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May 13, 2019 by Kurt Buzard

Exquisite Hummingbirds in Costa Rica

Male White-Necked Jacobin Hummingbird (Florisuga mellivora). Flores, Guápiles, Costa Rica

Male White-Necked Jacobin Hummingbird (Florisuga mellivora). Flores, Guápiles, Costa Rica

I can honestly say that the hummingbirds of Costa Rica are the most beautiful birds I have ever seen and I will share them with you in this post. Hummingbirds are from the New World and constitute the family Trochilidae. They are some of the smallest birds in the world and have the greatest metabolism of any animal. To keep energy when food is limited, and nightly when not foraging, they go into dormancy, a state similar to hibernation, slowing metabolic rate to 1/15th of its normal rate. They are known as hummingbirds because of the humming sound generated by their whipping wings which wave at high frequencies audible to humans. They flutter in mid-air at rapid wing-flapping rates, typically around 70 to 80 times per second, allowing them also to fly at speeds exceeding 34 miles per hour. Hummingbirds fall into nine main groups or clades, the Topazes and Jacobians, Hermits, Mangoes, Brilliants, Coquettes, the giant hummingbird Patagona, Mountain Gems, Bees, and Emeralds as established by DNA evidence. These clades also define their relationship to nectar-bearing flowering plants and the birds’ continued spread into new geographic areas. The brilliant, iridescent colors of hummingbird plumage are caused by the refraction of incident light by the structures of certain feathers. Like any diffraction grating or prism, these structures split light into its component colors, and only certain frequencies are then refracted back to your eyes. Thus, you have to be in a particular location with respect to the light and hummingbird to see the bright colors of the head and neck or gorget. I have arranged the hummingbirds in this post roughly by elevation with the highest elevations first and the lowest elevations last.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Animals, Aquariums and Zoos, Birds, Costa Rica Tagged With: Bronze-Tailed Plumeleteer Hummingbird, Costa Rica, Fiery-Throated Hummingbird, Gray-Tailed Mountain-Gem Hummingbird, Hummingbird Clades, hummingbirds, Lesser Violetear, Long Billed Hermit Hummingbird, McGuire et al, Rufous-Tailed Hummingbird, Sapphire-Throated Hummingbird, Scaly-Breasted Hummingbird, Stripe-Throated Hermit Hummingbird, Striped-Tailed Hummingbird, Talamanca Hummingbird, Violet-Headed Hummingbird, Volcano Hummingbird, White-Necked Jacobin Hummingbird

March 22, 2019 by Kurt Buzard

Birdwatching at the Paraiso Quetzal Lodge in Costa Rica

The Paraiso Quetzal Lodge in Costa Rica

Paraiso Quetzal Lodge in Costa Rica

Situated among the mist-covered peaks of the Talamanca Mountains, Los Quetzales National Park was established in 2006. This park lies 47 miles southeast of San Jose, and you can easily reach this park from Manuel Antonio on the Pacific Ocean. From Jacó it’s about a two-hour trip. The entrance to the park is on Cerro de la Muerte, just before the turnoff for San Gerardo de Dota. Most of the park area is around the both side of the Savegre river that emerges in the Cerro de la Muerte and connects to the Pacific Ocean close to the Manuel Antonio National Park. it is surrounded by natural rainforest, breathtaking waterfalls, and beautiful canyons. This park includes not only rainforests but also cloud forests, formed by the collision of warm, moist Caribbean trade wind with the Talamanca mountain range which stretches from southwest of San José to beyond the border with Panama. When tiny droplets are deposited on surfaces before they collect together and fall as rain it’s called horizontal precipitation and in cloud forests it can be the main source of moisture. Peaks enveloped by trade wind-derived clouds can capture huge amounts of water when they are covered with tropical montane cloud forests. Their sponge-like epiphytes (mosses, ferns and bromeliads) massively increase the surface area for horizontal precipitation. Vibrantly colored, from the miniature to the gigantic, Los Quetzales flora is some of the most beautiful in the world. There seemingly endless tropical flower species and even orchids. Many can be found growing wild on the trunks of giant trees.
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Birds, Costa Rica, Hotels and Lodges Tagged With: Birds, Birdwatching, Black-Billed Nightingale-Thrush, Clay-Colored Thrush, Cloud Forest, Collared Redstart, Collared Whitestart, Costa Rica, Fiery-Throated Hummingbird, Flowers, Fuschia, Fuschia boliviana, Fushcia ‘Sir Matt Busby’, Hairy Woodpecker, Hotel, House Sparrow, Hummingbird Feeders, Hummingbird Fuchsia, hummingbirds, Large Footed Finch, Lesser Violetear, Los Quetzales National Park, Paniculate Fuchsia, Paraiso Quetzal Lodge, photographs, Pictures, Red Kniphobia, Resplendent Quetzal, Review, Scenery, Slaty Flowerpiercer, Sooty Thrush, Talamanca Hummingbird, Yellow & Pink Costa Rican Thistle

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