Saturday's Critters # 485

Welcome to Saturday's Critters!

Hello and happy Saturday!

 If you love all God's creatures like I do and also like to blog about them and take critter photos this is where you can share your critter post. Link up your post and share your critters, join in with my critter party ! You can share any kind of critters the real ones, pretend ones, statues and paintings, a new or old post!

1. March 7, while visiting Puerto Vallarta Mexico I arranged a birding tour, we were picked up at our hotel and drove about 45 minutes through the "real" Mexico to the tropical forest. Our guide is Gerardo of Nature Vallarta Birding Tours. Gerardo was terrific, his knowledge of the local birds is amazing. I added 15 lifers to my life list.  We saw plenty more that were not lifers, Gerardo was nice to email me check list of all the birds we saw. 

In my mosaic below are the Golden-cheeked Woodpecker, San Blas Jay, female Violet-crowned Hummingbird, Crane Hawk, Streaked-back Oriole, female Varied Bunting, female Blue Grosbeak, male Varied Bunting, another Oriole, Inca Dove, Great Kiskadee, Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, Groove-billed Ani, Mexican Parrotlet, Vermilion Flycatcher, Masked Tityra, Stripe-headed Sparrow.

Click on images for better viewing!

2. The male Varied Bunting is a beautiful bird and a lifer, love the mix of colors on this bird. 

3. Ferruginous Pygmy Owl a lifer , is a small owl only 5.9 inches. This owl was a treat to see out in the open in a tree next to the road. 

Various angles of the Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, this owl has patches on the back of it's head that resemble eyes. These false eyes often fool or confuse the owl's predators. The bottom middle photo shows these false eyes, known as ocelli. 

4. One of my lifers was the Rose-throated Becard below is a young male and under the first mosaic is the female Rose-throated Becard. 

5. Below is the female Varied Bunting.

6. Branches are always getting in my way, below is one of the 5 species of Orioles we saw and a female Blue Grosbeak.

7. The Mexican Parrotlets were a fun find and a lifer, we watched a flock of these little parrotlets eating some fruits in a nearby tree. They are only 5.5 inches with bright yellow-green bodies. They blend in well with the leaves. Adorable birds, I am so happy to have seen on this trip.

8. They may not all show in my mosaic below but we saw 5 different species of Orioles.  The Orchard Oriole, Hooded Oriole, Streak-backed Oriole, Bullock's Oriole and the Baltimore Oriole. 

9. The Groove-billed Ani, is not a lifer I had a quick look at one in Costa Rica.  I was happy to take a few photos of this bird posing nicely in a tree along the road. 

10. The Yellow-winged Cacique a lifer were one of my favorites, they make their presence known, they were noisy birds. 

11. I watched 3 of the Yellow-winged Cacique flying away, there were more in the trees next to the road. 

" I haven't seen all the birds but they are on my list."

Thank you for sharing your critters and post!

Thanks to all my visitors and for your past and present comments. Stop back to see any replies to your comments. I appreciate everyone who loves and respects wildlife. Thank you for linking up a critter post.

Here is my linky:

I am also linking up to Anni's blog party found here I'd Rather B Birding   Anni always has some beautiful birds to be seen on her blog, check it out! Also, I am also linking up to Heidrun's Mosaic Monday  I hope you can stop by and visit Heidrun and check out the Mosaic Monday post.