(To read El Gringo Feo’s Costa Rica Diary from the beginning, start here.)
- Gray-headed chachalaca — I’m seeing these grouse-like birds frequently. The like the fruit trees on the property and I see them every day when I stump down to the kitchen from the Treehouse..
- White nosed coati (coatimundi) — I saw a group of them working the fence line on the property. They look a bit like raccoons.
Blue morpho butterfly— I’ve seen them multiple times already, carving whimsical blue streaks through the jungle flora.- Tombolo — This is the term for a long stretch of sand connecting a former island to the coast. Playa Uvita features a tombolo that looks like a whale’s tail from above at low tide. Seems appropriate since it’s part of the Ballena (whale, in Spanish) National Marine Park.
- Borucu — indigenous people who make vibrant, phantasmagorical masks I’m seeing at the markets. I’ve already decided I need one of these. At least
- Yellow-crowned Tyrannulet — This is a type of flycatcher bird. I’ve been seeing the around the property since I arrived, and I finally ID’d them in the Birds of Costa Rica book I brought with me. Just after I determined what they were, one of them soared straight up from the tree it was perched on and into a sort of stall. At that point, I saw what it was doing. A large insect zigged aimlessly just below it, prompting the flycatcher to soar downward from its zenith and snag the unsuspecting bug midair. It was beautiful and graceful, but the Tyrannulet returned to his perch as if it was no big deal.
