Green Honeycreeper, Costa Rica

A Green Honeycreeper watches anxiously.  Having scored a prize bunch of bananas hanging at a local restaurant only to lose it to a larger Clay-colored Thrush, the Green Honeycreeper can only watch and wait.

A Clay Colored Thrush, the ubiquitous national bird of Costa Rica, laid claimed the bananas and felt no need to share.

The bananas hang in an opening where a window would be, if the Neotropical Costa Rican restaurant needed a window.

An abundance of birds populate the trees surrounding the restaurant, but only the bravest birds will fly inside.

A badly bruised banana reveals the fruit's soft insides. Today, the Clay-colored Thrush is being served first at the Rancho Magallanes Restaurant, Chilamate, Costa Rica. The reward went to the strongest.

While waiting to be served, the Green Honeycreeper grabs a little protein to go with the carbohydrates of the banana. A bee will do nicely. Seed and nectar eating birds commonly catch insects to supply protein for themselves and their nestlings.

Eventually the Green Honeycreeper gets a turn at the banana, too.

For a country smaller than West Virginia, Costa Rica is rich in bird life. With 850-900 bird species depending on whose data you choose, even the brilliant Green Honeycreeper barely stands out in a country with so many beautiful birds.

In Costa Rica even if you don't actually go looking for birds...they're all around you.

While enjoying a soup 'n sandwich at a roadside open-air restaurant the birds entertained us for nearly an hour.

Allan

Credit: The Birds of Costa Rica, Richard Garrigues and Robert Dean