Birds of Costa Rica

First, a little explanation... 

This month I completed teaching a photography course (for the local senior college) aimed at owners of point and shoot cameras.  Unlike the birding course I have been teaching for the past 10+ years, I had never taught the photography course previously.  It involved a lot of preparation on my part, especially since at least parts of each of the classes were technical in nature.  

During the same period I accepted a speaking engagement having to do with habitat improvement of yards.  This was based on one of my classes of my birding course, but I hadn't taught a birding course in the last two years and, as is always the case, I reviewed my notes to make improvements.  This resulted in major changes to my notes... not only to adding some content, but to the order in which I addressed certain topics.  I felt that I made some major improvements in my notes and that my efforts were worth while.  

So these activities during the month of February detracted from my maintenance of my web site.  I had begun a new post a couple of days ago but couldn't find my notes on bird identifications of birds in Costa Rica, so I had to postpone my posting until I could identify the birds I planned to feature.  Those are the excuses, so without further explanation I'll launch into a new set of bird photos.  

These photos were all  taken at Casa Orquideas, our second stop in Costa Rica.  Our first stop was for the purpose of clearing immigration and taking on water at Golfito.  Casa Orquideas is a tropical paradise if there ever was one.  A couple has made it their home for many years and has collected many different tropical plants which grow in the area around their house.  I believe that the couple has a couple of cabins which they rent but I think while we were there they may have been occupied by relatives were visiting for the Christmas season.  

I was surprised that the couple's house had windows down to within a foot or so of the ground and that there were no screens on the windows or the door.  There were some large spiders on the property and I'm sure there were snakes about although I didn't hear of anyone seeing any.  

The attraction to me was that they had a bird feeder of sorts... an old log suspended about chest level in some trees with some tropical fruit skewered on nails.  The setup really attracted the birds.  The photographic situation wasn't great... the sun was behind the feeder but there was enough shade to where it didn't make a lot of difference.  With the exception of a brief stroll around the grounds just before we left, I spent all my time on the couple's front porch with a prime view of the feeder.  I'm sure I took well over a hundred photos of birds from my vantage point... here are a few of the better ones. 

Blue-Gray Tanager

This bird was apparently identified by one of the naturalists as a Thick-billed Euphonia.  The Yellow-throated euphonia is very similar, but the difference (according to Birds of Costa Rica by Garrigues and Dean)  is that on the Thick-bllled euphonia the yellow on the head extends back past the mid-crown and there is no white on the belly.  This bird seems to be a closer fit for the Thick-billed species. 

Summer tanager, winter plumage?

Cherry tanager, winter plumage (I hope!)

 

As distinctive as this bird is, I am unable to locate it in my field guide or in my notes.  I have many photos of the bird so it was either common at this location or the same bird returned to the feeder numerous times.  If you have any ideas please contact me.   

UPDATE: A friend who has birded South and Central America, and is a MUCH better birder than I, has identified this as a Golden-hooded tanager.  I had a helpful suggestion from another friend that it might be a Masked tanager which is a very similar bird.   (Who would think there might be two such seemingly distinctive birds in the world?)  My thanks to both followers who provided assistance in this identification!