On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Albatrossity
Dinosaurs! Looks to be a great week ahead!
(click the image below for a bigger, non-blurry version)
Albatrossity
There are more birds (aka dinosaurs) in the images this week, but also some mammals and even some lizards. As before, birds that were lifers for me are designated with an asterisk.
![On The Road - Albatrossity - Costa Rica — Week 4: Dinosaurs and other critters 9](https://balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/flame-colored_tanager_male_qerc_M5161338-768x672.jpg)
*Flame-colored Tanagers (Piranga bidentata) are a hot draw when they sporadically vagrate to Arizona or Texas. I’ve been in AZ once when one had been spotted in Ramsey Canyon, and I did not go there that day because of the crowd that was expected. But they were abundant in the highlands of Costa Rica, and I got to see plenty of them. This is a male, and it is obvious why they got the name “Flame-colored”. Click here for larger image.
![On The Road - Albatrossity - Costa Rica — Week 4: Dinosaurs and other critters 8](https://balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/flame-colored_tanager_female_qerc_M5161241-768x882.jpg)
The female Flame-colored Tanager is still a pretty colorful bird, but compared to the male, not so much. These images of the male and the female both show the streaks on the back which are the best field mark for differentiating this species from their closest relatives (Hepatic and Western Tanagers). Click here for larger image.
![On The Road - Albatrossity - Costa Rica — Week 4: Dinosaurs and other critters 6](https://balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/scarlet-rumped_tanager_male_osa_M5202216-768x733.jpg)
Another striking tanager which is found on both the Caribbean and Pacific coasts of Costa Rica is the *Scarlet-rumped Tanager (Ramphocelus passerinii). This male bird, on the Pacific side, would have been listed as Cherrie’s Tanager in older field guides, and the Caribbean version was Passerini’s Tanager. Now they have been lumped, and “scarlet-rumped” is an excellent name for this bird. Click here for larger image.
![On The Road - Albatrossity - Costa Rica — Week 4: Dinosaurs and other critters 7](https://balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/scarlet-rumped_tanager_with_grasshopper_osa_M5202902-768x862.jpg)
The female Scarlet-rumped Tanager, seen here chomping on a large grasshopper, does not resemble the male very much at all. When I saw one of these for the first time, I spent a lot of time paging through the field guide trying to ID it. Fortunately, the next one I saw was in the company of a couple of males, and I got the clue. Interestingly, these birds do not defend territories; they hang out in flocks year-round. They can nest very close to another pair sometimes. Click here for larger image.
![On The Road - Albatrossity - Costa Rica — Week 4: Dinosaurs and other critters 5](https://balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/howr_pair_osa_M5202643-768x515.jpg)
Costa Rica also has some bird species which are quite familiar to North American birders. House Wrens (Troglodytes aedon ) have the largest latitudinal range of any native bird in the Americas, and are found in Canada as well as the tip of South America. Their songs might be slightly different in various parts of that range, but is easily recognizable if you are familiar with the USA versions. Click here for larger image.
![On The Road - Albatrossity - Costa Rica — Week 4: Dinosaurs and other critters 3](https://balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/acorn_woodpecker_qerc_M5171662-768x724.jpg)
Another bird that is familiar to US birders on the West Coast, the Acorn Woodpecker (Melanerpes formicivorus ) is pretty much the only woodpecker in the Costa Rican highlands. Seeing one of these in the company of Resplendent Quetzals was a surprise to me, but there are plenty of oaks in those mountains, so I guess I should have expected them. One of my favorite woodpeckers! Click here for larger image.
![On The Road - Albatrossity - Costa Rica — Week 4: Dinosaurs and other critters 4](https://balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/black_iguana_tarcoles_M5244016-768x496.jpg)
That’s enough of the dinosaurs for today; let’s move on to some of the reptiles. This is a Black Iguana (aka Black Spiny-tailed Iguana, Ctenosaura similis). Widespread in Mexico and Central America, it is also a feral invasive species in Florida, where it just doesn’t get all the press coverage that the Burmese Pythons seem to grab. Click here for larger image.
![On The Road - Albatrossity - Costa Rica — Week 4: Dinosaurs and other critters 1](https://balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/common_basilisk_tarcoles_-768x529.jpg)
We also saw many Common Basilisks (Basiliscus basiliscus) in the Pacific lowlands. This is the Jesus Crist Lizard, made famous by its ability to walk (run) on water, and I really wanted to see that. I did watch a young one scamper toward the river, but it stopped short of a miracle performance, alas. Click here for larger image.
![On The Road - Albatrossity - Costa Rica — Week 4: Dinosaurs and other critters 2](https://balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/coati_mundi_osa_M5203273-768x803.jpg)
Lots of mammals can be found in the Costa Rican forests; most of them are nocturnal. But the White-nosed Coati (Nasua narica) forages during the daytime, and I watched this one digging shallow holes and foraging in the grassy area near our lodging at the Osa Conservation center for quite a while. It may be the same one that overturned the trashcan in the breezeway the night before. I was sitting quietly on a couch, reading the field guide and enjoying the night sounds of the forest when there was a loud crash in a shadowy part of the breezeway. A coati, probably as startled as I was, ran out of there and scampered off into the forest. It was also probably upset that the trash can was empty… Click here for larger image.
![On The Road - Albatrossity - Costa Rica — Week 4: Dinosaurs and other critters](https://balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/squirrel_monkey_osa_M5202937-768x906.jpg)
There are four species of monkeys in Costa Rica, and all four could be found in the forest around the Osa Conservation center. That includes the Red Howler Monkeys who woke all of us up to announce an incoming thunderstorm one morning at 4 AM. If you have not had the pleasure of hearing this primeval noise, you really need to put that on your bucket list. That alarm clock and adrenalin rush did not amuse the sleeping students, who were fairly certain that they were on the brink of death that morning, but I really do like Howler Monkeys. However, this is not a howler; this is a much cuter primate, the Squirrel Monkey (Saimiri oerstedii). In fact, the students who were terrified by the Howler Monkey serenade all agreed that these were cuter. Click here for larger image.
Donatellonerd
as always, thank you. it’s amazing to look forward to monday mornings.
JeanneT
I have got to show the common basilisk (and linked page to my grandkid. He’s going to love that lizard!
SteveinPHX
Thank you. Hoping to get down to SE Arizona later this year. Get to see Acorn Woodpeckers again.
OzarkHillbilly
I identified an Albatrossity bird (Costa Rican) just from the photo! OK ok, it was the house wren, which isn’t exactly a surprise I knew it, but STILL, bragging rights!
Howler monkeys are on my “to do” list.
A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)
I wouldn’t describe the Howler Monkey call as a “howl”. But primeval, you bet!
Torrey
I was wondering why the white-nosed coati looked so familiar, in a “you look just like a friend of mine” way, and then I realized: that’s exactly the expression I used to get from my beagle when the food bowl was empty and she didn’t think it should be. (Mammals! They’re all alike.) I conclude therefrom that this must have been the coati whose trash can you or whoever inconsiderately allowed to be empty. I know that face, is what I’m sayin’.
Amazing pictures. Thank you!
lashonharangue
Great photos. I was able to see a common basilisk run across the water when visiting Costa Rica. An amazing variety of critters there.
BigJimSlade
When visiting Tikal nearly 30 years ago, one morning we woke up early, climbed to the top of a temple and listened to the jungle wake up. Each group of animals or birds took turns for a few minutes each to call out to all of their kind. Listening to the howler monkeys for their 5 minutes (or so) was fantastic! Seriously, like out of a movie that is trying to show you how scary a place might be. This was also when I saw toucans flying by and I was just kinda dumbfounded (I mentioned this in a thread recently and learned that their beaks are extremely light, so they don’t just do nose-dives out of the sky).
StringOnAStick
Lovely! For a relatively small country, Costs Rica has such amazing variety of habitats and creatures.