Costa Rica: Zipline day!

Another morning, another wake-up call from the birds!  This morning I saw hummingbirds again (as I frequently do) and managed to get bad pictures (which I'm usually too slow for).  I think this one is a purple-crowned fairy, and I think I've been seeing a lot of this guy.

The blue-crowned mot mot came by again!  Here is my song:

Thank you Mr. Mot Mot,
I like you a lot lot
I would like to see you
     All day long
You came by in the morning
Without any warning
I've still never heard you
    Sing your song

Vaguely goes to the tune of that "picking up the field mice, and boppin' them on the head" song.

Anyway, what a treat to see him again!

I tried to go hiking, and it started raining ~literally~ the moment I stepped out the door.  I waited a few minutes and it cleared up, so, off I went!  It waited until I got a bit up the road before the skies opened.  All I really saw was this hermit thrush.  Well, that's not totally true, I saw a mixed flock of 6-8 warblers, a few kinds.  It's funny, I would be so excited to see that in NY, and here, I was just like, oh, yeah, whatever.

Here's the black-hooded ant shrike again, I ended up seeing him quite a bit.  Wish I could have found the female!

Back at the patio, the wood creepers came by again.

And here's the mystery guy, the one I think must be that common tody-flycatcher.

Yellow warblers are shameless!

On the way down the road to the canopy tour, the driver spotted him - our first sloth!

Starting the tour, we passed a highway of leaf-cutter ants.  It was pretty cool!  They made a really long trail between a tree that they were taking leaf cutting from, and their nest.  Ants were going toward the tree empty and coming back with a leaf cutting.  It was hard to see the ants, it just looked like a trail of green leaf parts.  :-)

I saw this black-collared puffbird, such a cutie!

Here's an anteater sleeping.  They are nocturnal and sleep up in the trees.

And here he is - my first real owl!  A big, beautiful crested owl!  Dark morph.

He clearly saw me.  Oh well.

This is apparently a female blue-capped manakin.

And here's a broad-winged hawk!  Another amazing picture done in by autofocus.  You just know that if there were a little gorgeous bird perched on that little branchlet, the camera would completely ignore it.  It's maddening!

Sloth number two!  Clearly a three-toed.  :-)

We also saw an agouti but I was too slow to get a picture.  Plus I got distracted by the hummingbird taking a bath!  I love it here.  Sadly, I was also too slow for that hummingbird.  However...

...back at the center, waiting for a cab to town, this little rufous-tailed hummingbird kept us entertained.  :-)

I couldn't believe how long he stayed so low, I guess he really enjoyed those flowers!

Look at the brilliant colors.  Gorgeous! Just ridiculously beautiful.

Mystery guy!  The yellow-throated ephonia.

Lunch, then across to the beach waiting for our ride.  Where I saw.........

Mystery sandpiper number one.  A guy saw me interested in the bird and tried to sell me a tour.

And number two.  Quite a bit smaller.  Like, really, pretty small.

Frigates!  They remind Brooke of the batman signal.

There were also a zillion swallows, I have no idea what kind, and the pictures just show vaguely swallow-shaped blurs.  :-)