#879 Gray-necked Wood-rail on a Shortcut

Sunday, February 24th, 2013

Gray-necked Wood-Rail was a nemesis bird in a Panama. I missed it repeatedly even though it was present on the grounds of the lodge where I was staying. Indeed I had used some of my free time to stake out its reeds and pond.

From Cinchona we took a back road that was a “shortcut”. It was neither short, nor cut, and we got lost; and didn’t find our way out till after dark. But before we got lost we came to a small wetland where we stopped to watch some Black-bellied Whistling Ducks. While we were there we spotted #879, a Gray-necked Wood Rail, and a female Green Kingfisher.

No pictures since we didn’t get out of the bus for this one.

#866-870 at Restaurant Colbert

Sunday, February 24th, 2013

We had lunch at a French restaurant our guide described as “arguably the best restaurant in Costa Rica”. I don’t know about that, though it was good; but it certainly had more life birds than I’ve ever gotten before at lunch. There are hummingbird and other feeders behind the restaurant, visible through plate glass windows that attract, among other species:

Purple-throated Mountain Gem, Lampornis calolaemus
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#859-865 at Poas Volcano National Park

Sunday, February 24th, 2013

First bird here was a Turkey Vulture. I did not come all the way to Central America to see Turkey Vultures. The second bird was a Rufous-collared Sparrow, just like back at the hotel:

Rufous-collared Sparrow, Zonotrichia capensis in grass

But the third bird was #859 Mountain Elaenia:
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#858 Mountain Thrush

Sunday, February 24th, 2013

We’re seeing a lot of goods birds form the bus on this trip, including Crimson-fronted Parakeet and White-tailed Kite. The first one we pulled over for was a Long-tailed Silky-flycatcher, that I missed. However I did get the subsequent Mountain Thrush in the same tree, #858:

Mountain Thrush

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#851-857 at the Hotel Bouganvillea

Sunday, February 24th, 2013

I arrived in Costa Rica yesterday after dark as planned, but too late to do any birding. This morning, however, Tommy and I were up even before the rest of the group and out in the gardens at 5:30AM, and we were not disappointed. The first bird up with us was #851, Rufous-naped Wren:

Rufous-naped Wren
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The Power of Pomodoros

Friday, February 22nd, 2013

Until recently, I hadn’t paid much attention to Pomodoro, though I’ve heard of it for a few years now. “Uncle Bob” Martin seemed to like it, and he’s usually worth paying attention to in such matters. However, it mostly seemed to me like a way of organizing a variety of tasks and avoiding procrastination, and I’ve never had much trouble with that.

However after the January CFAR workshop suggested it in passing, I decided to give it a try; and I realized I had it all wrong. Pomodoros aren’t (for me) a means of avoiding procrastination or dividing time among projects. They’re a way of blasting through Ugh fields.

Continued on Less Wrong…