Heermann's Gull

(118 views)
by Terry Costales

This juvenile Heermann's gull exhibits its main identifying marks clearly: black feet, red bill and dusky body. As an adult, its head will become pure white.

Cormorant

(118 views)
by Terry Costales

This bird is resting on an urn placed next to a reflecting pool inside the Stuttgart Zoo. It isn't caged and flew in on its own. I witnessed many herons, storks and cormorants fly into various enclosures to take advantage of the plentiful food supply.

Black Crowned Night Heron

(116 views)
by Terry Costales

It's breeding season again for the Night Herons and Snowy Egrets. Here is a Heron settling a property dispute with his Egret neighbor.

American White Pelican

(115 views)
by Terry Costales

There was this one lone white pelican at the nature center that day. It was probably an injured bird being nursed back to health, or it just knew a good hand-out when it saw one.

Black-Crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)

(114 views)
by Terry Costales

A large fledgling appears mesmerized by the camera.

Long-nosed bat

(112 views)
by Terry Costales

On a tour of the Canal of Palms, this was the first animal spotted by our guide. There were three of these tiny bats on the underside of a dead branch. How the guide even saw them was a mystery because they were perfectly camouflaged. The guide identified them as long-nosed bats.

Siberian Tiger Tatiana

(112 views)
by Terry Costales

Here is Tatiana on Sept 29, 2007 looking alive and well. Due to incompetence at the Zoo and the malicious idiocy of a few young men, she and one of those young men are now deceased. A needless tragedy that ought never have happened. One should build wild animal enclosures with as much protection for the animals from the public as the public from the animals. We all know bridges and buildings in San Francisco must be built, or retrofitted, to withstand an earthquake the magnitude of which we m . . .

Butterfly

(112 views)
by Terry Costales

The Hall of Butterflies (Schmetterlingshalle) was one of my favorite spots in the Zoo.

Greater Scaup (Aythya marila)

(112 views)
by Terry Costales

Greater Scaups are very common in the Bay Area. This is a male.

White-bellied Bustard (Eupodotis senegalensis)

(112 views)
by Terry Costales

I was quite taken with this two foot tall, chicken-turkey-like bird. It's a ground dwelling native of eastern Africa.

Spectacled Caiman (Caiman crocodilus)

(112 views)
by Terry Costales

A caiman lived in the lodge marina and could almost always be seen hanging out in its far corner. We found out the marina staff were feeding it chicken scraps from the kitchen. I supppose feeding a caiman is much more exciting than feeding a stray dog or feral cat.

Canvasback female

(111 views)
by Terry Costales

Here is the mate of yesterday's male Canvasback. She is in almost the exact same pose that he, but here you can see her paler, gentler colors.

Northern "Bullock's" Oriole (Icterus bullockii)

(111 views)
by Terry Costales

I observed this female oriole as it fed and then flew into its nearby nest. It would remain in its nest a few minutes, then fly out again. The nest would have been invisible if not for the white egret feathers the orioles had used in its construction.

Chinese Crested

(111 views)
by Terry Costales

It's an odd looking animal, but it's like any other dog, really.

Irish Wolfhound

(111 views)
by Terry Costales

The Irish Wolfhound is the tallest breed of dog. It's hard to imagine this extremely gentle animal being used in war, but war is the original use for which they were bred.

Spectacled Caiman (Caiman crocodilus)

(111 views)
by Terry Costales

This poor Caiman probably wished he was invisible. As the boat came closer, he slowly moved from exposure on the mud bank and into the welcoming murky water.

Boat-billed Heron (Cochlearius cochlearius)

(111 views)
by Terry Costales

You only need to glimpse the bill of this bird to know exactly why it is called boat-billed.

Ugly Bird

(111 views)
by Terry Costales

I don't know what kind of bird this is. Some kind of stork-like-vulture-thingy. It was in the walk-through aviary. Scary huh?

Bare-Throated Tiger Heron (Tigrisoma mexicanum)

(111 views)
by Terry Costales

We saw a lot of these solitary herons on the trip. Although it's called bare throated, you can't see that detail in this flying shot.

Brown Basilisk (Basiliscus vittatus)

(111 views)
by Terry Costales

Unlike yesterday's bright green plumed basilisk, this brown one has a yellow stripe. Here the male shows off his crest.

Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)

(111 views)
by Bryan Costales

I had no camera that day in Union Square. So I became the director of the photo shoot. That means I said, "Honey, get a shot of that starling for me!" I'm not sure if I said please, but Bryan is always forgiving.

Mandarin Duck (Aix galericulata)

(111 views)
by Terry Costales

Here is a shot of the male from yesterday's posting which shows the unusual feather formation over his back.

Rufous Motmot (Baryphthengus martii)

(111 views)
by Terry Costales

The only motmot seen on this trip appeared just after dawn. The tree in which it was perched was a favorite of several species. Unfortunately, the motmot's gorgeous colors were not visible from this angle, but the unique tail feathers were.

Anhinga (Anhinga anhinga)

(111 views)
by Terry Costales

Anhingas look a lot like cormorants. They differ in that they have straight not hooked bills, longer tails and necks, and have silver-white markings on their wings. This was a female. A male would have had a black neck.

Howler Monkey

(111 views)
by Terry Costales

On our way to Tortuguero on the eastern coast, the guide spotted a family of howler monkeys in the trees next to the road. The van stopped and we got out to watch them. The noise the howlers make is thunderous and can be heard for miles. So when I finally saw them, I was surprised by how small they turned out to be. Barely two feet or so tall.