3rin's View…

This White-throated Magpie-Jay (Calocitta formosa) was surprisingly reticent to have its photo taken. Sadly, I was not able to capture the resplendent, long tail that makes this bird so distinctive (I suggest looking it up, it really is worth it). The male sports a much longer one than the female. I believe this to be a female, based on the complete neck ring and additional black above the eye.

As with the rest of the jay family, it is a noisy character with a large repertoire of sounds. I just never know what I’m going to find in my yard!

This juvenile, Bare-throated Tiger-Heron (Tigrisoma mexicanum) likes my neighbor’s roof. It flies up there in the evenings after spending the day hunting for typical heron food (fish, amphibians, insects, and small rodents) along the creek that runs behind their house. The name refers to the distinctive feather-free, yellow skin under the bill. The adult version of this bird is quite dapper with a vibrant rufous waistcoat (or in proper birder parlance, flanks).

Interestingly, the only U.S. record of this species was found in Hidalgo County, Texas on the western Gulf Coast, near the border with Mexico. Not too surprising since the Brownsville area is a well-known birding hotspot. I would be interested to learn when that was but can’t seem to suss it out.

While researching Black-headed Trogons I learned that they are unusual in their family, as they take the easy way out when building a home. Instead of carving holes in trees they just utilize arboreal termite nests. There are certainly plenty of them to choose from down here!

Things aren’t always perfect in paradise. As you might imagine, I was horrified when I recently stumbled across this pillaged sea turtle nest. After spending time this past summer attending sea turtle hatchling releases and raising money for a sea turtle rescue organization in Texas, this was heartbreaking. Six of the seven sea turtle species in the world are either threatened or endangered.

My local friend explained that Ticos* collect the eggs to sell them. Apparently, they bring a good price since some believe that the eggs improve virility. It is a sad state of affairs. Though, culturally, native peoples in Latin America have been harvesting turtles and turtle eggs for centuries so it requires a huge shift. Thankfully, there are some beaches in Costa Rica where the nests are protected from poaching.

*Native Costa Ricans.