Tea and Kate

Today has been a great day for birds. First Katie and I went on a birding walk this morning instead of our usual run. Aside from the usual brown jays and the sound of parakeets, we saw three Guan, three pale-billed woodpeckers, and a slate-throated red start. At lunch we saw a small flock of 3-5 yellow-bellied Elaenia on the front tree. Later in the day Wilson (our favorite family Wilson’s warbler) visited me at my desk window two feet from where I sit, as he always does. So did Georgie our household Mot-Mot.

And then to top it all off this new beauty showed up on a perch no less than 10 feet from where I sit, during a video conference with my graduate student. I begged forgiveness, but had to pause the meeting to take this picture. Outside of the resplendent Quetzal, I’ve never seen a Trogon. Garrigues and Dean’s “The Birds of Costa Rica: a field guide” is an excellent book, and has this to say about the Orange-bellied Trogon. Paraphrased:

10 in (25 cm) in length. Virtually identical to the Collared Trogon in every aspect. The only difference is the color of the belly, which is orange. Common in wet northwestern highlands (where Collared Trogon is absent). Endemic to Costa Rica and western Panama.

Tim Waring, January 17, 2017