Motmot, other rainforest wildlife in Costa Rica

20 March 2014. After the morning, in the afternoon still around the Arenal volcano in Costa Rica. Two swallow-tailed kites flying near a restaurant.

So does a blue-and-yellow macaw. It flies freely, but then sits on a fence, so close that it is probably a pet.

A bit further away, in a tree, its smaller relatives, crimson-fronted parakeets, are definitely not pets.

This video is called Canopy Tour near Arenal, Costa Rica.

We walk in a rainforest, where bridges as depicted in the video, span steep ravines along rivers. An opportunity to look at wildlife in the canopy … if you have no fear of heights.

Near one of the smaller bridges, a dull-mantled antbird.

A crested guan.

Leaf-cutting ants.

A slaty-tailed trogon in a tree.

Still clouds around the top of the Arenal volcano, but less so than on some other days.

A rufous motmot. Costa Rica’s biggest motmot species.

And a northern schiffornis. Not a colourful bird; but a rare bird, singing enthusiastically.

A black-headed nightingale-thrush not far away on the footpath.

An ochre-bellied flycatcher.

Two piratic flycatchers in a tree near the parking lot.

Near the lake, the biggest kingfisher species of Costa Rica: a ringed kingfisher. It sits on a building, near a great egret on the bank.

Arenal bird list: here.

A new study shows that cattle ranching, agriculture and other human activities breaking up Costa Rican forests into isolated patchy fragments, are causing more problems for native plant populations than for monkey species sharing the same habitat: here.

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