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Rancho Naturalista Lodge, Costa Rica, or When Harry Met Mercedes

10,000 Birds

I am taking a sip of coffee, my eyes following an impossibly colourful Kill-Bill ( Keel-billed) Toucan , flying against the background of the Irazu Volcano slopes and, farther to the right, water-vapour ‘smoking’ Turrialba Volcano on the horizon. Some years later, he returned to Rancho for a few months as a volunteer.

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High Elevation Birding in Costa Rica at Providencia

10,000 Birds

The mountain dynamic has killed people; quite a few in past times when folks who were dressed and adapted to warmer temperatures tried to hike over the tall mountains and became lost or were caught unawares and unprepared for a hypothermic night.

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What is the National Bird of Panama?

10,000 Birds

In her book, “ On a Wing and a Prayer, “ Sarah Woods describes the bird that captured her interest when she first visited Panama: “At more than one metre tall and able to kill a monkey with a single swipe of its powerful, knife-like talons, [H]arpy [E]agles are incredibly hard to find.” A Harpy Eagle.

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Little Big Year -Week 38: Our first week in Costa Rica

10,000 Birds

After bashing it on a branch to kill it, it did finally get it swallowed. The second week will find us going down the west side of the country, almost to Panama. I had hoped to find the Sunbittern and the Sungrebes on this leg. Oh well, one out of two with this awesome Sungrebe. The second bird stayed well hidden off to the right side.

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I and the Bird: What is a Vulture?

10,000 Birds

The Cherokee nation called them “Peace Eagles” owing to the fact that they never killed a living thing – and also that they tended to show up in numbers after battled when peace treaties were being signed, though admittedly that may have been for a slightly more macabre reason. White-backed Vultures, photo by Adam Riley.

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Raptors of Mexico and Central America: A Book Review

10,000 Birds

The illustrations of bird behavior–a Laughing Falcon with a kill, Swainson’s, a Crested Caracara with its head thrown back–offer opportunities for a little individual style to shine through. The colors are rich, much deeper and beautiful than the muted inks in my copy of Hawks of North America.

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Good Birders Still Don’t Wear White: A Book Review

10,000 Birds

In “Summer of the Sparrow,” actress and ABA board member Lili Taylor relates a dramatic tale of murderous passion directed towards a House Sparrow who has killed the Bluebird babies in her nest boxes. This story of avian hatred may be the most revolutionary essay in a book full of paeans to birds and birding.).

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