Saturday's Critters #365

 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!

 

I wish all who celebrate... peace, love and happiness this Hanukah season!

 

I am running out of critters and bird photos to share. So I am sharing some of my archived photos from our 2010 trip to Costa Rica, we took a guided trip staying at various hotels starting at San Jose, Tortuguero on the Caribbean coast, Fortuna the gateway to Arenal Volcano Nat'l Park and Guanacaste on the Pacific Coast. We visited a coffee plantation, pineapple plantation, the butterfly garden, various nature river boat rides from the lodge in Tortuguero and a nature boat ride at Caño Negro, we hiked in the Poas Volcano Nat'l Park Cloud forest, on the Arenal Nat'l Park hanging bridges trail and walked on the beach in Guanacaste located on Costa Rica's Pacific coast. 


1.  The Butterfly Garden, various species of butterflies and lovely flowers and plants. 

 

 Click on photos for better viewing.

 

 

2.  Insects and reptiles and other miscellaneous wildlife. We saw Rhinoceros Beetles, Hercules Beetle, Crocodiles and Caiman, Iguana, various lizards, turtles, Beetles, Long-nosed Bats, Pit Viper,  Orb spiders and Ghost crabs.

 

 

 

 

3. The wild monkeys we saw in Costa Rica were the most common seen and heard Howler Monkey, Golden-mantled Howler Monkey, White faced Capuchin Monkey and Spider Monkeys.

 

 

4.  The flowers must taste delicious, this monkey was hanging a tree branch with just it's tail. The photos taken from the moving boat ride are not the clearest. But, I think it is cute.

 

5. Costa Rica bird lifers...These are not all the birds or lifers I was able to see on my trip. 

Ringed Kingfisher, Amazon Kingfisher, not sure if seen below we also saw the Green Kingfisher, Grey-necked wood Rail, Great Potoo, Bare-throated Tiger Heron, Slaty-tailed Trogon, Blue-Gold Macaw (not-sure if these two were escapees, seen in a tree at the Hanging Bridge Park area), Red-lored Parrots, Montezuma Oropendola, Passerini's Tanager, Palm Tanager, Blue-gray Tanager, Great Kiskadee and the Variable Seedeater.

 

 

6.  Before our breakfast or boat ride tours I walked around the grounds of the Tortuguergo Lodge. The Montezuma Oropendola had nest in a lot of the trees. 

 

7. It is a cool looking bird and they make some strange sounds. The male can be 20 inches long.  Their tale feathers are a bright yellow.

 

 

8. The nest is woven with fibers and vines, similar to an Orioles nest.

 

 

9. Costa Rica Toucan lifers...The top two toucans are the Collared Aracari, in the second row is the Chestnut-Mandibled Toucan and the last row is the Keel-billed Toucan. Seeing the Toucans in the wild was a treat for me. 

10.  Various wildlife seen in various areas around Costa Rica. Streaked Backed Oriole in Guanacaste,  Brown Pelicans, Iguana, the Coati (about the size of a house cat) crossed the trail in front of us at the Hanging Bridge park, a sloth was seen hiding in a tree above the river, a large Black Oxen, other Oxen and some horses seen along the road.

 

 

11.   The Collared Aracari was seen often by the boat dock at the Tortuguera Lodge.

Costa Rica was one of my favorite trips, the wildlife sightings are amazing. I took over a hundred photos each day we were there, I do have some previous blog post on Costa Rica.  I would love to take another trip to Costa Rica seeing parts of the country we missed. 

 

Thanks to all my visitors and for all your comments. Stop back to see any replies to your comments. I appreciate everyone who loves critters and has linked up their critter post.


Here is my linky:



 

Also visit:  I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the host Anni.

Happy Thankful Thursday!!

Happy Thursday! 

How is everyone, hanging in there I hope.  The vaccine is coming soon, be safe and stay safe. 

 Happy Birthday to my dear hubby!

I am continuing with some of my archived photos from a trip to Costa Rica in 2010.  I am so thankful I have a lot of my old trip photos archived on my external hard drive, they are easy to find. 

1.  I am sharing more images from  Tortuguero, Fortuna, Guanacaste, the Arenal Volcano, the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.

 Tortuguero, Caribbean sunrise

 

2. Views of the Lake Arenal, Arenal Volcano and wind turbines.

 

3. Various Costa Rica Birds:

 First row on a utility pole at our Tortuguero resort the Collared Aracari Toucan, Black-cheeked woodpeckers on the same pole later, unknown hummingbird possibly a female Lucifer Hummingbird, Great Kiskadee, Anhinga, Blue-Gray Tanager, two Crested Caracara in flight, Snowy Egret and Crimson fronted Parakeet.

 

4. Guanacaste, Pacific Ocean and a Brown Pelican. I love watching the Pelicans, they look so peaceful when they fly by. 

 

 

5. Guanacaste sunset on the Pacific Ocean.

 

 

6.   I am thankful for beach time,  a walk on the beach in the warm sunshine.  Give thanks for a little, you will find a lot.

 Brown Pelican on the rocks, Magnificent Frigatebird, shells and beach, Whimbrel and Black-bellied Plover. 

 

7. Another look at the sunset. 

 

Hubby and I are looking forward to traveling again, maybe a trip in early May.  we are undecided it could be a fly-drive or a road trip.  Part of the fun of traveling for me is researching the place we are visiting. I look for the places to stay, parks, scenic views and drives.  

 

I am thankful we continue to stay safe and healthy. 

I hope everyone is careful, healthy and safe. 

Go outside and breathe deeply.  Enjoy every moment. 

Live simple and be happy!  😊 Keep smiling!

Thank you to Jutta for hosting Nature Thursday

Thank you Michelle for hosting Thankful Thursday. 
 

Thank you to Yogi the host of   Skywatch Friday
 

Thank you for visiting and for your nice comments on my previous post. Have a happy day!!  😊

Our World, My World

 Happy Monday!

 Dec 7th, it is my son's birthday. He is 28 today, Happy Birthday to Brian!   Hubby's birthday coming soon, on Dec 10th.  We have lots to celebrate in December, I just turned 64. I am looking forward to when things are back to normal in our country, when hubby and I can feel safe to travel.  Today I am sharing photos from my archives and March 2010 and a trip to one of my favorite places Costa Rica. On my next critter post I am sharing a lot of the Costa Rica wildlife, check it out.

I am linking up with Lydia of Where the Wild Things Were and the Favorite Fotos linky. Thank you Lydia for hosting the party.

1. A rainbow seen on the first morning of our 9 day tour. 

Click on photos for better views.

 

2.  During our tour we stopped at a craft market, the ox carts were on display.  The carts are unique with colorful painted designs.

 

3.  Tortuguero, we stayed at a park lodge which was just a walk away from the Caribbean Sea. The park is only reached by airplane or a boat ride. Our tour to the lodge included the boat ride. The lodge is located between a lagoon  on one side and the other side was the Caribbean Sea. The Howler Monkeys were constantly heard while staying at Tortoguero, the resort was nice with wildlife everywhere.

 

 

4. The nature boat rides were fun, the wildlife in Costa Rica is awesome. We saw various species of monkeys, lizards, a sloth and birds.

 

5.  Fortuna, Costa Rica..our hotel had a view of the volcano, we had a tour set up to visit the Baldi Hot Springs and we also hiked on the Hanging Bridges trail at the Arenal Volcano National Park.

 

 

 

6. Guanacaste on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.  We stayed a nice resort on the beach. I think we were so busy during the day, I did not get in the pools at any of the hotels, all the pools looked beautiful.

 

7. A walk on the beach at Guanacaste Costa Rica. During our time here, we saw more monkeys and various bird species. 

 

 

8. Sunset at Guanacaste, Pacific Ocean

 

It is also Pearl Harbor Day, a day to honor the 2,403 service members and civilians who were killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor. From the beginning of the tracking on Feb 15th through today,  282,829 Americans have died from the Coronavirus, more people have died from the virus than all the wars put together. 

 There is so much talk about the vaccine coming out. It almost time to make new memories and visit new places, hubby and I will be happy when we are able to travel again.  Mean time we  are happy and healthy, I hope everyone is doing well too.

 

 

Wear your mask and keep your distance!  Be safe, stay safe!

 

What's happening in your corner of the world? Please check out and visit the following memes and links. I hope to see you there.

 
Thanks to Angie the host of  Mosaic Monday

Thanks to LadyFi  the host of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks for visiting and commenting, have a happy day and a great new week!

Saturday's Critters # 364

 

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.  The House Finch is another bird I see come and go to my feeders. The male has a red streaked breast and a brown crown.  The male is seen below with a mouthful. He was seen before and after eating, that is food on his beak. He is a messy eater, not sick.  He needs a napkin to wipe it's beak. 

 

 

 

2.  The male and female House Finch. The female has a dull brown back and is evenly streaked on the front breast area.

 

 

3.  From the neighborhood, I went to pick up our carry-out food from the nearby Friendly Farm family restaurant.  The are always lots of Canada Geese hanging out.

 

 

 

4. This family style restaurant has three ponds, I usually check out the ponds for different birds when I drive by.  Usually I see the geese and ducks on the ponds.  There have been times when I see a Kingfisher, the Killdeer,  a GB Heron or the Great Egret.  There is a Bald Eagle's nest nearby, a few times I have seen the Eagles on the ground near the pond or flying around the area.

 

 

 

 

5. I found a few Ruddy Ducks at the pond, the females have a cheek stripe and they have the stiff tail.

Thanks to all my visitors and for all your nice comments. Stop back to see any replies to your comments. I appreciate everyone who loves critters and has linked up their critter post.


Here is my linky:

 

 

Also visit:  I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the host Anni.

Happy Thankful Thursday

Happy Thursday!

 I am thankful for each day,  days and months are just flying by. It is December already, what happened to November? 

 1.   On this morning, while filling up my bird feeders I watched the sky. The sky started out mostly cloudy with just a hint of blue skies in the distance to pretty blue skies and puffy white clouds within an hour.

 

2.  One of my squirrel friends was waiting patiently for the bird food to arrive. 

 

 

3.  It warmed up some for hubby and I to take a morning walk on the local fire road.  This loop trail is covered with pine needles and pine cones. There are different berry bushes and I am guessing  Vibernum and some native Holly bushes.

 

 

4. I could hear various birds in the tree tops and around us, the most common birds here were the Nuthatches.

 

 

 

5.  I am happy to see the Red-breasted Nuthatch return to my feeders every day now.  I am not sure how long they will be here, I will be thankful if they stay all winter. 

 

6.  Skywatching from my back yard.

 

 7.  I am thankful for the beautiful blue skies and pretty clouds,   skywatching is one of my simple pleasures. 

 

 8.  The view out of my dining room window, I have good view of the feeders..The Blue Jays love the peanuts and the little suet balls, on the distant feeder is a Goldfinch and a Carolina Chickadee.

9.  A Tufted Titmouse on the deck railing and there is another one sitting just above the suet feeder on the right side.

My simple pleasure is bird watching, I enjoy feeding the birds. I am thankful for my regular yard birds and for the winter birds that keep me entertained. The White-throated Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos, the Red-breasted Nuthatch and even the Pine Siskins were seen.

I am thankful we continue to stay safe and healthy. 

I hope everyone stays healthy and safe. 

Go outside and breathe deeply.  Enjoy every moment. 

Take care and stay safe! 


Live simple and be happy!  😊 Keep smiling!


Thank you Michelle for hosting Thankful Thursday. 
 

Thank you to Yogi the host of   Skywatch Friday
 

Thank you for visiting and for your nice comments on my previous post. Have a happy day!!  😊