Glass Frogs Galore!!!

Hello Friends,
Here are some of my favorite Glass Frog images taken last year.
All of the shots posted on this blog were taken at Las Esquinas Rainforest Lodge near Golfito, Costa Rica. The rainy season is now on it's way, so may the glass-frogging begin!
Enjoy!!!
STEVEN

Tortuguero Jan. 2010 - Blast from the Past - Part 2

More images from Veragua and Tortuguero...

Tortuguero in January - Blast from the Past - Part 1

Hello Friends,

These are some images that were taken on a trip to Veragua Rainforest and Tortuguero National Park in late Jan. 2010. Magdalena and I took our close friend Bart Brown to these spots in search of a few target species. In Veragua we had great views of Sulphur-rumped Tanager, one of our targets, as well as many other nice things.

While at Tortuguero we nailed the very rare Greater Ani, the shy Least Bittern and we had fantastic views of the secretive Green-and-rufous Kingfisher.

I hope you all enjoy our photos!

Good Birding,

STEVEN EASLEY

More Images from Birdfinders CR Tour #2

Images from Birdfinders Costa Rica Tour #2

Hello Friends,
Here are a few images taken on the Birdfinders Costa Rica Tour #2.
We finished with an impressive 516 species seen with another 20 species heard only.
Lovely Cotinga, Tiny Hawk and Barred Parakeet were personal highlights, but many other great birds were seen. Magda was able to add yet one more species to her quickly growing CR list. She is now up to 760 in the country, which is pretty amazing.
More posts to come!
Best wishes, STEVEN

Baird's Tapir Video!!!

Lovely Cotinga!!!

More Reptiles from the Birdfinders Tour

Hello Friends,

The Rainforest Hog-nosed Pit-Viper was taken in the La Selva Reserve on the STR trail.

The Fer de Lance was seen and photographed in the La Selva Reserve near the cafeteria.

And the Pug-nosed Anole was taken at the Rainforest Lodge, Braulio Carrillo NP.

More posts are on the way!

STEVEN EASLEY

The Birdfinders Costa Rica 2010 Tour Proves to be a Record Breaker!!!

Hello Friends,

Magdalena and I just finished the Birdfinders Costa Rica Tour 2010. This year proved to be our best ever. We broke last years record by 4 species and finished with a total of 544 SPECIES SEEN with another 20 birds that were "heard only".

We also found some pretty stunning reptiles as well. Fer de Lance, Hog-nosed Pit-viper, Eye-lashed Pit-viper, Nothern Cat-eyed Snake, False Coral-Snake, Pug-nosed Anole, Casque-headed Lizard and Central American Banded Gecko.

Magda was also quite pleased with several birds seen, as they were new for her. She managed to add 5 more species to her CR Bird List. Long-billed Curlew, Cave Swallow, Yellow-winged Tanager, Yellow-breasted Chat and Slaty-breasted Tinamou all bit the dust!!!

I got 1 new CR bird, which had become somewhat of a bogey bird over the years, the Yellow-breasted Chat!

We have a couple of days to rest and then the next Birdfinders Costa Rica tour begins.

That's all for now!

STEVEN EASLEY

Some of Our Latest Images from Costa Rica!

Info about the images posted...

The American Golden-Plover was taken in Palo Verdo NP, Costa Rica.

The Lichen-mimic Katydid was taken at Rancho Naturalista Lodge, Costa Rica.

The Gray-headed Dove shot was taken in Cano Negro, Costa Rica.

The Eye-lashed Pit-Viper was taken at Arenal Observatory Lodge, Costa Rica.

And the (Northern) Royal Flycatcher was taken in Carara NP, Costa Rica.

I will be posting more photos and stories shortly. We finally have high-speed internet at our house and should be able to update everything much faster.

ALSO - Long-billed Curlew bites the dust near the Tarcoles River, which now puts me at 775!!!.

The full story plus images will be posted shortly.

STEVEN EASLEY

Home Sweet Home and a Super Cool Reptile!

Hello Friends,

My wife Magdalena and I are now back home in sunny Costa Rica, more like rainy Costa Rica! We had a wonderful visit to the USA! It was great to be with our parents. We both had a blast seeing the spectacular birds and wildlife in the states. It was also nice to spend some time with our friends from the state of North Dakota. It would be hard to find nicer people than the folks there. The state is just full of Genuine, Friendly, Kind, Honest and Hard Working People! We are looking forward to returning and visiting some different areas sometime soon. Thanks so much to everyone for making our trip so enjoyable!

I'm sure some people were beginning to think that this blog was just dedicated to the birds and wildlife of North Dakota. But we are actually covering our personal travels and experiences. It just so happened that I started this blogging thing before our vacation to the states. That is the reason why all of our stories and photos thus far have been from those areas. The next couple of months, we will be focusing on the tropical paradise - which is Costa Rica!

In the evening of June 18, Magdalena called me out to the back porch of our house. She had found a tiny gecko species crawling around in our garden. I was thrilled to see my first ever species of Banded Gecko! The official name of this reptile is the Central American Banded Gecko (Coleonyx mitratus). It is apparently an uncommon species from the drier Guanacaste region of the country. We photographed this little dude for about 15 minutes and came up with these shots!

That's all for now!

Good Birding or should I say Reptiling,

STEVEN EASLEY

Cross Ranch where East meets West

Hello to everyone,
On the morning of June 8, we visited the Cross Ranch State Park about 45 minutes north of Bismark, North Dakota along the Missouri River. This pleasant drive is certainly worthwhile, wonderful scenery and lots of wildlife.
Once inside the park you get the real feeling that east meets west, especially when you are talking about bird life. White-breasted Nuthatch and Hairy Woodpeckers climbing the talls trees, Black-headed Grosbeak singing from a high perch, Eastern Wood-Pewees doing their classic peeee-weeee song and a male Spotted Towhee digging around in the undergrowth. All of this activity was taking place just in the parking area.
While birding in front of the visitor center, we saw a very unusual bird. A strange hybrid of a Lazuli Bunting and an Indigo Bunting. It had the brilliant blue color of an Indigo Bunting, but nice white-winged bars like the Lazuli Bunting. There wasn't even the slightest smudge of orange-rust on the chest and it had a white belly. Quite interesting to see, a new hybird for both of us, whooooo-hoooooo!
Later Magdalena and I hiked a beautiful trail along the Missouri River hoping to catch a glimpse of the diminutive Least Tern. We searched for about 30 minutes or so without any luck. However, there were many nice things that caught our attention. A huge adult Ferruginous Hawk flew gently over head and we watched a Yellow Warbler sitting on it's nest.
We decided to head back to the car and try another site for the Least Tern, when I happened to see the tiny Least Tern flying in the distance. The views were poor and we decided to wait some more and see if it would turn up again. About 20 minutes later it showed off very well and Magda was as happy as a singing Athi Short-toed Lark on the short-grass plains of East Africa!
I'm sure everyone knows what I'm talking about, yeah right!
While in route back to Harvey, we made several roadside stops and were able to photograph several more birds not yet posted on the blog. Sedge Wren and White-rumped Sandpiper being the most notable.
We hope everyone is enjoying the photographs and stories that we have been working on. Feel free to write us a comment after the blog stories, or send me an e-mail at stvneasley@yahoo.com
Thanks so much to everyone for all the support given thus far!
Good Birding, STEVEN EASLEY

The Majestic Bighorn Mountains!

On June 7, 2008 before we began our journey through the Bighorn Mountains my wife was able to add Sage Thrasher to her life list. As we left the vast sage brush country behind, we were able to get our first views of the picturesque Bighorn Mountains in northern Wyoming.

These mountains originally got their name from the Lewis and Clark expeditions that passed through this area years and years ago. The explorers just could not believe the numbers of Bighorn Sheep that were living in this mountanous terrain. Nowadays, the numbers of sheep have declined, but we still managed to find a small herd of these impressive animals.

Moose, Mule Deer, Yellow-bellied Marmot and the miniscule Least Chipmunk were all seen on our morning drive. Birds seemed to be few and far between but several Golden Eagles soaring over the high peaks were certainly nice to look at.
A few other birds noted in the Bighorn Mountains were Bald Eagle, American Magpie, Mountain Bluebird, White-throated Swift, Violet-green Swallow, Western Tanager and lots of Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's race).
After leaving this wonderful area, we drove east all the way back to Bismark, North Dakota. What a heck of a drive that is!
The next morning we visited the Cross Ranch State Park along the Missouri River.

Will Magdalena be able to see the sought after Least Tern? Due stay tuned...
Good Birding, STEVEN EASLEY