Well … not exactly. Instead on this day with a temperature of 37F yet rain, sleet, thunder and lighting as air masses reach Lake Superior, it is time to finish up my Costa Rican posts, and wish I was in that sunny, warm location. A great place for birding are any Tidal Lagoons you find. These small ponds get recharged almost daily with water when high tides breach their “sand barriers”. The incoming tides bring food into the lagoons … fish and other yummies for birds. When the tide recedes the small fish and other delicacies are trapped which makes for each fishing / hunting / etc. on the part of birds. Should the lagoon have a small fresh water source during Guancaste’s “rainy season”, so much the better! While in Costa Rica I went birding at tidal lagoons at Zapotal, Las Catalinas, and Playa Potrero (featured in this post)

I will add that while the North Shore of Lake Superior’s rocky coast does not have any lagoons, the south shore with its much milder landscape has some really nice wetlands where rivers empty into the big lake, and those are also great spots to go birding … just no tides!

Playa Potrero Tidal Lagoon

Northern Jacana (trying to scare small fish with its wings, and carry a “tool” in its beak which it would also drop to startle small fish)

Bare-Throated Tiger Heron (adult)

Scissor-Tailed Fly Catcher (catching bugs next to the Lagoon’s calm water)

Snowy Egrets and White Ibis (fishing both the lagoon and surf)

What the heck is an Oropendola?!  A very large bird … raven sized that you might see in Costa Rica. In addition, my thanks to Janet, a faithful reader of this site who contacted me to point out I had my Oropendolas mixed up in my Bird Colony in the Sky post!  Given our 2nd winter storm in three days up here in northern Minnesota, its seemed a good time to correct my posts from “a warmer world”!

Here are the two types of Oropendolas

The real Chestnut-Headed Oropendola

My mis ID’d Montezuma Oropendola (now correct)

One thing that is fun about visiting Costa Rica is there are SO MANY bird species. It’s amazing I don’t make more mistakes. For instance … here are a lot of green birds, that look very similar. Their sizes are not too different, and the birds tend to use the same habitat. I actually saw all three of these parrots/parakeets within 100 yards of each other in the same Dry Creek Bed Habitat (read prior post about the habitat)

Orange-Chinned Parakeet

Orange-Fronted Parakeet

White-Fronted Amazon Parrot

One final aside, did you know you may actually find monk parakeets … flocks of escapees living as far north year round in the Chicago area? Uff Dah! Perhaps someday I will photograph a parakeet and Snowy Owl at the same time here on the Arctic Riviera? I think not.

I am finally catching up on processing photographs, and these images are from the rain forest. The Montezuma Oropendola is approximately the size of a Raven, and nests within HUGE colonies very high up in extremely tall trees. The nests are over 3 feet long, and in any given colony there will be 30 to 50 nests. I assume the large nests prevent predators from reaching their young. Hopefully these images will help folks understand this amazing, and noisy nesting colony. (My thanks to Janet, a faithful reader of this site who contacted me to point out I had my Oropendolas messed up! These “sky nesters” are the Montezuma variety, not Chestnut-Headed. Thanks, Janet!)

Montezuma Oropendola Nesting Colony … Parent Arriving

More Colony Images …

And just because I like photos of Yellow-Throated Toucans … from the Rain Forest … hopping, flowers and bananas! Down the hatch!