Mom’s Feeder 2010 — Part 1 of 2

The famous banana feeder at my mom’s house has been abandoned by periods, but everytime it gets re-activated, birds seem to be looking forward and remember quickly!… Such was the case in 2010… 23 years after my dad and I offered the very first banana… As soon as I showed 6 attractive plantains, members of the club started showing well and new members got attracted!

Green Honeycreeper – female by Alex Vargas, Sarapiqui, Costa Rica 2010

Was a hot and sunny afternoon of April and after a couple of years out of the country, I came to find that my beloved feeder had been abandoned for over a year!… I got there in the morning, but having fun and sharing history with the family, kept me from checking if anything at all had showed up to enjoy my plantains… I was until about noon that I was able to set my blind, with harsh light, but with big hope of seen and photographing a few old friends…

The first guys to show up and call many more, were the Passerini’s Tanagers… always beautiful, always hungry and always friendly…

Passerini’s Tanager – Male by Alex Vargas, Sarapiqui, Costa Rica 2010

Passerini’s Tanager – Female by Alex Vargas, Sarapiqui, Costa Rica 2010

All the happiness and noise of the Passerini’s with the sweet plantains, started to call the attention of some other local breeders as the Green Honeycreeper, the Blue-gray Tanager and the Palm Tanager

Blue-gray Tanager by Alex Vargas, Sarapiqui, Costa Rica 2010

Palm Tanager by Alex Vargas, Sarapiqui, Costa Rica 2010

From my blind I found a fantastic -male- Violaceous Trogon a bit away on the back, that was happily singing and showing these awesome colors!

Violaceous Trogon by Alex Vargas, Sarapiqui, Costa Rica 2010

A few migrants started to show up nicely too… amongst the most beautiful of them, it was the Summer Tanager… a wonderful male in its complete breeding plumage enjoyed some fruit and focus as well…

Summer Tanager by Alex Vargas, Sarapiqui, Costa Rica 2010

Everything seemed pretty smooth and in harmony, until a mob of 5 gangsters landed unexpectedly and surprised everyone with color, rough moves and finishing the fruit in a minute!… No complains, tho…

Collared Aracari by Alex Vargas, Sarapiqui, Costa Rica 2010

…and that is just half the story… more in part 2, still to come!

Happy Bird-Photo Adventures!