we stayed was in Tortequero. It was a long boat ride in but we say some amazing sites and birds. Thanks for sharing. Valerie

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  14. Beeeeeeautiful!!!!! I so love bird watching. Some great photos for us.

    Here are my entries for the day.

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  15. Great photos Eileen. A couple of summers ago I found a dead goldfish in the middle of the backyard and couldn't figure out how it got there. The next day I watched an Eastern Kingfisher dive into our pond for lunch and thought it must have dropped the one on the lawn.
    Beautiful bird so I didn't mind sharing a fish or two.

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  16. You had captured many and different kins of birds on your vacation. Costa Rica seems to be the land of birds. I love the Amason kingfisher, the food is bigger than him. Very cute.

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  17. I would call it a good day if I only saw one kingfisher, never mind three different types. Nice pics.

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  18. The Kingfishers are beautiful birds. Our Kookaburra belongs to the kingfisher family. The female Ringed Kingfisher is very pretty. The Amazon Kingfisher is similar to our blue kingfisher. Excuse my ignorance about birdwatching but what is a "lifer"?

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  19. Oh, Eileen, every week I getting more and more envious! Such lovely birds you are seeing there!

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  20. Those birds are gorgeous. So much color!

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  21. Those are beautiful bird that I will never be able to see if not with your blog.Thanks for sharing.

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  22. I love kingfishers. I've been trying to get a good photo of several belted kingfishers but they certainly are camera shy!

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  23. Hi Eileen....tku for dropping by my blog and leaving a comment.

    I love kingfishers, they are stunning birds. I have kingfishers visit my gardens sometimes as i live just one mile away from a river. I have never been able to capture him, much too quick for me.

    Love your photographs.....totally different from our kingfishers......

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  24. Exoctic location with three gorgeous Kingfishers. FAB.

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  25. Eileen, 3 Brilliant kingfishers you photographed there. The Ringed Kingfisher looks absolutely spectacular. What a great place Costa Rica must be for birding.

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  26. These are amazing capture of equally amazing birds

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  27. Beautiful kingfishers! How nice to see so many new birds.

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  28. Very nice photos dear Eileen! I saw the Ringed Kingfisher during my trip to Costa Rica as well.

    Have a great week, ciao! :-)

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  29. Gorgeous pictures, Eileen. The only time I get to see some of these beauties is to go to the zoo..

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  30. I hope I make it to Costa Rica one of these days. Such cool new birds. Your capture of the Kingfisher is great!

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  31. Ah, the Kingfisher. One of my photographic nemesis birds. You are so lucky to be able to see three species in one day! They are so much fun to watch as they fish the rivers and creeks.

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  32. It looks like you had a great trip, Eileen, and brought back great photos. Even if you hadn't told me, I would have guessed these guys were kingfishers - especially looking at that second photo.

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