Seedeater Birdscapes
April 20th, 2014
The seedeaters, as a group, stole my heart in Costa Rica. No, they're not colorful or beautiful singers or anything like that, just very small and shy and cute. They seemed to me as tiny as hummingbirds. The sapling palms near our resort were dripping with them.
A close-up was out of the question. As soon as I approached within a certain distance, every last one of them would melt into the scenery. I had to make do with "birdscapes." I especially liked the view of these female Yellow-Bellied Seedeaters with the mountains silhouetted in the distance.
Top to bottom: male Yellow-Bellied Seedeater, female White-Collared Seedeater, juvenile male Yellow-Bellied Seedeater, male White-Collared Seedeater. (Yes, there's a fourth one hiding down there.) Yellow-Bellied Seedeaters roam widely in search of seeding grasses, and apparently that's the only reason I saw them. They're not normally found in Quepos. Johan Chaves went searching for them after I left, but the flock had already moved on.
Equally tiny Blue-Black Grassquits shared the same habitat. These guys were quite pretty when the light caught them and revealed their cobalt-blue iridescence. They were also more amenable to close-ups.
Many scientists believe that Blue-Black Grassquits were the original parent species of Darwin's finches--the birds that helped Charles Darwin develop his theory of evolution. When they first spread to Galapagos the islands were nearly birdless. So they proceeded to rapidly diversify into about fifteen different species, each one exploiting a previously empty niche.
A pair of Mangrove Black Hawks was nesting in a big dead tree near the estuary. These hawks' favorite food is crabs, sometimes captured by racing after them on foot through the mud! To everyone other than crabs, they seemed to hold the status of "gentle giant"--the little seedeaters would perch in the same tree as them without any sign of fear. The hawks also tolerated me close to their nesting tree, although the first time I walked by on any given day, one of them would usually do a quick fly-by to check me out (or maybe dissuade me from trying any funny business?) This made for a good photo op if I had my camera at the ready.
1680x1050 wallpaper
April 20th, 2014
The seedeaters, as a group, stole my heart in Costa Rica. No, they're not colorful or beautiful singers or anything like that, just very small and shy and cute. They seemed to me as tiny as hummingbirds. The sapling palms near our resort were dripping with them.
A close-up was out of the question. As soon as I approached within a certain distance, every last one of them would melt into the scenery. I had to make do with "birdscapes." I especially liked the view of these female Yellow-Bellied Seedeaters with the mountains silhouetted in the distance.
Top to bottom: male Yellow-Bellied Seedeater, female White-Collared Seedeater, juvenile male Yellow-Bellied Seedeater, male White-Collared Seedeater. (Yes, there's a fourth one hiding down there.) Yellow-Bellied Seedeaters roam widely in search of seeding grasses, and apparently that's the only reason I saw them. They're not normally found in Quepos. Johan Chaves went searching for them after I left, but the flock had already moved on.
Equally tiny Blue-Black Grassquits shared the same habitat. These guys were quite pretty when the light caught them and revealed their cobalt-blue iridescence. They were also more amenable to close-ups.
Many scientists believe that Blue-Black Grassquits were the original parent species of Darwin's finches--the birds that helped Charles Darwin develop his theory of evolution. When they first spread to Galapagos the islands were nearly birdless. So they proceeded to rapidly diversify into about fifteen different species, each one exploiting a previously empty niche.
A pair of Mangrove Black Hawks was nesting in a big dead tree near the estuary. These hawks' favorite food is crabs, sometimes captured by racing after them on foot through the mud! To everyone other than crabs, they seemed to hold the status of "gentle giant"--the little seedeaters would perch in the same tree as them without any sign of fear. The hawks also tolerated me close to their nesting tree, although the first time I walked by on any given day, one of them would usually do a quick fly-by to check me out (or maybe dissuade me from trying any funny business?) This made for a good photo op if I had my camera at the ready.
1680x1050 wallpaper
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Mike
April 20th, 2014 at 7:50 am
Really like the composition of the first pic!