A New Life In Costa Rica

The Nike bird is back too!

I got this shot off through the screen door. We saw two yesterday afternoon. I had to take a shot before  opening the door and losing him.

We'd parked the car in front of the house. It hid me from their sight while they gorged with the local birds on watermelon rinds and bananas. His official name is black-cowled oriole but because of his shoulder markings he'll always be the Nike bird to us. The blue guy is a blue gray tanager locally known as a viuda or viulita. I don't think the viuda is all to happy to see the snow birds arrive. They can be an aggressive bunch around the banana racks.

Last night I found an awesome site on the migrating birds, check it out here.  I, being a novice birder was fascinated by what I found.

Dress up Day

No, it's not Halloween in Costa Rica. This culture doesn't celebrate the way it's done in the states. Sadly, we've seen Expatriates bring the holiday to Costa Rica since we've moved here. Our first year it was pretty much non existent. Now there are costumes for sale in the centro of our small town.  But, this is not about Halloween. This post is about the local high school graduating class dressing up and wandering around town. It happens every year in September. Each year we're taken by surprise.

Bill and I made a quick run in to town last Friday and caught a glimpse of a few of the revelers.

This year Callsita had seen signs posted on campus by seamstresses available to create the elaborate costumes. We'll be paying one of them when Callista is in her final year!

 

 

The missus is here too!

It's official we have our first pair of Northern (Baltimore) Orioles fo the season. The first snowbirds are here!

The little lady wasted no time letting the local birds know she's here and wants first dibs on the banana rack. Good thing I've got another hummingbird feeder on order. Oriole's LOVE hummingbird go-go juice. Typically they hit the bananas for the first few months then resort back to their northern habits and go for the juice. Hmmm juicing up for the journey?

 

Butterfly sightings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Northern Oriole sighting

 

We had our first Northern or Balitimore Oriole sighting this morning. It's a crummy shot but at least I got one off so we can document the date. Time to start watching for the other migratory birds to arrive as well. Wonder if we'll get some new ones this year?  I better get the seed feeder ready as well. The arrival of the Orioles, a sign it's nearly summer in Costa Rica.