Jeanette's Big Blog of Animals: The day with the luxury beach house

What a day! Up very early for breakfast, then in the truck with a different guide who was also wonderful. We were driving to the beach, birding along the way. And it didn't take long to get started, these bobwhites were right on the road!

crested bobwhite

I love the light in this picture.

groove-billed ani

We saw quite a bit driving around, with several stops to check out what was nearby.

fork-tailed flycatcher

It took the guide a couple of tries to convince me that the bird on the left was the juvie version on the bird on the right. I am still dubious even though there seems to be widespread agreement. :-)

wattled jacana, adult(R) and juvenile(L)

Tody! I love those little guys!

common tody-flycatcher

mystery flycatcher

I think this is a short-tailed hawk, but I can't make any promises.

mystery hawk

mystery hummingbird

barred antshrike

It was cool seeing these guys so close to each other.

yellow warbler, lesser goldfinch

brown-throated parakeet

It was sort of awesome seeing another vulture, but sort of anti-climactic. It looks basically like a turkey vulture with a yellow beak. Which is hard to see. Oh well, it was cool!

lesser yellow-headed vulture

I loved seeing a caracara mix it up with the black vultures.

crested caracara, black vulture

We saw so many savannah hawks! Including two in nests! It was amazing - the first one was hard to find, then they were just sort of everywhere.

savannah hawk

Look how gorgeous this guy is!!!!!

straight-billed woodcreeper

Oh, yeah, so then the caracara flew right in front of the car. That was convenient.

crested caracara

The tanager is like, hey buddy, what's up?

tropical mockingbird, blue-grey gnatcatcher

We made it to the beach house for a late lunch, and it was amazing. Delicious lunch on the patio, then swimming! And they had a shower for us, hanging out for a little while, then we were off again. To find this guy!